The National Organizer of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), Member of Parliament Namal Rajapaksa, has responded to accusations related to the Easter Sunday attacks’ probe stating that it is no secret that he visited Sivasathurai Chandrakanthan, alias ‘Pillayan’, while the latter was in prison during the 2018/2019 period.

Rajapaksa made this statement in a post on his ‘X’ account, after his name was mentioned during today’s court proceedings when the progress of investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks was reported to the court by the Attorney General’s Department.

Former Director of the State Intelligence Service (SIS), Suresh Sallay, who is currently being detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), was produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court today.

Sallay was arrested by the CID in February in connection with investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday terror attacks and has since been detained and interrogated under the PTA while investigations continue.

Appearing on behalf of the CID before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, Additional Solicitor General Dileepa Peiris stated that the Easter Sunday terrorist attack had been carried out under the direction of Suresh Sallay with the aim of targeting an election, and claimed that he is the actual ‘mastermind’ of the attack.

He further presented the progress of investigations to the court and stated that former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Minister Basil Rajapaksa, and MP Namal Rajapaksa had visited the Batticaloa Prison after the Easter attacks and met with ‘Pillayan’.

In response to this claim, MP Namal Rajapaksa posted on ‘X’ (formerly Twitter) stating that it is no secret that he visited Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) leader Sivasathurai Chandrakanthan alias ‘Pillayan’ while he was in prison in 2018/19, adding that prison records of his visits are available. 

He further stated that at the time Pillayan was part of the political alliance contesting both the 2015 Presidential Election and the 2018 Local Government Elections.

Namal Rajapaksa also questioned reports that the CID allegedly travelled to France to investigate the Easter Sunday attack, stating that this raises concerns about the government’s priorities, and added that if officers travelled there only to confirm his visit to meet Pillayan, it is clearly “a waste of public funds”. 

He further stated that, to his knowledge, Pillayan is not currently being detained in connection with the Easter attacks and questioned who the government is trying to convince with such “media spectacles”.

Namal Rajapaksa added that the NPP has presented different narratives about the Easter attacks at different times and warned that if the government is using the tragedy to target political opponents, it would be “deeply unfair to the victims and their families, who still deserve genuine answers and justice.”

He further stated that they are ready to face any fair inquiry and will fully cooperate with the CID to clarify any doubts openly and transparently, adding that the government should focus on delivering meaningful results for the people of the country instead of “political drama and media headlines.”

It’s the second vote in as many days, after the Senate defeated a similar measure along party lines. Lawmakers are confronting the sudden reality of representing wary Americans in wartime and all that entails — with lives lost, dollars spent and alliances tested by a president’s unilateral decision to go to war with Iran.

While the tally in the House, 212-219, was expected to be tight, the outcome provided a clarifying snapshot of political support for, and opposition to, the U.S.-Israel military operation and Trump’s rationale for bypassing Congress, which alone has the power to declare war. At the Capitol, the conflict has quickly carried echoes of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and many Sept. 11-era veterans now serve in Congress.

“Donald Trump is not a king, and if he believes the war with Iran is in our national interest, then he must come to Congress and make the case,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

The House also approved a separate measure affirming that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism.

Republicans largely back Trump, and most Democrats oppose the war

Trump’s Republican Party, which narrowly controls the House and Senate, largely sees the conflict with Iran not as the start of a new war, but the end of a government that has long menaced the West. The operation has killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which some view as an opportunity for regime change, though others warn of a chaotic power vacuum.

Republican Rep. Brian Mast of Florida, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly thanked Trump for taking action against Iran, saying the president is using his own constitutional authority to defend the U.S. against the “imminent threat” the country posed.

Mast, an Army veteran who worked as a bomb disposal expert in Afghanistan, said the war powers resolution was effectively asking “that the president do nothing.”

For Democrats, Trump’s attack on Iran, influenced by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is a war of choice that is testing the balance of powers in the Constitution.

