News
Public Security Minister stands his ground on those violating ban on protests and rallies
By Saman Indrajith
Public Security Minister Rear Admiral (Retd) Sarath Weerasekera told Parliament yesterday (09) that anyone who violated health guidelines to hold demonstrations and rallies would be arrested and produced before courts.
The Minister said so following various remarks made by government and Opposition MPs on police arresting protestors, including the General Secretary of the Ceylon Teachers’ Union, for agitating near the Parliament roundabout on Thursday against the Kotelawala National Defence University Bill.
Minister Weerasekera: We will enforce law against any law breakers without considering their position or status. The Director General of Health Services has issued orders to the IGP not to allow any demonstrations, rallies and protests.
UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe: People have a right to stage protests. It is wrong to arrest them. Those taken into custody including Joseph Stalin have been taken to Mullaithivu. There are no provisions for that in the Quarantine Act. The quarantine laws cannot take precedence over human rights. Such laws have to be prepared in line with protection of human rights. They have not been tested for coronavirus.
Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa: These laws can be enforced only by a Competent Authority. In this issue the competent authority is the Director General of Health Services. There are guidelines on how to behave in public places. Police have no role here. Suppose there is a violation of quarantine law, then the police cannot nab the people; only health officials can deal with them. This is a clear violation of human rights. Police have also violated health regulations by arrogating the duties of the health officers to themselves. We demand to know on what basis those including Joseph Stalin were sent for quarantine without testing them. What prevails today is the law of the jungle.
JVP Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake: After Basil Rajapaksa took oaths, many gathered at public places to celebrate his appointment. We saw there were many public gatherings. Nobody was arrested.
Minister Weerasekera: We will arrest anyone who breaks the law. It is the health officers who prescribed banning of protests and rallies. They have been taken to Mullaithivu on the orders of health officials. I have not transported dresses for any women. When I heard a complaint that a group of people being taken to quarantine could not take their personal belongings, I referred the matter to the IGP. If I did the same in this case, you would accuse me of taking clothes to Stalin. We would not stop the quarantine process because there are statements. We will not stop arresting anyone staging protests breaking health regulations.
The Leader of the Opposition: There wasn’t a single health official in or outside the court. That is the bitter truth. Do not those health regulations apply to the parties that were held after swearing in of Basil Rajapaksa? Everybody saw how people got together to light firecrackers.
State Minister of Rural Roads and Other Infrastructure Nimal Lanza: I want to know whether we are following the items of today’s order paper. The Opposition tries to disrupt House proceedings by raising various irrelevant issues. They have turned the House business into a mockery. We demand that attention should be paid to the items mentioned in the order paper and they be implemented.
(Opposition MPs shout at State Minister Lanza. Some SJB MPs raise points of order)
Speaker Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena: What is the point of order? Do not disturb the parliament process. This is ugly. Your leaders have agreed to conduct the business of the House in an orderly manner.
(SJB MPs shout slogans)
JVP Leader Dissanayake: Laws have been written down. Laws are not what is being created inside the head of the minister.
The Speaker: Time is for presenting public petitions. Present the petition.
JVP leader Dissanayake: This is the petition of the entire nation. We hope to go before the law against this act.
Kuruengala District SJB MP Nalin Bandara: Minister Weerasekera sent Stalin to Mullaitivu and Piyumi Hansamali to Bandarawela.
Family sources have confirmed that the interment of singer Latha Walpola will be performed at the General Cemetery Borella on Wednesday (31 December).
In an environmental initiative commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Sri Lanka Navy, the Western Naval Command organized a cleanup programme at Galle Face Beach on Saturday (27 Dec 25).
The programme focused on the removal of substantial solid waste littering the beachfront, including accumulated plastic and polythene debris. All collected wastey was systematically disposed of utilizing methods designed to safeguard the sensitive coastal ecosystem.
Demonstrating a strong commitment to the cause, the cleanup effort saw the participation of the Commander Western Naval Area and a group of over 200 naval personnel.
Sri Lanka’s environmental protection framework is rapidly eroding, with weak law enforcement, politically driven development and the routine sidelining of environmental safeguards pushing the country towards an ecological crisis, leading environmentalists have warned.
Dilena Pathragoda, Managing Director of the Centre for Environmental Justice (CEJ), has said the growing environmental damage across the island is not the result of regulatory gaps, but of persistent failure to enforce existing laws.
“Sri Lanka does not suffer from a lack of environmental regulations — it suffers from a lack of political will to enforce them,” Pathragoda told The Sunday Island. “Environmental destruction is taking place openly, often with official knowledge, and almost always without accountability.”
Dr. Pathragoda has said environmental impact assessments are increasingly treated as procedural formalities rather than binding safeguards, allowing ecologically sensitive areas to be cleared or altered with minimal oversight.
“When environmental approvals are rushed, diluted or ignored altogether, the consequences are predictable — habitat loss, biodiversity decline and escalating conflict between humans and nature,” Pathragoda said.
Environmental activist Janaka Withanage warned that unregulated development and land-use changes are dismantling natural ecosystems that have sustained rural communities for generations.
“We are destroying natural buffers that protect people from floods, droughts and soil erosion,” Withanage said. “Once wetlands, forests and river catchments are damaged, the impacts are felt far beyond the project site.”
Withanage said communities are increasingly left vulnerable as environmental degradation accelerates, while those responsible rarely face legal consequences.
“What we see is selective enforcement,” he said. “Small-scale offenders are targeted, while large-scale violations linked to powerful interests continue unchecked.”
Both environmentalists warned that climate variability is amplifying the damage caused by poor planning, placing additional strain on ecosystems already weakened by deforestation, sand mining and infrastructure expansion.
Pathragoda stressed that environmental protection must be treated as a national priority rather than a development obstacle.
“Environmental laws exist to protect people, livelihoods and the economy,” he said. “Ignoring them will only increase disaster risk and long-term economic losses.”
Withanage echoed the call for urgent reform, warning that continued neglect would result in irreversible damage.
“If this trajectory continues, future generations will inherit an island far more vulnerable and far less resilient,” he said.
Environmental groups say Sri Lanka’s standing as a biodiversity hotspot — and its resilience to climate-driven disasters — will ultimately depend on whether environmental governance is restored before critical thresholds are crossed.
By Ifham Nizam ✍️
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