The travel ban on Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and former Minister of Finance Basil Rajapaksa has been extended to August 4. 

The order was given by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya. On July 27 the courts extended the ban till August 2. 

The ban is connected to the duo being named as respondents in a petition filed over the economic crisis in Sri Lanka. 

The proposed no-confidence motion against Foreign Minister Ravi Karunanayake still hangs in the balance, with former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the de facto leader of the Joint Opposition, yet to give green light for the move, informed political sources said.

The Joint Opposition earlier this week announced that they would move a no-confidence motion against Karuananayake over the latter’s alleged ‘Penthouse’, funded by Perpetual Treasuries boss Arjuna Aloysius.

At the time the Penthouse was leased, Karunanayake was the Finance Minister and Aloysius was already at the centre of the Treasury Bonds controversy.

However, when the matter was discussed at a meeting chaired by Rajapaksa, the former President had said no-confidence motion should be brought against the entire government, not only against Karunanayake.

As a result, the meeting had ended without a final decision on the no-confidence motion against the Foreign Minister.

Speaking to Asian Mirror, a senior member of the Joint Opposition said a final decision on Karunanayake’s no-confidence would be made this week, with the consent of the former President.

“Our stance is that he has to step down from his government. He should tender his resignation, with or without the no-confidence motion,” he said.

Some former local council Chairmen and Deputy Chairmen supporting former President Mahinda Rajapaksa made a request to form a new party and lead the contest for the next Local Government Elections.

This request was made when a group of councilors supporting the 'Joint Opposition' met with the former President at his Coordination Office in Battaramulla.

Former Minister Basil Rajapaksa was also present at the meeting, along with several MPs including Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Prasanna Ranaweera.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Aranayake to meet with people in the area affected by the recent landslide.

Search and rescue operations are still underway to locate 144 people thought to be missing in the landslide.

Hundreds more have been displaced as their houses were destroyed in the landslide which hit the Samasara Kanda (Samasara Hill) on May 17.

Minister of Regional Development Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka today said that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's claims regarding the present government's borrowings are false and misleading.

Rajapaksa had recently claimed that this government has borrowed more than what he had borrowed for major development work.

Fonseka, speaking at a special press conference today, said that Rajapaksa was speaking only about the major loans his government had taken. Rajapaksa has also taken foreign loans of lesser scale which he has not included in his calculations, Fonseka maintained. The government was repaying the debts and interests of numerous such loans, Fonseka added.

Meanwhile, Fonseka also said that the Rajapaksa's cronies transferred huge amounts of money borrowed for mega projects for their personal use. For example, the six lane Southern Highway was reduced to four lanes and the rest of the money just disappeared, he claimed, adding that estimating the amounts of public money stolen in this manner is not an easy task.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that even though his rivals in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party are trying to chase his out of the party, they will have a hard time chasing him away from the party.

He made this observation answering a question put forward by a journalist when he was leaving the Presidential Commission of Inquiry today.

When asked about the plans to form a new party, Rajapaksa said that it should be asked from those who are planning to form the party.

"I am not involved in it. I am currently a member of a party, the SLFP. They try to chase me away, but they will have a hard time chasing me away" he said.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday referred to the SLFP leaders who follow the UNP to the 'Gamarala" or the villager who wanted to visit heaven by clinging on to the elephant's tail.

Speaking at a meeting of former UPFA local councilors in Negombo on Sunday, the former President asked as to what will happen if the Gamarala loses his grip.

In the popular folk tale, the 'Gamarala' grabs onto the elephant's tail, followed by a few of his villagers, when the elephant flies towards heaven. The Gamarala accidentally releases his grip, causing his fall back to the earth, along with the others who cling on.

The elephant, is ironically, the party symbol of the UNP.

In a packed meeting hall, the local councilors passed five resolutions, including one that said the present SLFP leadership should accept the blame for the party's split if it were to happen.

Rajapaksa claimed that 95 percent of the SLFP is with him and challenged the President to sack them all if he dares.

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that the government is misleading people on the Geneva Resolution, saying that the President and the Prime Minister have given assurances to the UNHRC Chief that the resolution will be carried out.

In a statement released today, he said that there was an attempt to portray this UNHRC resolution as a great diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka. "But in reality, it was a great betrayal, comparable to the Kandyan Convention of 1815", he said.