“The framers weren’t fooling around,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., arguing that the Constitution is clear that only Congress can decide matters of war. “It’s up to us.”

While views in Congress are largely falling along party lines, there are crossover coalitions. The war powers resolution, if signed into law, would have immediately halted Trump’s ability to conduct the war unless Congress approved the military action. The president would likely veto it.

Trump officials provide shifting rationale for war

After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump has scrambled to win support for a conflict that Americans of all political persuasions were already wary of entering. Trump administration officials spent hours behind closed doors on Capitol Hill this week trying to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.

Six U.S. military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait, and Trump has said more Americans could die. Thousands of Americans abroad have scrambled for flights, many lighting up phone lines at congressional offices as they sought help trying to flee the Middle East.

Trump said Thursday he must be involved in choosing Iran’s new leader. Yet House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said this week that America has enough problems at home and is not about to be in the “nation-building business.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that the war could extend eight weeks, twice as long as the president first estimated. Trump has left open the possibility of sending U.S. troops into what has largely been a bombing campaign by air. More than 1,230 people in Iran have died.

The administration said the goal is to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles that it believes are shielding its nuclear program. It has also said Israel was ready to act, and American bases would face retaliation if the U.S. did not strike Iran first. On Wednesday, the U.S. said it torpedoed an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka.

“This administration can’t even give us a straight answer of as to why we launched this preemptive war,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, the Republican from Kentucky, an outlier in his party.

Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who had teamed up to force the release the Jeffrey Epstein files, also pushed the war powers resolution to the floor, past objections from Johnson’s GOP leadership. Another Republican, Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio, a former Army Ranger, was also expected to back the war powers resolution.

Johnson has warned that it would be “dangerous” to limit the president’s authority while the U.S. military is already in conflict.

“Congress must stand with the president to finally close, once and for all, this dark chapter of history,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas.

Rep. Yassamin Ansari, D-Ariz., said that as the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled their homeland, she celebrates Khamenei’s death. But she warned that a democratic transition for the people of Iran never seems to a priority for Trump and his officials who briefed lawmakers.

“War carries profound and deadly consequences for our troops, for the American people and for the entire world,” she said. “It’s the most serious decision that a nation can make and the American people deserve debate, transparency and accountability before that decision is made.”

Other Democrats have proposed an alternative resolution that would allow the president to continue the war for 30 days before he must seek congressional approval. It is not expected yet for a vote.

Senators sit in their desks for solemn vote

In the Senate, Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts during Trump’s second term. This one, however, was different.

Underscoring the gravity of the moment Wednesday, Democratic senators filled the chamber and sat at their desks as the voting got underway.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said before the vote that every senator will pick a side. “Do you stand with the American people who are exhausted with forever wars in the Middle East or stand with Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth as they bumble us headfirst into another war?”

Sen. John Barrasso, second in Senate Republican leadership, said “Democrats would rather obstruct Donald Trump than obliterate Iran’s national nuclear program.”

The legislation failed on a 47-53 tally mostly along party lines, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in favor and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., against it.

An Islamic Revolutionary Guard general warned Tuesday that continued US-Israeli attacks would see Iran conduct reprisals against “all economic centres” in the Middle East.

“We are saying to the enemy that if it decides to hit our main centres, we will hit all economic centres in the region,” said Ebrahim Jabbari.

“We have closed the Strait of Hormuz. Currently, the price of oil is above US$80 and will soon reach US$200,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian news agency ISNA, as Brent crude climbed above US$85 for the first time since July 2024.

Source: AFP

– Agencies

The area’s success at attracting capital from around the world over the years and diversifying away from oil could also make it a threat to global markets.

“Moved to Qatar to hide from taxes now I am hiding from Missiles,” a worker in the finance sector, who has been documenting the volleys of Iranian airstrikes from his balcony, quipped on X.

