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Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa has warned that the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution poses a grave threat to judicial independence and the rule of law.

He made the remarks speaking to the media after attending the hearing of petitions against the amendment at the Supreme Court yesterday (01).

Premadasa accused the governmentof eroding democratic norms despite being elected to safeguard them.

He said that his party, the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, has joined several other groups in challenging the amendment through the highest court in the country.

Single-party rule

Premadasa said that the proposed changes violate established international norms governing the judiciary.

He noted that legal bodies, including the Commonwealth Lawyers Association, have already voiced serious concern that the amendment weakens the judicial framework.

He claimed the government is pushing the legislation to consolidate power and establish single-party dominance.

He pointed to recent changes in youth society elections and civil security committee appointments as further proof of a broader push to dilute democratic institutions.

Calls for a referendum

Because power is shared across the executive, legislature, and judiciary, Premadasa argued that a measure with such wide-reaching impact must be put to a national referendum rather than decided solely by a parliamentary vote.

He stressed that protecting judicial independence remains non-negotiable under both local and international legal standards.

He added that the NPP government is failing to resolve critical domestic issues, including industrial decline and rising unemployment, while offering inadequate remedies to the public.

Rather than restricting democratic freedoms, the Opposition Leader urged the government to fulfill its original mandate by introducing a new constitution, abolishing the executive presidency, and expanding the fundamental rights chapter.

A Sri Lankan-origin Australian couple and their two young sons are among dozens of Australians still missing after catastrophic floods devastated areas along the Nepal-Tibet border, according to Australian media reports.

Chandrasekaran Muralitharan, 47, his wife, Shylaja Muralitharan, 42, and their sons Ashwin, 14, and Aarush, 11, were travelling with a Himalayan Glacier Adventures group when contact with them was lost.

The family lives in northwestern Sydney. Chandrasekaran is originally from Kopay in Jaffna, while he and his wife are first-generation Sri Lankan migrants to Australia, according to reports from Sri Lankan and Australian media. Their two sons were born into the Australian Tamil diaspora.

The family was on a pilgrimage to the Mount Kailash region when the floods struck on August 26.

Relatives said their last contact with the family came on the morning of the disaster. They were preparing to have breakfast before travelling toward the border for immigration formalities, ABC News reported.

Their family was unable to reach them after that call as floods and landslides destroyed roads, electricity supplies and communications across large parts of the affected region.

The Muralitharans were travelling with a tour group that included 15 Australians. Members of the group were believed to have been near Rasuwagadhi, close to the Nepal-China border, when the disaster struck.

Australian authorities said Monday that 43 Australians remained unaccounted for following the floods. Many were pilgrims travelling through Nepal toward Tibet to visit Mount Kailash.

The wider disaster has become one of the deadliest Himalayan floods in recent years.

For relatives of the Muralitharan family, however, attention remains focused on finding the four missing family members.

Shylaja's sister told Australian media that relatives were continuing to seek information from authorities and the tour operator while hoping the family had managed to reach safety.

Reports said the pilgrimage had been particularly important to Shylaja and that the family had spent considerable time preparing for the journey.

The family's Sri Lankan roots have also drawn attention from members of the Sri Lankan community at home and in Australia as the search continues.

Australian emergency personnel have been deployed to Nepal to assist consular and response operations, while officials are working with local authorities to account for missing citizens.

As rescue teams continue searching the devastated border region, the Muralitharan family remains among those whose whereabouts have not been confirmed.

(ABC)

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) has dismissed as contradictory the allegations being levelled against Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa over the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and his current political conduct.

The party made its position clear at a press conference held at its headquarters in Pitakotte, where SJB Teldeniya organiser and Working Committee member Mahesh Senanayake addressed journalists on the matter.

Senanayake said that the ruling party had earlier accused Sajith Premadasa of engineering opposition to the 22nd Amendment through the President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

He said it was ironic that certain non-parliamentary opposition groups were now making the opposite claim, alleging that the Opposition Leader was instead negotiating deals with the government.

He said one camp accused Premadasa of mobilising resistance to the amendment while another accused him of siding with the government, and noted that both claims could not logically stand together.

He said that these allegations were baseless and stated that Sajith Premadasa's only commitment was to the people of the country.

Senanayake also noted that the SJB remained the official opposition, having been chosen through a popular mandate, and said the public was closely observing the conduct of self-declared joint opposition groups operating outside Parliament.

Senanayake said the proposed 22nd Amendment and the question of judicial independence had generated debate both within Sri Lanka and abroad.

He noted that bodies such as the International Commission of Jurists and the Asian Bar Association, along with UN Special Rapporteurs, were following developments relating to judicial independence and democratic governance in the country.

He said a responsible government was obliged to respond to such international queries with clarity and transparency, adding that failure to do so would only invite further scrutiny of the country's democratic institutions.

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Former Aviation Minister Piyankara Jayaratne has been sentenced to seven years of rigorous imprisonment by the Colombo High Court after being found guilty of bribery charges.

The sentence was handed down by the Colombo High Court in connection with the bribery case against the former minister.

The Government is pursuing legal reforms that could allow certain individuals to serve their sentences under house arrest instead of being imprisoned, Cabinet Spokesperson Minister Nalinda Jayatissa said today (01).

