Sirisena said on Wednesday he was committed to bringing back capital punishment for drug offenders, months after vowing a tougher line on spiraling narcotics-related crime.
For the first time, Sri Lanka has a government which has no ministers from the Muslim community, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said Tuesday.
The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the Easter terror attacks on three Catholic churches and three luxury hotels that claimed 253 lives but the government has blamed a local Islamist extremist group National Tawheed Jamath (NTJ) for the bombings.
He reiterated that the attackers were middle- and upper-middle class and had been educated abroad. He added that the profile of the suspected bombers was "surprising".
A top Sri Lankan court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking mental health assessment of President Maithripala Sirisena for his sacking of Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, a controversial decision which plunged the country into an unprecedented political crisis.
President Sirisena on Thursday named a 30-member Cabinet while reportedly rejecting some of Prime Minister Wickremesinghe's nominees and retained control over the security forces and police, indicating that the power tussle between them is far from over.
The 29 Ministers chosen by Wickremesinghe, who is also the leader of the United National Party (UNP), were sworn in before Sirisena at the Presidential Secretariat here after which the new Cabinet held its first meeting, according to a statement by the Presidential Press Department.
His re-appointment comes a day after former strongman Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was installed as Prime Minister by President Sirisena, resigned on Saturday after two crucial Supreme Court decisions made his efforts to cling to premiership untenable.
Rajapaksa was appointed as the prime minister on October 26 by President Sirisena in a controversial move after sacking Ranil Wickremesinghe, which plunged the country into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.
Earlier in the day, the apex court refused to stay a court order restraining Rajapaksa, 73, from holding the office of Prime Minister until it fully heard the case next month.
Taking a strong exception to the dissolution of Parliament by Srisena, a seven-member apex court bench said that the President cannot dissolve Parliament till it completes a 4 1/2 year term.
Sirisena's United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) continued its boycott of Parliament when Sajith Premadasa, Wickremesinghe's deputy, moved the motion.
In a statement, Rajapaksa cites occasions in the history when Parliament had been dissolved to call parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka to avoid crisis and bring in political stability.
The island nation was plunged into a constitutional crisis on October 26 when President a Sirisena fired his former ally Wickremesinghe and replaced him with Mahinda Rajapaksa.
Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has lifted the suspension of parliament and summoned a meeting of the legislature on Monday to end the current political stalemate in the country over the sudden sacking of prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, officials said on Thursday.
The incident took place when the cricketer-turned-politician visited the CPC office, with several Ceylon Petroleum Corporation workers objecting to his presence at the office.
Sirisena's decision to suspend the parliament until November 16 was seen as an effort to coerce legislators into supporting Rajapaksa.
In a dramatic turn of events, President Maithripala Sirisena's Sri Lanka Freedom Party withdrew from the ruling coalition and then sacked Wickremesinghe.
Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe on Wednesday said that the SAARC countries needs to address the the issue of “cross border terrorism”. Wickremesinghe, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier in the day, said
New Delhi: Reflecting growing congruence in ties, India and Sri Lanka today held extensive talks on sticky fishermen issue, ensuring justice to Tamils and ways to deepen trade and defence engagements besides resolving to intensify
Live Scorecard
Top News
Latest News
