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Violation of Iranian sovereignty: Rahman alleges NPP following Indian line like a stooge

Published

7 months ago

2026/03/5

Mujibur Rahman

Opposition MP Mujibur Rahman said that Indian and Sri Lankan responses to the targeted assassination of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei were similar.

PM Narendra Modi’s BJP and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s NPP remained silent on the joint US-Israeli sneak attack on Iran, while it was engaged in negotiations with those same nations. Top SJB spokesman Rahman told The Island yesterday. Both governments speak of the rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East without making any reference to US-Israeli aggression, the Colombo District lawmaker said.

President Dissanayake cut a sorry figure in Parliament, on Tuesday, when he dealt with the developing situation in the Middle East, MP Rahman said. Acknowledging that both India and Sri Lanka had been deeply trapped in the US machinations, MP Rahman questioned the failure on the part of President Dissanayake to at least mention the killing of over 700 Iranians, including their supreme leader.

Pointing out that President Dissanayake is the leader of both the NPP and the JVP, MP Rahman said that both political parties, particularly the latter, owed an explanation regarding the government’s response to the situation. The former UNPer said that if the JVP/NPP still remained in the Opposition, with just a handful of MPs, they would have demanded from whoever had the parliamentary majority to condemn Khamenei’s assassination. They would have definitely launched protests opposite the US Embassy here, Rahman said, alleging that the incumbent dispensation seemed to be ensnared in US political-military-social project.

Commenting on severe Congress criticism of the Indian government’s silence over Khamenei’s assassination and violation of Iranian sovereignty, lawmaker Rahman alleged that the NPP government seemed to be following the Indian line. The MP asserted that both countries acted in a similar manner when the US abducted Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on 03 January.

MP Rahman said that the US and Israel unleashed terror close on the heels of PM’s Modi’s visit to Tel Aviv, his second to the Jewish state since 2017.

Responding to The Island queries, MP Rahman said that when he dealt with the situation in the Middle East, in the aftermath of US-Israeli actions, Dr. Rizvie Salih, MP, was on the Chair. “I used that opportunity to ask Deputy Speaker Salih how he remained silent when the NPP pursued policies contrary to his beliefs. NPP’s response to Khamenei’s assassination proved that they have completely shed their original policies,” MP Rahman said.

MP Rahman said that the seven MoUs the NPP government entered into with India in April last year, and the new understanding with the US, had compromised the country. The SJBer said that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government declaration of a one year moratorium on foreign research vessels’ visits to Sri Lanka, in 2024, was made under duress. That moratorium remained though the NPP government promised to announce its decision, MP Rahman said, adding that Sri Lanka no longer could decide on matters of importance on its own.

The outspoken lawmaker said that Iran supported Sri Lanka’s development efforts. According to him, the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project (UOMDP), the main Iranian funded project here, was launched in April 2008. The project was inaugurated in April 2024, the MP said, adding that former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who had been here for the inauguration of the project during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time, was also killed in the ongoing war.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who served as Iranian President, from 2005 until 2013, was killed in an Israeli-US air strike on his residence at Narnak, north-east of Tehran the Iranian Labour News Agency reported on Sunday.

MP Rahman said that those who had been fighting for the rights of women and children were conveniently silent over the deaths caused by US-Israel attacks on a girl’s school at Minab causing the deaths of 165 children and staff.

By Shamindra Ferdinando

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Geneva takes up Sallay’s case and govt. ignores opportunity to answer accusations

Published

20 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

Suresh Sallay

The government has chosen not to respond to questions raised by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) regarding the detention of retired Maj. Gen. Suresh Sallay in connection with the ongoing investigations into the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested the ex-official in late February this year. The Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health and the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers have jointly raised the issue on 20 July, 2026.

Drawing attention of President Anura Kumara Dissanayake to what they called alleged arbitrary detention of Sallay, former Director General of the State Intelligence Service (SIS) and former Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), as well as allegations of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in custody, resulting in the grave deterioration of his health, and imminent risks of retaliation through further torture and ill-treatment resulting in irreparable harm, should he be released from hospital and returned to custody, the UN sought the government explanation with a 60-day period.

The UN has stated: “This communication, and any response received from your Excellency’s Government, will be made public via the communications reporting website at the 60 days mark. Should your Excellency’s Government respond within 60 days, both the communication and the response, may be published before the 60 days mark. The communications and responses

will also be made available in the subsequent periodic report to be presented to the Human Rights Council.”

In the absence of the government’s response, the UN posted the letter, dated 20 July, 2026, addressed to President Dissanayake. The full letter can be accessed https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=31125

News

Section of wartime KKS High Security Zone vacated to facilitate economic development in the area

Published

20 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

The Army, last week, vacated an area, within the wartime high security zone in the Jaffna peninsula. The Defence Ministry said that an extent of 187.56 acres of land, belonging to the Cement Corporation in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna, has been released by the military. The released land, located in Grama Niladhari Division J/233, Kankesanthurai West, within the Valikamam North (Tellippalai) Divisional Secretariat Division, had been utilised by the Sri Lanka Army since the middle of 1997.

The release of the 187.56-acre extent forms part of the initiative to make State land available for the proposed investment zone in Kankesanthurai, thereby facilitating future investment and economic development in the area.

News

Lawyer lodges complaint against Govt. Printer, Media Ministry Secy.

Published

20 hours ago

2026/10/5

Thilina Walpola

A complaint has been lodged with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau against the Government Printer and the Secretary to the Ministry of Media regarding the online release of falsified documents bearing a forged Speaker’s certificate.

Attorney-at-Law Aruna Laksiri has lodged a complaint with the Colombo Fraud Investigation Bureau requesting legal action against the Government Printer of the Department of Government Printing (No. 118, Dr. Danister de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 08), Prasanna Jayaratne, and the Secretary to the Ministry of Mass Media (Asidisi Medura, 163, Kirulapone Mawatha, Polhengoda, Colombo 05), Dr. Anil Jasinghe.

The complaint alleges the commission of offences by forging and uploading falsified documents online using a forged Speaker’s certification, failure to perform statutory duties, and misappropriation of public property.

The complaint states that a copy of the English translation of the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution was downloaded and printed from the official website of the Government Printing Department (www.documents.gov.lk), which operates under the Ministry of Mass Media. On its outer cover and on page 1, the text “certified on 25th of September, 2026” is inscribed inside brackets.

The complaint pointed out that the Speaker has certified an English translation. Under Articles 23, 79, 83, and 80 of the Constitution, Parliament enacts laws and the Speaker certifies bills strictly in the Sinhala and Tamil languages; under the Constitution, therefore the Speaker cannot apply such certification to an English translation.