News
Nationalist groups ask govt. to repatriate Rohingyas
Nationalist Organisations have strongly objected to government providing refugee status to Rohingyas from Myanmar. In an open letter to Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananda Wijepala, the grouping has urged the government to send back those who arrived in northern Sri Lanka to Myanmar,
Excerpts of the letter: We are addressing this letter to present our grave concern over the arrivals of Rohingyas from Myanmar. The latest arrival of 113 Rohingyas on Dec 19, 2024 and the announcement by the Minister Wijayapala that a further 100,000 Rohingyas is expected to arrive prompted us to present some facts to the Government.
As per UN Refugee Council, there are 2.6m IDPs in Myanmar & 1.3m refugee/asylum seekers from Myanmar hosted in other countries. However, UN Member States are cutting humanitarian funding – from 70% in 2021, to 60% in 2022 & 30% in 2023. In 2023 WHO cut food rations from $12 per person to $8 per person.
Australia is also reducing aid to its NGOs supporting 390,000 Rohingyas ($11.2m in 2020 to $6.4m in 2023 which also covers NGO admin costs). Australia refuses to allow Rohingyas to resettle in Australia.
There are 1.1m Rohingyas living in Bangladesh detention camps since 2017. Rohingyas have been arriving in Bangladesh from Myanmar since 1970s with 30,000 new borns in the camps each year. The Bangladeshi goverment has accused Rohingyas of numerous crimes and the 2012 Ramu violence, displacing the indigenous people of the Chittagong Hill Tracts and importing narcotic drugs. To address this, the Bangladesh government proposed to relocate Rohingyas to a remote island (Bhasan Char) but was prevented by UNHCR. However, with increase in influx, the government proceeded to build 100,000 homes and relocated 20,000 Rohingyas in the island in December 2020.
The former Bangladeshi PM in 2022 asked the international community to help solve the Rohingya crisis Bangladesh was experiencing. The Bangladeshi government was spending $350million from its own resources to temporarily relocate 100,000 Rohingyas while Bangladesh spends $1.22billion every year for the Rohingyas alone. The former Bangladeshi PM said the refugees have caused loss of biodiversity, loss of forest area of around 6500 acres of land and “immeasurable adverse effects on the local population”.
Sri Lanka is facing an economic crisis of its own and has no financial wherewithal to spend on illegal arrivals and the situation Bangladesh is facing should be clear lessons for Sri Lanka, of the problems that may arise.
Sri Lanka is only just coming out of an economic bankruptcy declared crisis. Cost of living is skyrocketing, inflation is at an all-time high, the inequality-gap is widening, the government has an arduous task of resolving the problems of its own citizens first. We have 121,000 Sri Lankans displaced since 2021 from natural disasters and another 11,000 Sri Lankan refugees from the 30-year armed conflict who are still living in refugee camps and not resettled. Sri Lanka’s government must address these anomalies first.
Leaving aside the genuineness of asylum/refuge seekers, transporting people to another nation by boat for a payment is part of a global human smuggling/human trafficking/modern slavery that is a $150billion annual profitable “business” (ILO 2014) involving 50million people which includes forced sexual exploitation, domestic work, forced labour in agriculture and other economic activities, prostitution ($99b), pedophilia, child sex and marriage. As per ILO the business was generating $44b annual profits in 2005.
India and Bangladesh governments have also raised serious concern over Rohingya links to terror groups as well. This leads to the question of whether there is a link to local agents including politicians and NGOs who are part of the international human smuggling network who are promoting transportation of illegals by boats and pressuring governments to accept them. This entails the GoSL to open an investigation into all persons in Sri Lanka taking an unusual interest in keeping illegal boat arrivals in Sri Lanka.
As per the statement issued by Public Security Minister Ananda Wijayapala, the present group of Rohingyas that arrived in December 2024 had paid to be taken by boat and the boat had been arrested after entering Sri Lanka’s territorial waters and thereafter had claimed asylum/refugee status. If they had paid to be taken in boats to other countries, they cannot be categorised as refugees/asylum seekers. Sri Lanka cannot and should not become a hub for any form of human trafficking/modern slavery and its associated criminal activities.
Thus, the Government must request UNHCR to desist from encouraging refugees to arrive in nations that are not signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention. Parking refugees for an unspecified period and thereafter looking for nations to accept them is not a solution and results in unnecessary problems for both refugee and temporary host nation.
We also observe there is a political element in the pressure being exerted on the government using the term “humanitarian” to accept an influx of Rohingyas. If the transportation of people by boat is part of the global human smuggling racket, the government should investigate if those promoting to accept these “refugees” be they politicians or NGOs picketing, to be on the human smuggling payroll. The sudden call to establish an immigration/emigration centre to issue visas in East Sri Lanka cannot be a coincidence and questions whether it will be used to provide visa for illegals arriving on boats. The involvement of Opposition political parties/MPs in this issue may well be to create a new problem to bring the government into disrepute and make it unpopular amongst the public. Therefore, the government must not embrace any new problems that it cannot handle.
Interdicted Deputy Director at the National Hospital, Sri Lanka (NHSL) Dr. Rukshan Bellana yesterday (29) alleged that the powers that be moved against him for seeking the CIABOC (Commission to Investigate Allegations of Bribery or Corruption) investigation into a massive fraud at the NHSL laboratory.
