News
HRCSL urged to stop eviction of people from Divulpothana in EP
By Shamindra Ferdinando
Alleging that attempts were being made to evict people from the Divulpothana village in the Batticaloa District, Ven. Ampitiye Sumanaratne thera, Chief Incumbent of Mangalaramaya, Batticaloa, has called for the immediate intervention of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to protect the rights of the victims.
In a four-page letter dated Oct. 23, 2023 handed over to the HRC on Monday, Ven. Sumanaratne Thera has claimed that the Wickremesinghe-Rajapaksa government has allowed the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to intimidate the people living in Divulpothana and adjoining villages following an understanding the grouping reached with the incumbent administration regarding its support for President Ranil Wickremesinghe at the next presidential election.
The thera has alleged that relevant Mahaweli authorities and police at the behest of political leadership fully cooperated with the TNA and others interested in forcing the Sinhala families out of the Eastern Province.
The monk named TNA Batticaloa District MP Shanakiyan Rasamanickam and Eastern Province Governor Senthil Thondaman of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) as the two main politicians involved in the sordid operation.
Dr. Gunadasa Amarasekera, convenor of the Federation of National Organizations told The Island that the situation was bad, and the law enforcement authorities had prevented Ven. Sumanaratne thera from entering his own temple.
Dr. Amarasekera said that nearly 15 years after the eradication of separatist terrorism brazen attempts were being made to force Sinhalese out of their villages. Referring to the simmering issue over Kurundi temple, Dr. Amarasekera insisted that intimidation of Divulpothana villagers was not an isolated development. “It was all part of a sinister strategy,” he said.
In his letter to the HRC, Ven. Sumanaratne Thera has highlighted what he calls a systematic campaign to deprive the Sinhala community of basic rights afforded to other communities.
Insisting that Divulpothana area has been inhabited by Sinhalese for a long time and there are 86 archaeological sites, the Ven. Thera has recalled how the LTTE carried out massacres to force the Sinhalese and Muslims out of the region. The evicted people hadn’t been able to return to their land until the government brought the war against the LTTE to a successful conclusion in May 2009, the Thera said, pointing out Mangalaramaya temple had intervened on their behalf and built 25 houses and a temple and facilitated efforts to restore normalcy.
The monk has alleged that the yahapalana administration succumbed to pressure from some Tamil and Muslim politicians and forced the people out of their homes after 2016 and allocated the entire area for grazing. Despite repeated appeals, the yahapalana government had turned a blind eye until the change of government following the last presidential election in Nov., 2019 paved the way for the return of the displaced families to Divulpothana and adjacent areas.
Sumanaratne Thera has said that since President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s ouster, the government had succumbed to TNA pressure and was in the process of forcing the Sinhalese out of Divulpothana.
Ven. Sumanaratne has said that Mahaweli authorities moved Eravur Magistrate’s Court against a group of 13 families, alleging that they were forcibly occupying state land. The monk alleged that those who lived there regardless of immense difficulties and threats to their lives were being relentlessly harassed by state officials.
It has been claimed that land is required for grazing of around 700,000 cattle but the number of cattle was 150,000, the Thera’s petition says.
The monk has alleged that following a meeting MP Rasamanickam and EP Governor Thondaman had at the Presidential Secretariat on 15 Oct., a lie had been propagated in and outside parliament via social media that the police deployed in the Eastern Province didn’t carry out instructions issued by President Wickremesinghe.
The monk claimed that subsequently, Karadiyanaru police had prevented him from proceeding towards his own temple in Divulpothana thereby violating his rights.
The monk has alleged that a Buddha statue placed by him at Weheragodalla temple in Divulpothana had disappeared. The monk has urged the HRC to inquire into his complaint and take necessary action.
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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