Rajapaksa's statement is given below:

The President and Prime Minister have given the UN Human Rights Commissioner an assurance that last year’s UN Human Rights Council resolution against Sri Lanka will be implemented. This UNHRC resolution was accepted and co-sponsored by the Sri Lankan government and passed by the UNHRC without a vote. The UNP led government accepted the Geneva resolution with the same carelessness with which they entered into the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE in 2002. Though our Ambassador in Geneva tried to negotiate different terms, that was deliberately stopped by the government which insisted on accepting the US sponsored resolution just as it was. There is now an attempt to portray this UNHRC resolution as a great diplomatic victory for Sri Lanka. But in reality, it was a great betrayal comparable to the Kandyan Convention of 1815.

The people should once again be reminded about what exactly has been undertaken by accepting this resolution. In operative paragraphs 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 12, the present government has accepted the report of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights which said that war crimes including the killing of civilians, torture, and the deliberate starvation of people had been committed by our armed forces and they have agreed to set up a war crimes tribunal manned by foreign judges, prosecutors and investigators and funded directly from overseas to try our war heroes for these alleged crimes. Furthermore they have agreed to remove through administrative action members of the armed forces who are suspected of having committed war crimes but against whom there isn’t enough evidence to place before the war crimes tribunal. They have also agreed to make amendments to the Public Security Ordinance and to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

In operative paragraphs 16, 18 and 20, the government has undertaken to devolve power in order to bring about a political settlement Sri Lanka and to do everything undertaken in the resolution under the supervision of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR). It should be borne in mind that the OHCHR that has come in for  heavy criticism by the UN Human Rights Council itself. The UNHRC passes every year (with more than a two thirds majority) a resolution calling upon the OHCHR to end the domination of that office by Westerners and to reduce its dependency on Western funds. The government has thus agreed to place Sri Lanka under the supervision of an institution that is facing criticism by the UNHRC itself for its Western bias. 

Having accepted the Geneva resolution, the government is now adopting various strategies to convince the public that it will not be harmful to the country. We saw the President and Prime Minister in recent days expressing to the international media what seemed to be contradictory views on the participation of foreign judges in the proposed war crimes mechanism. But this was just a drama for public consumption.  It became clear from the President’s Independence Day speech that there is no difference in the stands taken by him and the Prime Minister on the Geneva resolution. The President not only endorsed the decision of the government to implement the Geneva resolution but also accused those opposed to it of misleading the public. He further said in his Independence Day speech that the implementation of the Geneva resolution will only result in promoting democracy, reconciliation and respect for our armed forces. Subsequently, on 6 February the Daily Mirror reported that the SLFP had officially announced at a press conference that the UNP and the SLFP had jointly agreed on the implementation of the Geneva resolution.

The war was won by an SLFP government led by me. It is a matter of profound regret to me that our party has been subordinated in this manner to the UNP which tried to sabotage the war effort at every turn. Many would recall the manner in which the UNP even tried to stop the war by defeating the government at the budget vote in 2007. When that did not work, members of the UNP ridiculed the war effort by saying among other things that ‘any ox can fight a war’ and that ‘while claiming to be advancing on Alimankada the army was actually moving towards Pamankada’. It is not surprising to see such people now trying to exact revenge from those who won the war.

However, I am profoundly saddened to see that a section SLFP has also joined the UNP in this great betrayal. The UNP may be deriving a great deal of satisfaction by thus getting a section of the SLFP which won the war to underwrite every traitorous they commit. I call upon the people of Sri Lanka to unite and resist this attempt by the government to betray the country and our war heroes.”

Amidst speculations of the founding of a new party, former President Mahinda Rajapaksa's new political and public relations office will be opened tomorrow at Nelum Mawatha, Battaramulla.

A number of 'Joint Opposition' MPs who back Rajapaksa are expected to be present at the event.

Rajapaksa and the 'Joint Opposition' was using Abhayaramaya in Narahenpita as the venue for media conferences. However, there is an ongoing court case against the use of Abhayaramaya for political work.

Several key stalwarts of the 'Joint Opposition' recently met at Rajapaksa's residence to discuss the details of forming a new party, political sources said.

Colombo Chief Magistrate Gihan Pilapitiya the General Managers of 79 commercial banks and financial companies to submit a report to the CID regarding three security officers of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, including Captain Tissa Wimalasena.

The other two security officials investigated are Damith Gomin Ranasinghe and Wanniarachchi Neville.

The reports are to inform the CID if the three individuals have deposited money in their institutions or acquired property through them.

The CID made a request from the Magistrate regarding an investigation into alleged money laundering by the three individuals. The investigation is being conducted over a complaint filed by the Anti-corruption Secretariat.

Captain Tissa is said to be connected several murders under the former regime, and is the alleged mastermind of the murder of rugger player Wasim Thajudeen.