News
Previous regime ignored 97 early warnings on Easter carnage – Defence Secy
The previous government had ignored 97 early warnings about the impending Easter Sunday attacks, Defence Secretary Maj. Gen. (Retd) Kamal Gunaratne said, addressing a gathering of professionals at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute recently.
The event organised by the “Harimaga organization” was themed “Post COVID-19 Renaissance – Present and future development of Sri Lanka.”
Gunaratne said national security and defence were essential for the country’s development.
“These two are also crucial in attracting much-needed direct foreign investment to the country,” he said, alluding to the President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s election manifesto – Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour.
“Although separatism was militarily defeated in May 2009, we need to eliminate the separatist ideology. Some individuals of the Tamil diaspora are constantly promoting this ideology,.”.
Following the war 12,242 ex-LTTE cadres had been rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society. However, some remnants of front organisations of the LTTE were still attempting to indoctrinate and recruit the rehabilitated cadres, he said.
Referring to the Easter Sunday suicide attacks in 2019, the Defence Secretary said that if those responsible had listened to the intelligence agencies the attacks could have been prevented. “Our military intelligence operatives were imprisoned and harassed. This caused gaps in our intelligence information. This allowed extremists to operate scot-free and under the radar” he said.
In contrast the current administration took intelligence information seriously and because of that a number of detections had already been made, Gunaratne said. The security forces had found over 1.5 kilos of high explosives and over 90 detonators from Mannar.
“In addition, the military has also taken a few remote control devices into custody. If we also overlooked these incidents, none of these would have been recovered. We will never leave room for separatism from the North to rise or extremism from the East to spread fear and destruction in this country ever.”
The Defence Secretary also mentioned the steps taken to eliminate drug syndicates that had been operating from prison cells. “To deal with this, we appointed capable officers in charge of the Prisons Department and the Police Special Task Force,” he said.
Speaking about the initiatives taken to change the existing system in prisons, Gunaratne said a maximum security prison was already under construction to detain serious criminals and drug smugglers. Meanwhile mobile phone jammers had already been installed at the Boossa and the Angunakolapelessa prisons.
He also revealed plans to enhance the welfare of prisoners and to reduce overcrowding in prisons.
“We have taken steps to increase facilities to rehabilitate drug addicts. A special Centre, with state-of- the-art facilities, to accommodate over 1,000 inmates is now under construction at Nittambuwa. Another facility will be constructed at Weerawila to accommodate 2,000 inmates”, he added.
The Defence Secretary highlighted the plans to curb illegal sand mining and prevent illegal encroachments especially in the Western Province. A special unit had been established at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to investigate public complaints, he said.
Commandant of the Police Special Task Force (STF) DIG Waruna Jayasundara, Commissioner General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya and Chairperson Harimaga organization Kanishka de Silva were also present.
The Government’s ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund, established to provide relief and support to communities affected by Cyclone Ditwah, continues to receive financial contributions on a daily basis.
Accordingly, the Containers Transport Owners Association made a financial contribution of Rs. 1.5 million, while the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers contributed Rs. 1.35 million to the Fund.
The respective cheques were formally presented to the Secretary to the President, Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake, at the Presidential Secretariat on Friday (19).
The occasion was attended by W. M. S. K. Manjula, Chairman of the Containers Transport Owners Association, together with Dilip Nihal Anslem Perera and Jayantha Karunadhipathi.
Representing the Association of SriLankan Airlines Licensed Aircraft Engineers were Deshan Rajapaksa, Samudika Perera and Devshan Rodrigo handed over the cheque.
A meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya and a delegation of UNICEF representatives was held on Saturday, (December 20) at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister explained the measures taken by the Government to ensure the protection of the affected student community and to restore the damaged school system, as well as the challenges encountered in this process.
The Prime Minister stated that reopening schools located in landslide-prone areas would be extremely dangerous. Accordingly, the Government is focusing on identifying such schools and relocating them to suitable locations based on scientific assessments.
The Prime Minister further noted that financial assistance has been provided to students affected by the disaster, enabling parents to send their children back to school without an additional financial burden. Emphasizing that school is the safest place for children after their homes, the Prime Minister expressed confidence that the school environment would help restore and improve students’ mental well-being
The Prime Minister also highlighted that attention has been given to several key areas, including the relocation of disaster-affected schools, restoration of school infrastructure, merging and operating certain schools jointly, facilitating teaching and learning through digital and technological strategies, and providing special transportation facilities. She emphasized that the Government is examining these issues and is committed to finding long-term solutions.
The UNICEF representatives commended the Government’s commitment and the initiatives undertaken to restore the education sector and assured their support to the Government. Both parties also discussed working together collaboratively on future initiatives.
The meeting was attended by the UNICEF representatives to Sri Lanka Emma Brigham, Lakshmi Sureshkumar, Nishantha Subash, and Yashinka Jayasinghe, along with Secretary to the Ministry of Education Nalaka Kaluwewa, Director of Education Dakshina Kasturiarachchi, Deputy Directors Kasun Gunarathne and Udara Dikkumbura.
(Prime Minister’s Media Division)
Drug controversy:
“Setting up state-of-the-art drug testing facility will cost Rs 5 billion”
Activists call for legal action against politicians, bureaucrats
Serious questions have been raised over Sri Lanka’s drug regulatory system following revelations that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority’s (NMRA) quality control laboratory is not accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB), casting doubt on both the reliability of local test results and the adequacy of oversight of imported medicines.
Medical and civil rights groups warn that the issue points to a systemic regulatory failure rather than an isolated lapse, with potential political and financial consequences for the State.
Chairman of the Federation of Medical and Civil Rights Professional Associations, Specialist Dr. Chamal Sanjeewa, said the controversy surrounding the Ondansetron injection, which was later found to be contaminated, had exposed deep weaknesses in drug regulation and quality assurance.
Dr. Sanjeewa said that the manufacturer had confirmed that the drug had been imported into Sri Lanka on four occasions this year, despite later being temporarily withdrawn from use. The drug was manufactured in India in November 2024 and in May and August 2025, and imported to Sri Lanka in February, July and September. On each occasion, 67,600 phials were procured.
Dr. Sanjeewa said the company had informed the NMRA that the drug was tested in Indian laboratories, prior to shipment, and passed all required quality checks. The manufacturer reportedly tested the injections against 10 parameters, including basic quality standards,
pH value, visual appearance, component composition, quantity per phial, sterility levels, presence of other substances, bacterial toxin levels and spectral variations.
According to documents submitted to the NMRA, no bacterial toxins were detected in the original samples, and the reported toxin levels were within European safety limits of less than 9.9 international units per milligram.
Dr. Sanjeewa said the credibility of local regulatory oversight had come under scrutiny, noting that the NMRA’s quality control laboratory was not SLAB-accredited. He said establishing a fully equipped, internationally accredited laboratory would cost nearly Rs. 5 billion.
He warned that the failure to invest in such a facility could have grave consequences, including continued loss of life due to substandard medicines and the inability of the State to recover large sums of public funds paid to pharmaceutical companies for defective drugs.
“If urgent steps are not taken, public money will continue to be lost and accountability will remain elusive,” Dr. Sanjeewa said.
He added that if it was ultimately confirmed that the drug did not contain bacterial toxins at the time it entered Sri Lanka, the fallout would be even more damaging, severely undermining the credibility of the country’s health system and exposing weaknesses in health administration.
Dr. Sanjeewa said public trust in the health sector had already been eroded and called for legal action against all politicians and public officials responsible for regulatory failures linked to the incident.
by Chaminda Silva ✍️
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