The Sri Lankan Navy today arrested 13 Tamil Nadu fishermen for allegedly fishing in their territorial waters off Katchatheevu islet, the Deccan Herald reported. 

They also damaged a few boats and fishing equipment belonging to others using iron rods, before chasing them away.

Tamil Nadu Assistant Director of Fisheries, A Manikandan said, more than 2,000 fishermen from Thangachimadam had ventured into the sea yesterday in 523 boats and were fishing near Katchatheevu when the Lankan naval men came to the spot and arrested 13 fishermen.

They also snapped the fishing nets of 50 boats and damaged some boats using iron rods, he said. The arrested fishermen were taken to Kangesanthurai port along with two boats.

On December 31, 13 fishermen from this island town were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly fishing near Neduntheevu close to the island nation's coast.

A total of 89 fishermen from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry had been released by Sri Lankan authorities last year.

Western Province Chief Minister Isura Devapriya, a close ally of President Maithripala Sirisena requested all SLFP candidates to use photographs of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa for their election campaigns.

Addressing a press conference in Colombo yesterday, Devapriya said Rajapaksa was still a member of the SLFP and therefore party candidates can use his popularity for the party's benefit. 

The statement comes against a backdrop where the SLFP has warned its MPs that they will lose their Parliamentary seats if they support the Joint Opposition election campaign. 

Rajapaksa has publicly claimed that he will lead the election campaign of the Joint Opposition, despite the positions he hold in the SLFP. 

Issuing its preliminary findings from its visit to Sri lanka, the UN  Working group on arbitrary detention has underscored some serious issues in the government's law enforcement system, urging the government to adopt immediate measures to resolve them.

"According to information received, the current prison population of Sri Lanka is 20,598, of which 11,009 are held in pre-trial detention. Over half of the present Sri Lankan prison population is awaiting trial, which is exceptionally high.  It is common for pre-trial detention to continue for 3-4 years and in some instances longer, even up to 10 years, and it is often followed by a lengthy trial," the report added.

It also says the time spent in pre-trial detention is not always taken into account when the final sentence is calculated, and is left to the discretion of the judge. People on remand are held in dire conditions and often choose to plead guilty to expedite the proceedings.

 In a number of cases,the report said, accused persons have spent numerous years in pre-trial detention but were subsequently acquitted and released from prison without any acknowledgement of the wrongful imprisonment or compensation for the years spent in custody.

The report further stated, "Such a long pre-trial detention in itself is incompatible with article 9 of the ICCPR and the Government of Sri Lanka must take effective steps to reduce it by: (i) promoting the use of bail and other alternatives to detention; (ii) expediting investigations; and (iii) expediting court proceedings by ensuring that there are sufficient prosecutors and judges in the country.  Time spent in custody during the pre-trial stage must always be taken into account when the final custodial sentence is determined."

"Numerous alarming allegations were received concerning the use of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment by the police, including the CID and TID, in order to obtain confessions from detainees, either to facilitate the investigation or in certain instances to be used as evidence in court.  Any confession should be made before a judge who must ensure that it was given without coercion.  This safeguard must be understood in terms of the absence of any direct or indirect physical or undue psychological pressure from the investigating authorities on the accused, with a view to obtaining a confession of guilt."

The railway unions which launched a trade union action last week have called off their strike following discussions with the ministerial sub committee appointed to look into the issue. 

The sub committee included ministers Sarath Amunugama, Rajitha Senaratne, Ranjith Maddumabandara and Akila Viraj Kariyawasam. 

The sub committee had informed the trade unions that they agree with their grievances, in principle, but need time to look into the matter. 

The railway unions had said they were willing to return to  work if the ministry withdrew the vacation of post letters. 

All Ceylon Muslim Congress, led by Minister Rishad Bathiudeen, former Muslim Congress General Secretary Hassan Ali and former deputy Minister Basheer Segu Dawood have formed a new alliance, the United People Alliance, for the Local Government election. 

"This is a turning point in Sri Lanka’s Muslim political history. The ACMC led by me and the United Peace Alliance led by Basheer Segu Dawood MP are joining to form the United People’s Alliance (UPA). The UPA we are creating today will first contest in Eastern Province where a Muslim majority exists. UPA will therefore enter local politics in Ampara District in the forthcoming LG polls. The symbol of UPA is the peacock and its Chairperson is M.T. Hassan Ali, former Secretary General of SLMC and the present Secretary of United Peace Alliance. Hassan Ali, being a former Parliamentarian and a State Minister is well positioned to start off UPA’s journey. As the leader of ACMC, my role in UPA is to be decided later on” said ACMC Leader and Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen said, addressing a press conference in Colombo. 

