The Department of Meteorology stated that, showery conditions are expected to enhance in the southwestern part of the island from tomorrow (June 10), with strong wind gusts over the island and in the sea areas around the island.

Accordingly, the general public is requested to be attentive to future forecasts issued by the Dept. of Meteorology in this regard.

Several spells of showers will occur in Western, Sabaragamuwa and North-western provinces and in Kandy, Nuwara-Eliya, Galle and Matara districts.

Showers or thundershowers may occur at a few places in the Northern and Uva provinces during the afternoon or night.

Fairly strong winds of about 30-40 kmph can be expected at times over Western slopes of the central hills and in Northern, North-central, North-western and Southern provinces and in Trincomalee district.

The general public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne announced to Parliament that Chief Opposition Whip Gayantha Karunathilaka has withdrawn from the three-member Parliamentary Committee that was appointed to investigate and report on a complaint received regarding the actions of Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Dayasiri Jayasekara.

The Speaker made this announcement to Parliament on Friday at the commencement of Parliamentary business.

Accordingly, the Speaker announced that SJB MP Rauff Hakeem has been appointed to replace Karunathilaka.

The committee was appointed on May 20, after considering a complaint that was received regarding the conduct of Jayasekara in the Parliament Chamber. Deputy Chairperson of Committees MP Hemali Weerasekara will serve as the Chairperson of this Committee, while the other member will be Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath.

Addressing the House on Friday, MP Karunathilaka questioned the Speaker on appointing unnecessary investigation committees for minor incidents, which in the past too he had chaired and been part of, that ultimately bore no result where no reports of the findings have been produced. Karunathilaka said that this was the reason why he withdrew from this committee to investigate and report on the complaint received on actions of MP Dayasiri Jayasekara.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested the Assistant Commissioner of Anuradhapura Prison for allegedly abusing the Presidential pardon system during Vesak celebrations.

The investigation was launched following a complaint filed by the Presidential Secretariat on June 6, alleging that unauthorised inmates had been released, in addition to those officially approved under the Presidential pardon programme.

It has been revealed that a number of inmates were illegally released under the guise of the Presidential Pardon granted for Vesak this year.