While the U.S. has military bases in the region that have also been targeted, analysts say Iran’s strategy is to inflict pain on America’s Mideast allies, including the United Arab Emirates, hoping they will pressure President Donald Trump to end combat operations.

Until then, however, social media is filling up with images of luxury hot spots literally on fire as Iran continues to lob missiles and drones at them.

An airstrike on Dubai’s Fairmont The Palm Hotel sparked a fire while also spreading panic on the famous Palm Jumeirah artificial island, where many of the city’s wealthiest residents live.

Smoke was also seen near the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, after a drone appeared to be intercepted and exploded. And in nearby Abu Dhabi, debris from another drone impacted the Etihad Towers. Kuwait City’s international airport was also attacked by a drone.

Meanwhile, DP World suspended operations at the Jebel Ali port—the largest container port in the Middle East and a key piece of Dubai’s economy—after a berth caught fire because of debris from an intercepted missile.

The port and adjacent free-trade zone account for 36% of Dubai’s GDP, and hundreds of ships near the Strait of Hormuz have frozen in place out of concern that Iran will close the vital chokepoint.

On top of that, the attacks from Iran have caused airspace to shut down around the Gulf, which has emerged as a major global airline hub that’s also a major driver of the regional economy.

“What is happening in UAE could be catastrophic, unless they pressure Trump [to] defeat Iran quickly and decisively or to fold (taco) right away,” Marko Kolanovic, former chief strategist at JPMorgan, warned on X. “With 88% of expats, tourism, finance, air and shipping exposure, this can also send shockwaves globally.”

He pointed out that Dubai suffered a real estate crisis in 2009 and 2010 that was largely contained to the city, but still had implication for global financial markets.

“This situation is much worse,” Kolanovic added.

A key question for Dubai’s future is how many expats will flee and whether they will eventually come back, now that their illusion of safety has been shattered.

Dubai has long cultivated an image of iron-clad security with many residents leaving their cars and homes unlocked. But Iran’s attacks have sparked a rush to airports, and panic-buying in some supermarkets.

“This is Dubai’s ultimate nightmare as its very essence depended on being a safe oasis in a troubled region,” Cinzia Bianco, a scholar at the European Council on Foreign Relations, posted on X. “There might be a way to be resilient but there is no going back.”

The Court of Appeal today issued a writ order annulling the decision of the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court to issue summons directing former President Maithripala Sirisena to appear before the court in relation to a private complaint filed regarding criminal negligence for failing to prevent the Easter Sunday terrorist attacks.

A five-judge bench of the Court of Appeal delivered this order while delivering the decision on a writ petition filed by former President Maithripala Sirisena, said Ada Derana reporter.

However, the bench also stated that this judgment will not be an obstacle to continuing the relevant legal proceedings before the Fort Magistrate’s Court if new evidence is presented.

Pakistani police and military forces killed over a 100 “Indian-backed terrorists “ in counterterrorism operations across the restive southwestern province of Balochistan over the past 40 hours, government officials said on Sunday, a day after coordinated suicide and gun attacks killed 33 people, mostly civilians.

The raids began early Saturday at multiple locations across Balochistan, and left 18 civilians, including five women and three children, and 15 security personnel dead, authorities said.

Sarfraz Bugti, the provincial chief minister, told reporters in Quetta that troops and police officers responded swiftly, killing 145 members of “ Fitna al-Hindustan,” a phrase the government uses for the allegedly Indian-backed outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, or BLA. The number of militants killed over the past two days was the highest in decades, he said.

“The bodies of these 145 killed terrorists are in our custody, and some of them are Afghan nationals,” he said. Bugti claimed that the “Indian-backed terrorists” wanted to take hostages but failed to make it to the city center.

He spoke alongside senior government official Hamza Shafqat, who often oversees such operations against insurgents in the province, and praised the military, police and paramilitary forces for repelling the assaults.

Militant attacks erupted on Saturday in a resource-rich region where Pakistan is seeking to attract foreign investment in mining and minerals. In September 2025, a U.S. metals company signed a $500 million investment agreement with Pakistan, a month after the U.S. State Department designated BLA and its armed wing as a foreign terrorist organization.

