UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has informed the party working committee of his readiness to step down if his continuation as the leader prevented the unification of the UNP and the main Opposition SJB.

The former president told the WC of his decision at a meeting held at Sirikotha yesterday (17), political sources said.

Expressing his support to the ongoing dialogue between the UNP and the SJB, Wickremesinghe has emphasised the need to bring negotiations to a successful conclusion to pave the way for a strong combined opposition.

UNP is represented by former parliamentarians Thalatha Atukorale, Sagala Rathnayaka and Ruwan Wijewardena whereas Sajith Premadasa leads the SJB in the current talks.

Wickremesinghe has assured that if WC accepted consensus between the UNP and SJB for reunification, he wouldn’t have any issue with that development, sources said.

Reiterating support for talks, Wickremesinghe also said that in case the UNP-SJB talks produced a proposal that he stepped down to enable Sajith Premaadsa or any other person to take over the leadership he would go with the WC stand on that matter, sources said.

Twenty-five Sri Lankans who had been rescued from cybercrime centres in Myawaddy, Myanmar recently were repatriated to Sri Lanka on Tuesday (16), the Sri Lankan embassy in Bangkok said.The operation was carried out through close collaboration between the Embassy and Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka in Thailand, with the active support of relevant authorities in Thailand. As part of these efforts, the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Thailand, Wijayanthi Edirisinghe, together with officials of the Embassy, engaged with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Social Development,

National Security Council, Tak Province and Immigration authorities of Thailand to facilitate necessary clearances and ensure the orderly return of the rescued nationals.

The Mission conveys its appreciation to the Governments of Thailand and Myanmar for their cooperation and assistance in this humanitarian undertaking and also acknowledges the support extended by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Thailand and Sri Lanka and International Non-Government Organisations based in Mae Sot area in Thailand, for extending assistance with international air travel and other logistical arrangements.

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) has expressed serious concern over the intimidation of Editor of Aruna newspaper and directive issued by Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Sunil Watagala regarding action to be taken in terms of Emergency Regulations in respect of criticism of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

The following is the full text of the statement: “TEGOSL expresses concern over two incidents having an adverse impact on freedom of expression

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka (TEGOSL) expresses its grave concern regarding two recent incidents that have an adverse effect on the freedom of expression and media freedom in the Country.

The first instance was the summoning of the Editor of Aruna newspaper by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to record a statement, on its own premise, that a news item published on 19.11.2025 in the newspaper was ‘false’.

The Editors’ Guild notes that the letter summoning the Editor had ignored the basic information of mentioning as to who had lodged the complaint whilst disregarding the basic internationally recognized method of correcting a Purportedly erroneous news item published in a newspaper. This includes the opportunity for the virtual complainant writing directly to the Editor and/or making a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission of Sri Lanka to obtain redress.

The second incident was a statement made by the Deputy Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Sunil Watagala before a group of police officers, instructing them to take action on those who `defame’ the President, considering them as ‘accused’ under the Emergency Regulations. The said statement made in the presence of the Deputy Minister of Media contradicts an earlier statement made by the President himself that Emergency Regulations will not be used for any other purpose other than the management of the disaster situation and therefore anyone is free to criticise. This indicates that different politicians are interpreting the Emergency Regulations promulgated by the President according to their whims and fancies.

The Editors’ Guild is of the view that the Deputy Minister’s statement gives a dangerously misleading signal to the police to abuse the Emergency Regulations by taking criminal measures against media institutions and journalists.

The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka notes with concern that the two above-mentioned incidents carry a chilling effect on the freedom of expression and media freedom in the country and therefore strongly urges the government to prevent the recurrence of such in the future.”