Former Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka | General Secretary, ITAK
Joined August 2010
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What does system change mean?
For many people that meant fairer institutions, less political interference and equal treatment before the law. Does system change mean transferring detention authority from a minister to a ministry secretary?
-Lionel Bopage groundviews.org/2026/10/30/t…
The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce called for a careful review of recent draft legislation to ensure that it provides clear definitions, appropriate judicial oversight, and adequate due process safeguards. economynext.com/sri-lanka-tr…
Could These New Laws Take Away Your Rights? | Bhavani Fonseka youtu.be/kd3lMgrM0yA?si=YIwu… via @YouTube
//…the Dissanayake gov…pledged to repeal the PTA. Both bills presented in October replicate some of the worst aspects of the PTA, shifting abusive provisions to create parallel legal structures outside existing criminal law and without basic safeguards// hrw.org/news/2026/10/29/sri-…
“..entrenches impunity and risks reviving the conditions that enabled arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment under the PTA,...It allows …secret trials and it removes virtually all the safeguards designed to prevent the abuse of police power” dailymirror.lk/breaking-news…
//Former MP M. A. Sumanthiran and other current and former parliamentarians who attended the meeting also expressed concerns over the potential implications of the proposed laws for fundamental rights and the rule of law.// newswire.lk/2026/10/26/sajit…
//Most importantly to secure support of the public and non-gov sector in …creating a society where all citizens are equal, gov needs to keep to its pledges of doing away with draconian … PTA. Wihout replacing it with even more draconian legislation.// dailymirror.lk/opinion/The-G…
M A Sumanthiran retweeted
#ITAK has requested a meeting with the President in respect of the #Mylathamadu #Mathavanai grazing land issue
Thank you, Sanjee Goonetilake for sharing this. I have quoted this instance too in recent discussions to highlight the fact that although our position has always been that PTA must be repealed and not be replaced with another law, whenever such a move happened we engaged in those discussions. Not only for CTA, but for ATA as well. The discussion you have quoted also shows that. However, on all of these instances in the past, the #JVP stayed away from these discussions saying that the #PTA must be repealed in toto and not be replaced and that therefore they will not engage in that process!! Now I have discovered that another ploy of the security sector is to propose alternative laws and when it is opposed, not proceed with it, resulting in the PTA continuing to be extant. This time in my submissions with regard to the #PSTA in the Supreme Court, I invited the Court to determine that ONLY clause 72 is consistent with the Constitution. Clause 72 repeals the PTA, without more. Even so, I have argued to bring back the Bail granting powers of the Magistrate that was there in the original draft and moved to improve several other clauses, especially the definition of terrorism, which is a catch all phrase.
I REPEAT: PTA must be repealed without a replacement. But if another law is anyway going to be passed, it cannot be worse than the PTA, which is what PSTA is. Further, it is such a betrayal by the JVP who were more strident than us that there should not be a replacement, themselves to act against the mandate given to them, and worse, try to enact a more draconian law in its place.
M A Sumanthiran retweeted
NPP’s hypocrisy is staggering. Every single NPP MP in Matara signed the petition demanding the #PTA repeal when @MASumanthiran and @ShanakiyanR brought it to Weligama. Now they’re ready to back the #PTSA . What they opposed then, they’re prepared to impose in power.
#lka
//The pledge applied to “these provinces,” the former Kandyan kingdom, and not to the coastal regions Britain had held since 1796. The article promised protection. It did not rank Buddhism above any other religion.// jaffnamonitor.com/featured/r…
“SL has spent four decades trying to rid itself of the PTA. PSTA is meant to replace it. …it keeps much of the old machinery. That matters beyond the human-rights lobby, because the EU’s GSP+ trade concession depends on it,” says the JAAF in a statement. sundaytimes.lk/261018/busine…
M A Sumanthiran retweeted
#SriLanka’s Human Rights Commission flags enduring militarisation in Tamil-majority areas
17 years after civil war ended, militarisation remains a persistent feature of governance and land use in the north & east, says @HRCSL report
thehindu.com/news/internatio… via @the_hindu
ත්රස්තවාදය වැළක්වීමේ නව පනත දරුණු පනතක් - නීතියක් නැතිව අවුරුද්දක් තියා... youtu.be/J2iW4-SMnig?si=oUGt… via @YouTube
M A Sumanthiran retweeted
MEDIA RELEASE | 17 October 2026
Political Council of Tamil-Speaking Peoples Writes to Government on Health Assistants’ Uniform Issue
Following the recent recommendations of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Political Council of Tamil-Speaking Peoples has written to the Minister of Health regarding the uniform regulations for Health Assistants.
The Council emphasises the importance of respecting cultural and religious sensitivities while maintaining professional standards and patient safety, and avoiding unnecessary communal tensions.