Residents described scenes of panic after a suicide bombing killed several police officers on Saturday.

“(It) was a very scary day in the history of Quetta,” said Khan Muhammad, a local resident. “Armed men were roaming openly on the roads before security forces arrived.”

Bugti repeatedly accused India and Afghanistan of backing the assailants and said senior leaders of the BLA, which claimed responsibility for the latest attacks in Balochistan, were operating from Afghan territory. Both Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegations.

He said on Sunday Afghanistan’s Taliban had pledged under the 2020 Doha agreement not to allow Afghan soil to be used as a base for attacking other countries, but “unfortunately, the Afghan soil was still being used against Pakistan.”

Tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan have persisted since early October when Pakistan carried out airstrikes on what it described as Pakistani Taliban hideouts inside Afghanistan, killing dozens of alleged insurgents.

Bugti said militants stormed the home of a Baloch laborer in Gwadar and killed five women and three children. He condemned the killings. He said the attackers had planned to seize hostages after storming government offices in Quetta’s high-security zone but were thwarted. “We were aware of their plans, and our forces were prepared,” he said.

The BLA is banned in Pakistan and has carried out numerous attacks in recent years, often targeting security forces, Chinese interests and infrastructure projects.

Authorities say the group has operated with support from the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. The TTP, a separate group, is allied with Afghanistan’s Taliban, who returned to power in August 2021.

Balochistan has long faced a separatist insurgency by ethnic Baloch groups seeking greater autonomy or independence from Pakistan’s central government. The BLA regularly targets Pakistani security forces and has also attacked civilians, including Chinese nationals among the thousands working on various projects in the province.

Source: AP

–Agencies

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian warned on Sunday that any attack on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be considered a declaration of “all-out war” against the Iranian nation, following a sharp exchange of rhetoric with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Pezeshkian’s comments, posted on social media platform X, come amid heightened tensions after Trump told Politico on Saturday that it was “time to look for new leadership in Iran.”

“Any attack on our great leader will be tantamount to an all-out war against the Iranian nation,” Pezeshkian wrote.

The Iranian president also blamed Washington for the country’s economic struggles, citing “longstanding hostility” and “inhumane sanctions” imposed by the United States and its allies as the primary drivers of hardship for the Iranian people.

The diplomatic spat intensified earlier on Saturday when Khamenei labeled Trump a “criminal,” holding him responsible for casualties and damages sustained during recent periods of domestic unrest in Iran.

Relations between Tehran and Washington have remained fraught since Trump’s return to the White House, characterized by a continuation of the “maximum pressure” policy and frequent verbal confrontations between the two leaderships.

– Agencies

Venezuela’s deposed leader Nicolas Maduro arrived at a New York court on Monday to face drug charges while the U.N. was to debate the legality of U.S. President Donald Trump’s extraordinary operation to capture him.

In the biggest U.S. intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, Special Forces swooped into Caracas on helicopters at the weekend to smash through Maduro’s security cordon and nab him at the door of a safe room.

Maduro and his also-captured wife Cilia Flores were taken by armed guards soon after 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Monday from a Brooklyn detention center to a helicopter that whisked them to the Manhattan federal court where they faced a midday hearing.

Maduro is accused of overseeing a cocaine-trafficking network that partnered with violent groups including Mexico’s Sinaloa and Zetas cartels, Colombian FARC rebels and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.

Maduro, 63, has long denied the allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on Venezuela’s oil.

OIL ASPIRATIONS

Senior officials from his 13-year-old government remain in charge of the South American oil producer of 30 million people, first spitting defiance then pivoting to possible cooperation with the Trump administration.

Though denouncing Maduro as a dictator and drug kingpin who flooded the U.S. with cocaine, Trump has made no bones about wanting to share in Venezuela’s oil riches.