Dr. Bellana said so in response to The Island query regarding the circumstances the Health Ministry interdicted him on 18 December, through a letter, as directed by the Health Committee of the Public Service (PSC) Commission. “That letter has been signed by an Additional Secretary, as Health Secretary Dr. Anil Jasinghe was overseas,” Dr. Bellana said.
Dr. Bellana stated that the government had paid for reagents, contaminated or close to expiry dates, obtained from a leading local medical supplier, since 2022. He emphasised that his complaint to the CIABOC, and subsequent complaint to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), were entirely based on the issues raised by the National Audit Office (NAO).
Responding to another query, Dr. Bellana said that the public funds, amounting to Rs. 900 mn, had been spent on chemical reagents past expiry dates. Regardless of the intervention made by the NAO, the NHSL continued to procure supplies from the same company, Dr. Bellana said, adding that he had received the unconditional support of the civil society. Among them were Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, President of Medical and Civil Rights Professional Association of Doctors (MCPA), President of Academy of Health Professionals Ravi Kumudesh, and leader of Mage Rata Sanjaya Mahawatta.
Dr. Bellana said that he had complained about the scam to the CIABOC in June this year.
Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, who also lodged a complaint with CIABOC, regarding the same matter, is on record as having said in September this year that the reagents had been procured over a three-year period without the proper approval of the Medical Supplies Division of the Ministry. Dr. Sanjeewa has alleged that some of the reagents were either contaminated or close to expiry dates, while contracts had been given to a single company at unapproved prices.
Dr. Bellana said that had there been a proper system for CIABOC and law enforcement authorities to act on findings made by the NAO they wouldn’t have personally intervened in the NHSL laboratory matter. “Parliament should look into this. Did Parliament take up the NHSL laboratory matter at the relevant watchdog committee or at the Sectoral Oversight Committee that handled health?” Dr. Bellana asked.
Asked whether the letter that informed him of his interdiction gave any specific reason for the action taken, Dr. Bellana said the Ministry had found fault with him for speaking to the media. The irate ex-official said that he never hesitated to take a stand against injustice. “When former Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella was accused of corruption, pertaining to medical procurement, I condemned the Minister. Lambasted those responsible for wrongdoings.”
Dr. Bellana said that the NAO had dealt with mega crime involving the public and private sector. “That is the undeniable truth. Parliament should look into this as public money is its responsibility. Having vowed to stamp out corruption, the NPP was allowing and encouraging those who had been making money at the expense of the sick, Dr. Bellana said.
Dr. Bellana said that as many as 10,000 tests were conducted daily at the NHSL. The racketeers had been active during Aragalaya as the NHSL and the private supplier reached agreement in 2022 and the process continued even after the last presidential election, conducted in September 2024.
Dr. Bellana said that the long delay in finalising the Auditor General’s appointment exposed the government. If those holding high political office were genuinely interested in fighting corruption, they wouldn’t have allowed that Office of AG stay vacant even for a day.
Dr. Bellana noted the tough statements issued by the Bar Association, Transparency International Sri Lanka and the Committee on Public Finance demanding the immediate appointment of AG.
Health Ministry officials were not available for comment.
By Shamindra Ferdinando
BIA unions, including those affiliated to political parties, are demanding bonuses equal to five months’ basic salaries.
A group of workers yesterday (29) protested outside BIA urging the Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka (Private) Ltd to increase their bonuses. They claimed that the Chairman of Airport and Aviation Services Sri Lanka (Private) Ltd., Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Harsha Abeywickrama, had assured them that they would be paid bonuses worth five times their basic salaries.
The SriLankan Nidahas Sewaka Sangamaya (SLNSS) of the airport, the Podujana Sewaka Sangamaya, the Pragathishili Sewaka Sangamaya, the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, and the SLNSS of SriLankan Airlines joined the protest.
The Sri Lanka Mahaweli Authority has issued an urgent safety warning to residents living along the banks of the Kotmale Oya and the Mahaweli River, as water levels in the Kotmale Reservoir are reaching maximum capacity.
According to a special weather advisory issued by the Department of Meteorology on December 26, 2025, heavy rainfall is expected in the catchment areas over the coming days.
In response, the Mahaweli Authority released a statement on December 27, warning that spill gates may have to be opened to manage the water flow.
Eng. A.M.A.K. Seneviratne, Resident Engineer and Deputy Director of the Kotmale Reservoir, stated that the opening of spill gates would lead to a significant rise in the water levels of both the Kotmale Oya and the Mahaweli River.
Areas on Alert
Residents in the following Divisional Secretariat divisions are urged to remain extra vigilant:
• Nuwara Eliya District: Kotmale West and Kotmale East.
• Kandy District: Udapalatha, Udunuwara, Doluwa, Pasbage Korale, and Ganga Ihala Korale.
Authorities have advised the public in these low-lying and river-adjacent areas to monitor the situation closely and take necessary precautions to ensure their safety and the protection of their property.
By S.K. Samaranayake
Trump hopes to reach phase two of Gaza ceasefire ‘very quickly’
Bangladesh’s first female prime minister Khaleda Zia dies aged 80
Ukraine denies drone attack on Putin’s residence
Showers expected at times in the Northern, Eastern, Central, North-central and Uva provinces
Dr. Bellana: “I was removed as NHSL Deputy Director for exposing Rs. 900 mn fraud”
BIA unions demand bonuses equal to five months’ basic salaries
‘Dates have the highest sugar content to fight Coronavirus’
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