Speaking at the weekly Cabinet media briefing at the Department of Government Information, Jayatissa said discussions on the proposed changes are already underway, with legislation being drafted to give effect to several judicial reforms.

He said the proposed measures form part of a wider effort to address challenges within Sri Lanka’s justice and prison systems.

Among the reforms under consideration is a mechanism to reduce overcrowding in prisons by permitting eligible individuals to serve sentences outside prison under house arrest.

The Government is also looking at measures to speed up reports issued by the Government Analyst’s Department, as delays in such reports can affect the progress of legal proceedings.

According to Jayatissa, legal changes are also being considered to provide bail to individuals who are unable to secure release due to difficulties in meeting existing bail requirements.

The Minister said these proposals are being pursued alongside broader reforms to the judicial system.

He added that a proposal to increase the retirement age of judges is also being examined as part of the wider judicial reform programme.

The proposed changes are currently at the discussion and legislative drafting stage, and further legal steps would be required before they can take effect.

The government has failed to adequately address key international concerns regarding the proposed extension of the retirement age for superior court judges, according to a detailed analysis by Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Member of Parliament and Attorney-at-Law Ajith P. Perera.

In a document titled “The Defence Is Worse Than the Crime,” which reviewed the government's response to an inquiry sent by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Perera stated that official explanations left four of the seven central questions unanswered and two only partially addressed.

The controversy centers on the proposed 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, which seeks to increase the retirement age of Supreme Court judges from 65 to 67 and Court of Appeal judges from 63 to 65, while introducing a six-year term limit for the Chief Justice subject to the mandatory retirement age of 67.

Pepera argued that executive assurances failed to provide evidence of broad-based stakeholder engagement prior to policy approval.

He noted that a meeting between President Anura Kumara Dissanayake and representatives of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka took place after Cabinet had already approved the measures and published the Bills in the Gazette, which did not constitute genuine prior consultation.

Perera also challenged the government's justification that extending judicial tenure would alleviate severe court backlogs, pointing out that official figures failed to demonstrate how a two-year extension would resolve delays.

Furthermore, he highlighted data indicating that approximately 95 percent of pending cases as of mid-2025 were concentrated in District Courts and Magistrates' Courts rather than the apex courts, leaving the primary source of judicial delay unaddressed by the amendment.

Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) Member of Parliament Dayasiri Jayasekera has formally requested clarification from Speaker Dr Jagath Wickremaratne regarding a series of allegations directed against Chief Justice Preethi Padman Surasena.

In a letter dated 31 August, the opposition legislator inquired whether the Speaker had received supporting documentary evidence from any members of parliament and what action had been taken to refer the matter to authorized asset-investigating agencies.

The inquiry follows public controversy surrounding the high-profile X-Press Pearl litigation, which recently generated widespread national interest.

The Kurunegala District lawmaker questioned whether official channels had engaged statutory bodies empowered to probe the financial assets and declarations of the head of the judiciary and his immediate family.

The specific matters raised in the correspondence included allegations regarding the acquisition of valuable real estate in Colombo by the Chief Justice's son and the circumstances surrounding that transaction.

The letter requested clarification on reports concerning the birth and marriage certificates of the Chief Justice as well as the birth records of his children.

Jayasekera also sought to clarify whether the Speaker was contemplating legal or administrative remedies to safeguard the dignity and reputation of the judiciary in the event that the allegations were established to be false.

The Department of Wildlife Conservation has taken steps to construct additional ponds in Yala National Park to provide drinking water for wild animals affected by the prevailing drought.

Yala Park Warden A.T.R. Ravindra said existing ponds and water holes are also being restored as part of the effort to address the shortage of water.

He said water is being transported from the Menik Ganga by bowsers to fill the ponds and water holes inside the park.

Meanwhile, herds of wild elephants from forest reserves in Okkampitiya and Maligawila have been visiting the Illukpitiya Tank day and night in search of water.

However, the tank has now run dry, leaving only a muddy pool in its centre.

Authorities said water sources across the forests have dried up due to the prevailing drought, leaving wild animals among the worst affected.

Sri Lanka recorded a significant widening of its merchandise trade deficit to USD 6.5 billion during the first seven months of 2026, driven by a surge in motor vehicle and fuel import costs.

Official economic data for the period ending July 2026 underscores how sharp increases in import expenditure alongside lower export revenues have strained the national trade balance.

Fuel imports remained a major contributor to the growing trade gap, with cumulative spending rising 59.9 percent year on year to reach USD 3.622 billion between January and July 2026.

Monthly fuel import costs stood at USD 453 million in July, representing a 68 percent jump compared to July 2025 due to higher crude oil purchases, despite a slight decline from the USD 465 million recorded in June.

Motor vehicle imports for both commercial and personal use reached USD 241 million in July, bringing the seven-month total for vehicle imports to USD 1.495 billion.

The widened trade deficit of USD 6.5 billion contrasts sharply with the USD 3.9 billion reported during the same period in 2025.

Despite these import pressures, gross official reserves reached USD 6.6 billion by the end of July 2026, supported by Central Bank foreign exchange purchases and an ongoing swap facility with the People's Bank of China.

Financial markets reflected this volatility as the Sri Lankan rupee depreciated 5.5 percent against the US dollar by late August 2026, though recent monetary, fiscal, and macroprudential measures have prompted a slight rebound in currency values.