News

Govt. urged to seek extradition of Maulana over C-4 allegations

Published

1 year ago

2024/11/25

Thilina Walpola

Focus on clandestine meetings in B’caloa prison, Wanathavilluwa estate

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Former State Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan aka Pilleyan has refuted unsubstantiated claims made by his wartime Media Secretary Mohammed Milhilar Mohammed Hanzeer alias Azad Maulana in a Channel 4 interview in early Sept. 2023 pertaining to the 2019 Easter Sunday carnage.

Multiple blasts claimed the lives of about 270 people, including 40 foreigners, while nearly 500 sustained injuries.

Chandrakanthan, one-time Chief Minister of the Eastern Province and the leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), has alleged that Maulana, who had been with him during the 2006-2022 period, propagated politically motivated lies in a bid to secure political asylum in Europe.

Chandrakanthan has made his position clear when the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) recently questioned him on Moulana’s accusations. Moulana served both Pilleyan and Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman, one-time LTTE field commander, after the eastern Tigers sided with Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government.

Addressing the media outside the CID headquarters, Chandrakanthan said the CID, the Yahapalana administration had failed to deal with the threat of religious extremism effectively.

Chandrakanthan served as Rural Road Development State Minister during the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government. The TMVP failed to secure at least a single seat at the recently concluded general election. Chandrakanthan contested from the Batticaloa district, where the Illankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) secured three out of five seats. The National People’s Power (NPP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) obtained one seat each.

Maulana has alleged that former chief of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) Maj. Gen. Suresh Sally met Chandrakanthan at the Batticaloa prison where he was held in connection with the 2005 Christmas Day assassination of ITAK MP Joseph Pararajasingham, at St. Mary’s church, Batticaloa.

Maulana also alleged that Maj. Gen. Suresh had met Easter Sunday suicide bombers, including their leader Zahran Hashim on a coconut estate in Vanathavilluwa, Karadiyapuval in the Puttalam district. The whistle-blower is also on record as having claimed that he received a telephone call from Salley on 21 April 2019 morning, the day of the Easter Sunday attacks directing him to pick a person from the Taj Samudra hotel, Colombo.

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry that probed the Easter Sunday attacks as well as a committee headed by retired Supreme Court Justice S.I. Imam, which conducted an investigation into the Channel 4 allegations, found that Maj. Gen Salley was neither in the country nor with the DMI at the time of the alleged meetings in Wanathawilluwa and Batticaloa.

Salley was serving at the Sri Lankan Mission in Malaysia at the time, and was at the National Defence College, India when the National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) mounted the 2019 attacks.

Chandrakanthan told The Island yesterday (24) that those conducting investigation into Maulana’s allegation that Salley had visited him at Batticaloa prison could easily verify that claim with current prison administration. Chandrakanthan said that he had been held in the Batticaloa prison from 2015 to 2020. Among those held in the same prison at the same time were some of those taken into custody in connection with promoting religious extremism.

“No one could have met me at the Batticaloa Prison without the consent of the prison administration,” the former lawmaker said, dismissing claims that the Easter Sunday carnage had been carried out to facilitate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory in the 2019 presidential election. Nothing could be more ridiculous than the claim that religious extremists mounted Easter Sunday attacks to facilitate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s victory while at the same time accusing him of harassing minorities, Chandrakanthan said.

Whatever various interested parties said now, Gotabaya Rajapaksa or any other person fielded by the SLPP at that time could have comfortably won the presidential election, Chandrakanthan said, pointing out that the Local Government polls conducted in Feb 28 indicated in no uncertain terms that the southern electorate would overwhelmingly vote for the SLPP at presidential and parliamentary polls, the former State Minister said.

The Batticaloa High Court acquitted and released five persons, including Chandrakanthan after the Attorney General had informed the court that he wouldn’t proceed with the prosecution.

Chandrakanthan emphasised the responsibility on the part of the incumbent government to take tangible measures to have the so-called whistle-blower extradited as quickly as possible. Chandrakanthan alleged that Maulana was taking advantage of the situation to secure political asylum abroad.

The former parliamentarian urged the government to examine the negligence on the part of the security apparatus to handle a specific intelligence alert.

The ex-MP said that he would fully cooperate with the CID though he could not endorse lies under any circumstances. The crux of the matter was Maulana claimed that secret meetings had taken place in Batticaloa and Vanathavilluwa, where explosives were recovered subsequently, hadn’t been verified, Chandrakanthan said.

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News

Financial contributions received for ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka’ Fund

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

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.

News

UNICEF representatives and PM discuss rebuilding schools affected by the Disaster

Published

1 hour ago

2025/12/22

Priyan

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)

News

NMRA laboratory lacks SLAB accreditation

Published

3 hours ago

2025/12/22

Thilina Walpola

Dr. Sanjeewa

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 ✍️