It has the world’s largest reserves – about 303 billion barrels, mostly heavy oil in the Orinoco region. But the sector has long been in decline from mismanagement, under-investment and U.S. sanctions, averaging 1.1 million bpd output last year, a third of its heyday in the 1970s. After first denouncing Maduro’s capture as a colonial oil-grab and “kidnapping”, Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez changed her tune on Sunday, saying it was a priority to have respectful relations with Washington.

“We invite the U.S. government to work together on an agenda of cooperation,” Rodriguez said. “President Donald Trump, our peoples and our region deserve peace and dialogue, not war.” The daughter of a leftist guerrilla, the 56-year-old Rodriguez has been a fiery member of the ruling “Chavista” movement – named for late leader Hugo Chavez – earning her praise as a “tigress” from Maduro.

But she is also known as a pragmatist with good connections in the private sector and a belief in economic orthodoxy. Many Venezuelans know her for the luxury clothes she likes to wear.

Trump has threatened another strike if Venezuela does not cooperate with opening its oil industry and stopping drugs. Trump also threatened Colombia and Mexico and said Cuba’s communist government “looks like it’s ready to fall”.

Just how the U.S. would work with a post-Maduro government, full of sworn ideological enemies, is unclear. He appears to have sidelined for now the Venezuelan opposition, where many anti-Maduro activists had assumed this would be their moment.

Amid global consternation at Trump’s seizure of a foreign head of state – albeit an unpopular one – the U.N. Security Council was due to debate its legality and implications.

Russia, China and leftist allies of Venezuela have condemned the U.S. raid. Caracas’ staunchest backer Cuba, long rumored to be in charge of Maduro’s security, said 32 of its military and intelligence personnel died during the U.S. operation.

Washington’s allies, most of whom did not recognize Maduro as president due to vote-rigging allegations, have been more muted, stressing the need for dialogue and adherence to law.

“Judging by the reactions from European leaders to date, I suspect that U.S. allies will equivocate exquisitely in the Security Council,” said International Crisis Group analyst Richard Gowan.

Switzerland froze assets held by Maduro and associates.

MADURO AND WIFE HELD IN NOTORIOUS PRISON

Maduro, a former bus driver, union leader and foreign minister named by the dying Chavez to replace him in 2013, is likely to be in a cell for 23 hours a day at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center. Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell both passed through and denounced inhumane conditions there.

Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras convicted of drug trafficking charges before being pardoned in December by Trump, was also housed there.

Trump has additionally justified Maduro’s capture as a response to an influx of Venezuelan immigrants – one in five left during the country’s economic collapse – and the nationalization of U.S. oil interests decades ago.

“We’re taking back what they stole,” Trump said on Sunday, adding that U.S. oil companies will return to Venezuela.

“We’re in charge.”

VENEZUELANS NERVOUS ABOUT FUTURE

Inside Venezuela, Maduro opponents have kept celebrations on hold as his allies remain in power and there is no sign of the military turning against them, even though many suspect some insiders helped in Saturday’s operation.

Venezuelans have been stocking up on food and medicines in case of instability, but streets are quieter than normal as everyone wonders what is coming next.

On global markets, Venezuela’s default-stricken government bonds surged, oil prices edged up and stock markets rose in Asia and Europe as investors bought defense shares after the raid on Venezuela stirred fresh geopolitical concerns.

To the disappointment of Venezuela’s opposition and diaspora, Trump has dismissed the idea of opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado taking over, saying she lacks support.

Machado was banned from the 2024 election but has said her ally Edmundo Gonzalez won overwhelmingly and thus has a mandate to rule.

Trump’s raid has created a political storm in the U.S., with opposition Democrats saying they were misled. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was due to brief top lawmakers later on Monday.

While a handful of conservative figures have criticized the Venezuela operation as a betrayal of Trump’s “America First” pledge to avoid foreign entanglements, most supporters have largely praised it as a swift, painless win.

Source: Reuters

– Agencies