News
Drug dealers should be hanged: Commissioner of Prisons
Five schoolboys and 21 women among those on death row
The southern Province has become a hotbed of underworld activities, Commissioner of Prisons and Media Spokesman Jagath Weerasinghe has said, warning that large-scale drug traffickers are destroying the nation’s future.Speaking at a ceremony held in Nawalapitiya, recently, Commissioner Weerasinghe revealed that 826 individuals were on death row in Sri Lanka’s prisons. Among them were five schoolboys and 21 women, he said.
Weerasinghe described the rise in violent crime and narcotics trade as a “moral collapse,” noting that the South, despite being known as a province with a high literacy rate, had now become a criminal hotspot with numerous contract killings and gang-related activities reported daily.
“I cannot understand how such an educated society has produced people who kill for money,” Weerasinghe said. “Those who bring drugs into the country on a large scale are destroying the entire nation. They must be hanged.
There is nothing sinful about it.”
Weerasinghe said drug trafficking was at the root of most of the country’s social problems, adding that enforcing the death penalty on major drug lords would serve as a deterrent.
Weerasinghe called for stringent measures to curb the spread of narcotics.
Sri Lanka has maintained a de facto moratorium on the death penalty for several decades, despite capital punishment remaining in the statute books for the most serious crimes. Successive Presidents have refrained from signing execution orders, influenced by human rights considerations, international pressure, and concerns about judicial fallibility.
Public opinion periodically shifts in favour of resuming executions during surges in violent crime, creating a persistent debate between deterrence and humanitarian principles.
Advocates for the abolition of the death penalty argue that life imprisonment sufficiently ensures public safety, while opponents believe executions could curb drug trafficking, murders and other such grave crimes. The moratorium endures as the government weighs justice against human rights.
Latest News
Payment of Compensation to the people who have lost their cultivable lands in implementing the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project
Approval has been granted at the Cabinet meeting held on 27-06-2012 to provide cultivable agricultural lands from the lower Uma Oya valley to 276 farming families in Hali-Ela, Walimada, and Uva Paranagama Divisional Secretariat Divisions who have lost their cultivable lands due to the acquisition of lands for the
Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project.
However, the aforementioned proposal could not be implemented due to the encroachment of a large portion of the identified lands by unauthorized persons, heavy forest cover, the threats posed by wild elephants, remoteness from their original settlements, and difficulties in adapting to other environmental conditions and social anomalies.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers has approved the resolution furnished by the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Land, and Irrigation to pay an estimated compensation of Rs. 12 lakhs for each of these 276 farming families, based on the
recommendations submitted by the Cabinet Sub-Committee appointed to provide solutions for the issues arising in the implementation of the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project.
Policy approval was granted at the Cabinet meeting held on 07.04.2025 to prepare a draft bill to establish the Chartered Institute of Media Professionals of Sri Lanka in order to accomplish the requirement of a training institution to carry out studies in order to create chartered media professionals and mould intelligent media personalities with skills in order to enhance the quality and standard of the media society.
Clearance of the Attorney General has been received for the final draft prepared by the Legal Draftsman for the purpose.
Accordingly, the Cabinet of Ministers granted approval to the resolution furnished by the Minister of Health and Mass Media to publish the draft bill of Chartered Institute of Media Professionals of Sri Lanka in the Government Gazette Notification and thereafter submit the same for the concurrence of the House.
The Telecommunication Levy Act No. 21 of 2011 has enabled provisions to impose telecommunication levy. The budget 2026 has proposed to introduce amendments for the act including changes imposed from time to time regarding the telecommunication levy.
Accordingly, the Legal Draftsman has formulated a draft bill for
amending the Telecommunication Levy Act No. 21 of 2011 including provisions to extend applicable to envisage all the tax amounts applicable from the year 2015 along with the telecommunication levy existing at present, applicable of taxes on unrecovered revenue (bad debts) and to extend the provisions of that act to cater the telecommunication suppliers.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved the resolution furnished by the President in his capacity as the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to publish the said draft bill in the Government Gazette Notification and subsequently to submit the same for the concurrence of the House.
Payment of Compensation to the people who have lost their cultivable lands in implementing the Uma Oya Multipurpose Development Project
Draft Bill of the Chartered Institute of Media Professionals of Sri Lanka to be Gazzated
Telecommunication Levy Act No. 21 of 2011 to be amended
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Vesak week from 27 May to 02 June
Free Tourist Visas for Passport Holders of 39 Countries
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