Many other representatives of ACMC  as well as representatives from United Peace Alliance, led by Segu Dawood, joined the press conference. 

United Peace Alliance’s Secretary Ali was upbeat on Minister Bathiudeen’s approach towards the MoU. “I praise Minister Bathiudeen for his open, honest approach to form this alliance and prioritising Muslim community’s betterment rather than his own. For example he could have declared himself the leader of this alliance but instead gave me the leadership of this alliance. We praise Minister Bathiudeen for his concern towards the Muslim community”Hassan Ali said, adding that the new alliance called to protect the sovereignty of Sri Lanka and also collective approach by all ethnic communities towards a united country.

Sports Minister Dayasiri Jayasekera threatened to dissolve Sri Lanka Cricket if it failed to implement the plan for restructuring cricket. 

The plan was formulated by former cricketers Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Aravinda de Silva and Anura Tennakoon. 

The plan proposes a provincial cricket tournament above the first class matches played in Sri Lanka.

The idea of a provincial cricket tournament was mooted as it enables the top level players to compete against each other. 

The Minister, addressing the Cabinet meeting yesterday, also added he had no option but to dissolve the board if they failed to carry out the restructuring process. 

In a farcical turn of events, nine Sri Lankan players who were supposed to leave for India for the ODI series, were turned back at the airport following directives from Sports Minister Dayasiri jayasekera.

The development took place after the Sports Minister claimed that the list of names of the players leaving for the ODI did not come for his approval. 

The ODI series between India and Sri Lanka is scheduled to start after the ongoing Test series.

It is still not clear what led to the communication gap between the Minister and the Sri Lanka Cricket. 

It was learnt that the players were highly dissatisfied with the way they were treated at the airport. 

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday said in Kurunegala that the Local Government election will be held on first Saturday after the National Independence Day 2018. 

This means that the election is likely to take place on February 10. 

The Prime Minister remark was also confirmed by Minister P. Harrison who said the Local Government election will be held on February 10. 

The election, under the current circumstances, will be a three-cornered battle with the UNP, the SLFP and the Joint Opposition contesting separately. 

The Elections Commission has already announced that the dates for filing nominations fixed for December 18–21 and dates for paying deposits  December 4–20.

Deputy Commissioner of Elections M.M. Mohamed had told media that they were hoping to hold polls to the 248 remaining local government bodies and an official announcement calling for nominations and deposits will be made today.

The Returning Officers will accept nominations from December 18 to December 21 noon, and deposits from December 4 to December 20 noon, on all working days, during working hours.

The last week or so has seen torrential downpours across southern parts of the Bay of Bengal.

Southern India and Sri Lanka have both been badly affected and there has been some flooding.

The daily downpours look set to continue into the weekend.

On Wednesday morning, Sri Lanka's Department of Meteorology announced that a tropical depression had formed just to the southeast of the country.

It is expected to strengthen for a time as it moves along the southern coast. Warnings have been issued for heavy rain, rough seas and strong winds. Gusts of over 60 kilometres per hour are expected.

This brings the inevitable risk of further flooding and the potential for mudslides.

Recent rainfall has been particularly heavy across the eastern half of the country with the northeasterly monsoon bringing plenty of moist air in from the Bay of Bengal.

Trincomalee in the Eastern Province had 57mm of rain the 24 hours up to 0600GMT on Tuesday.

Nearby, Batticoloa began the week with 107mm of rain in the same space of time. That amounted to almost a third of the November average rainfall of 340mm.

Meanwhile, Nuwara Eliya in the tea country hills of central Sri Lanka recorded 92mm of rain on Tuesday. Much of the island can expect 25 to 75mm of rain over the next day or two with the close proximity of the potential cyclone.

Southern and eastern parts of the country are likely to see the heaviest downpours with daily totals approaching 150mm in places.

The rain should ease by Sunday as the tropical disturbance moves into the Arabian Sea.

Any respite from the heavy rain is likely to be short-lived as another tropical system developing near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands may arrive as early as Thursday. (Al Jazeera)

District Returning Officers will call for nominations for elections of 93 Local Government bodies from December 11th to 12 noon on December 14, the Elections Commission said.

The Commission, which convened on Saturday, decided to hold polls for 93 Local Government institutions that are not affected by the issue of the delimitations gazette notification and with no legal obstacles to hold elections.

Accordingly, the announcement with regard to calling for nominations has been issued today (27), the Elections Commission said.

Meanwhile the Commission also said that deposits with regard to the elections could be made with effect from today.

It said that the time period for making deposits would end at 12 noon on December 13.