Sarath Weerasekara slated to be promoted as new cabinet Minister of Public Security

Arch Sinhala nationalist politician, former naval officer Sarath Weerasekara is slated to be promoted as the cabinet Minister of  Public Security, Sri Lanka government sources speculate. 

Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekara, RSP, VSV, USP, MP is current State Minister of Provincial Councils and Local Government. 

Under an extraordinary Gazette notification dated November 20, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa established two new cabinet Ministries and Public Security is one of them. The other is the Ministry of Technology. 

Ministry of Public Security will be responsible for four institutions, namely, Police department, Civil Security department, Police Training College and the Multi-Purpose Development Task Force.

Police were previously trusted to the state Ministry of Internal Security, Home Affairs and Disaster Management held by President's elder brother Chamal Rajapaksa. 

Sarath Weerasekara was a leader of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's think tank Viyath Maga (The way of the Intellectuals). He elected to parliament in the 2020 August election achieving over 328,000 preferential votes, a number far ahead of the preferential votes gained by government and nationalist stalwart Wimal Weerawansa.

Sri Lanka's areas under isolation since 23 November 2020

Sri Lanka's National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 has issued an announcement regarding quarantine measures since tomorrow (November 23). 

Following police areas which are isolated now will not be isolated since 5 a.m. November 23, 2020. 

Colombo District

• Borella (sans Wanathamulla Grama Niladhari Division)
• Wellampitiya
• Colombo Fort
• Slave Island (Sans Wekanda Grama Niladhari Division)

Gampaha district

• Jaela
• Kadawatha

Following police areas will remain isolated: 

Colombo district

• Mattakkuliya
• Modara
• Bloehmandahl
• Kotahena
• Grandpass
• Beach
• Aduruppu Street
• Maligawatta
• Dematagoda
• Keselwatta
• Maradana
• Pettah
• Dam Street

Gampaha District

• Negambo
• Ragama
• Wattala
• Peliyagoda
• Kelaniya

Kalutara district

Following Grama Niladhari divisions in Kalutara district

• Bogahawatta
• Bamunumulla (Muslim)
• Bamunumulla
• Korawala
• Atulugama 
• Galagahamandiya

Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu expected heavy showers

India Meteorological Department (IMD) says a well-marked but inconsequential low-pressure area over the South-West Arabian Sea is expected to become a depression by Sunday, November 22. 

This depression is forecast to move in a typical West-North-West direction towards the coast of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu during the subsequent days, the IMD outlook said.

Meanwhile, Met Department of Sri Lanka issued the following forecast. 

"A low-pressure area has formed over southeast Bay of Bengal(2N-10N,83E-93E) and it is expected to intensify further into a depression during next 24-48 hours. It is likely to move west-northwestwards towards Eastern and Northern coast of Srilanka on 24th of November. Showers or thundershowers will occur at times in Eastern, Northern, North-central and Uva provinces and in Hambanthota district. Showers or thundershowers will occur at few places in the Central and Sabaragamuwa provinces and in Kaluthara, Galle and Mathara districts after 2.00 p.m. Fairly heavy showers above 75mm can be expected at some places in the above area. The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers."

COVID-19 woman who fled IDH found from Eheliyagoda jungle

Sri Lanka police found a COVID-19 infected woman who had escaped the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (IDH). Police are investigating the woman's associations.  

The woman was hiding in a thicket in Eheliyagoda and police found her with the help of the villagers. She is suspected of being a drug addict and a peddler. She was identified as 26-year-old Ruwani Nisansala who had been transferred to the IDH from the Kuruwita prison.

The woman fled the hospital on November 19 breaking a window. She escaped with her two-year-old baby. The baby was found on November 20th from Eheliyagoda, the woman's home town, and admitted to hospital. 

The baby and the caretakers have been subjected to quarantine. 

Nine deaths yesterday in Sri Lanka; highest number so far

Sri Lanka's highest number of COVID-19 deaths were reported on November 21 as nine people died increasing the number of deaths to 83. 

The deceased include five women of the ages 48, 69, 75, 76 and five men of the ages 57, 65, 89, 72 and 76. 

Seven deaths were from the Colombo city while one was from Wellampitiya in the city outskirts. The announcement by the Government Information Department did not mention the residence of the other deceased.   

The number of COVID-19 persons diagnosed yesterday was 487. The total number of cases recorded in Sri Lanka by November 21 was 19,771.   

Over 5,000 COVID-19 cases have been diagnosed from Colombo city and the majority of them are from Colombo North and Central Colombo. 

Fishermen in Ramanathapuram want their boats back from Sri Lanka

Fishermen in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu staged a protest on 21 November 2020, demanding the Union government to immediately intervene with the Sri Lankan government and take steps to bring back the boats seized from the fishermen by Sri Lankan Navy. 

The Ramanathapuram fishermen staged the demonstration on the Pamban seashore. They said that from 2013 to 2019, Sri Lanka seized 19 boats.

These boats were arrested with fishermen for poaching. The fishermen were later released. 

The number of Indian boats arrested by the Sri Lankan authorities is around 100 and the court ordered some of them destroyed. 

Take refugees in Papua New Guinea and Nauru - Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka urges Biden

The Australian Advocacy for Good Governance in Sri Lanka and the Voice for Democracy in Sri Lanka Collective President-elect Joe Biden, and Senator Kamala Harris as Vice President-elect, to revive the 2016 deal with Australia and give the refugees languishing in offshore detention centres an opportunity to start their life anew.

Most of them have been languishing in offshore detention centres for far too long under extremely inhumane conditions.

In a deal made in 2016 between President Barak Obama and then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the USA publicly agreed to take up to 1,500 refugees, predominantly from Iran, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan. However, President Trump who replaced his great predecessor months after branded this deal ‘dumb’ and was very selective in allowing only a few to immigrate as an act of calculated grandstanding. Many refugees – including those certified by the IOM as genuine refugees – are still held in the Australian offshore island-camps in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

The UN Refugee Convention recognises that refugees often need to enter a country without permission. Australia is in violation of the Convention as under Article 31, countries who have signed the Convention cannot punish refugees for entering or living without permission, or unnecessarily restrict their freedom of movement.

Sign the petition >>