venture only the court overturned rajapaksa appointment rulings that it was unconstitutional that made us realize that our media is no longer serving the public interest. review and television with a few honorable exceptions are all kept. much that is not right here but the social media. the last left for us to verify and ask to find out and ask to express social media also played an important role again in trying to be very critical of how the coup is being conducted and exposing the kind. bribery and hands that were being made by sort of new forms of government social media was really important in all of that i shudder to think what could have happened if there was north. block building that fifty one because of that crisis who could have succeeded and that's the problem media is compromised media is corrupt and they have abdicated their public interest rate me. sad but realistic assessment of traditional means tree media. sri lanka social media blockage was supposed to have ended by now but on friday president my three pala siddhis santa said there is still too much misinformation o

rajapaksa joins me now live from colombo a very good to have you with us on al-jazeera can i just get your initial reaction to the statement from the health minister saying that the prime minister was not aware of a security alert and a likely attack. charlie. and i was saying they're usually we're going to implement that as you know. that course it's. going to be. so really really you know. give me one. of the say when we want to go to work. as you know no. action to go to it is clearly. going to be the only. kind of up there because you say you want to work with the government and work alongside them though you are the opposition it's easy for the opposition to blame the government you say you don't want to blame the government but as lawmakers aren't you responsible for the safety of the country because nothing you've done nothing but argue amongst yourselves and end up the world seeing a political rollercoaster in sri lanka this last few months with both the prime minister and the president and even the opposition not being able to work with each other you have a responsibility to

my hindu rajapaksa was the country's president from two thousand and five to two thousand and fifteen under his watch journalists faced heavy government pressure and some paid for their work with their lives in two thousand and nine reporters without borders directly blamed the president and state owned media for inciting hatred and violence against journalists rajapaksa was voted out of office in two thousand and fifteen providing news outlets with some breathing space however late last year his successor tried to bring him back as prime minister. that led to a legal standoff lasting fifty one days over what came to be known as sri lanka's soft coup most mainstream news outlets supported the return of rajapaksa. another but they were with us so they're. hoping this is. a look they can work better than the. eventual or the courts overturned rajapaksa appointment rulings that it was unconstitutional that made us realize that our media is no longer serving the public interest. vested interests. review where they live isn't it a few honorable exceptions are all kept there is much that is

eventual of the court overturned rajapaksa appointment rulings that it was unconstitutional that made us realize that our media is no longer serving the public interest. vested interests. to leave you with a few honorable exceptions are all corrupt there is much that is not right. but the social media is the last left for us to verify to find out and ask to express social media also played an important role again in trying to be very critical of how the coup is being conducted in exposing the kind of pride. three attempts that were being made by the sort of new forms of government though shamir was really important in all of that i shudder to think what would have happened if there was north. block building the fifty one b. as of that crisis the coup could have succeeded and that's the problem media is compromised media is kept and they have abdicated their public interest rate this is sad but realistic assessment of traditional mainstream media. sri lanka social media blockage was supposed to have ended by now but on friday president my three pala sit a santa said there is still too

family the family of the former president mahinda rajapaksa and his brother former defense secretary go top iraq park so who would like to be the president and as announced his intention to run for president for president and they have been talking a lot about the deteriorate what they see is a deteriorating security system situation and you know and paralysis and ineffective governance and so this this attack happening in this context could well be seized on by those forces to say as they've been saying already it's really needs a strong tough effective leadership security oriented leadership with less respect or less concern for human rights and more success. concern for defense and security so that's one possible spin i think we could be seeing on today's events. from the international crisis group thank you feel inside. well there will be plenty more on the sri lanka attacks still ahead on al-jazeera to stay with us. that's what's of dry weather on the cards for the northern parts of asia we do have a sarabande of cloud you can see it here just drifting its way southwards but it'

at a venture only the courts overturned rajapaksa appointment rulings that it was unconstitutional that made us realize that our media is no longer serving the public interest. vested interests. to leave this in with a few honorable exceptions are all corrupt there is much that is not right here but the. the last left for us to verify to find out and ask to express social media also played an important role again in trying to be very critical of how the coup is being conducted and exposing the kind . bribery and hands that were being made by the sort of new forms of government social media is really important in all of that i shudder to think what would have happened if there was north. block building that fifty one because of that crisis the coup could have succeeded and that's the problem media is compromised media is kept and they have abdicated their public interest rate this is sad but realistic assessment of traditional mainstream media. sri lanka social media blockage was supposed to have ended by now but on friday president my three pala siddhis santa said there is still too muc

to power with the present from the old guard, if you like, a former ally of the former president rajapaksa opposition party, the united national party, to form a new coalition, and moderated some of the path of the government in many ways. for instance, one thing, allowing tamil families of disappeared people, of whom there remain hundreds if not thousands, to demonstrate in a way that they hadn't been able to before. so a little political space was opened up but towards the end of last year the president and prime minister fell out very severely. the president actually sacked the prime minister and tried to bring back his former ally mahinda rajapaksa as prime minister. he failed, thanks to court rulings, but both have remained completely at loggerheads since then, which has resulted, it now emerges, according to the cabinet, ministers in the cabinet, it has resulted in the prime minister being excluded from meetings and briefings conducted by the intelligence and security establishment and divisions of the government. we are indebted to the expertise of those at the bbc world service. uk

held areas in the south of the province the hardest hit area was the town of noble so president rajapaksaabout of the one russian leader vladimir putin agreed last september to turn it live into a deescalation zone that agreement is to stop acts of aggression between government forces and rebel fighters the us congress has begun the legal process to obtain the complete report into russia's a legend role in the two thousand and sixteen election last month a summary of the report prepared by special counsel robert muller cleared president donald trump and his campaign team of colluding with russia but there are still other accusations kimberly how it has more from washington d.c. . we need these materials to fulfill our cousin to tional obligations a full and unredacted look at special counsel robert muller's report into donald trump and his political and business circles that's what congressional democrats are demanding and on wednesday voted for the justice department to turn over this committee requires the full report and the underlying materials because it is our job not the attorney g