In response to the Minister’s invitation in Parliament to submit proposals, we have sought an update on the committee announced by the Minister, its progress, and the timeframe for reviewing the existing uniform regulations.
We remain committed to contributing towards a fair and practical solution, while recognising that responsibility for policy decisions rests with the Government.
Shanakiyan Rasamanickam
Convenor
Political Council of Tamil-Speaking Peoples
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ஊடக அறிக்கை | 17 ஒக்டோபர் 2026
சுகாதார உதவியாளர்களின் சீருடை விவகாரம் தொடர்பில் தமிழ் பேசும் மக்களின் அரசியல் பேரவை அரசாங்கத்திற்கு கடிதம்
இலங்கை மனித உரிமைகள் ஆணைக்குழுவின் அண்மைய பரிந்துரைகளைத் தொடர்ந்து, தமிழ் பேசும் மக்களின் அரசியல் பேரவை, சுகாதார உதவியாளர்களின் சீருடை விதிமுறைகள் தொடர்பில் சுகாதார அமைச்சருக்குக் கடிதம் ஒன்றை அனுப்பியுள்ளது.
கலாசார மற்றும் மத உணர்வுகளுக்கு மதிப்பளிக்கும் அதேவேளை, தொழில்சார் தரநிலைகளையும் நோயாளர்களின் பாதுகாப்பையும் உறுதிப்படுத்துவதுடன், தேவையற்ற இன மற்றும் மத ரீதியான பதற்றங்களைத் தவிர்ப்பதன் முக்கியத்துவத்தையும் பேரவை வலியுறுத்துகிறது.
பாராளுமன்றத்தில் முன்மொழிவுகளைச் சமர்ப்பிக்குமாறு அமைச்சர் விடுத்த அழைப்பிற்கமைய, அவர் அறிவித்த குழுவின் நியமனம், அதன் செயற்பாடுகளின் முன்னேற்றம் மற்றும் தற்போதைய சீருடை விதிமுறைகளை மீளாய்வு செய்வதற்கான காலவரையறை தொடர்பில் விளக்கம் கோரியுள்ளோம்.
நியாயமானதும் நடைமுறைச் சாத்தியமானதுமான தீர்வொன்றை எட்டுவதற்கு எமது ஒத்துழைப்பை வழங்கத் தயாராக உள்ளோம். அதேவேளை, கொள்கை ரீதியான தீர்மானங்களை மேற்கொள்ளும் பொறுப்பு அரசாங்கத்திடமே உள்ளது என்பதையும் வலியுறுத்துகிறோம்.
சாணக்கியன் இராசமாணிக்கம்
ஒருங்கிணைப்பாளர்
தமிழ் பேசும் மக்களின் அரசியல் பேரவை
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මාධ්ය නිවේදනය | 2026 ඔක්තෝබර් 17
සෞඛ්ය සහායකයින්ගේ නිල ඇඳුම් ගැටලුව සම්බන්ධයෙන් දෙමළ භාෂාව කතා කරන ජනතාවගේ දේශපාලන සභාව රජයට ලිපියක් යොමු කරයි
ශ්රී ලංකා මානව හිමිකම් කොමිෂන් සභාවේ මෑතකාලීන නිර්දේශ අනුව, දෙමළ භාෂාව කතා කරන ජනතාවගේ දේශපාලන සභාව විසින් සෞඛ්ය සහායකයින්ගේ නිල ඇඳුම් සම්බන්ධ රෙගුලාසි පිළිබඳව සෞඛ්ය අමාත්යවරයා වෙත ලිපියක් යොමු කර ඇත.
වෘත්තීය ප්රමිතීන් සහ රෝගීන්ගේ ආරක්ෂාව තහවුරු කරන අතරම, සංස්කෘතික හා ආගමික සංවේදීතාවන්ට ගරු කිරීමේත්, අනවශ්ය වාර්ගික හා ආගමික ආතතීන් ඇතිවීම වැළැක්වීමේත් වැදගත්කම දේශපාලන සභාව අවධාරණය කරයි.
පාර්ලිමේන්තුවේදී යෝජනා ඉදිරිපත් කරන ලෙස අමාත්යවරයා කළ ආරාධනයට ප්රතිචාර වශයෙන්, අමාත්යවරයා ප්රකාශයට පත් කළ කමිටුව පත් කිරීම, එහි කටයුතුවල ප්රගතිය සහ දැනට පවතින නිල ඇඳුම් රෙගුලාසි සමාලෝචනය කිරීම සඳහා වන කාලරාමුව පිළිබඳව අපි විමසා සිටිමු.
සාධාරණ හා ප්රායෝගික විසඳුමක් සඳහා අපගේ සහයෝගය ලබාදීමට අපි කැපවී සිටින අතර, ප්රතිපත්තිමය තීරණ ගැනීමේ වගකීම රජය සතු බව ද පිළිගනිමු.
ෂානක්කියන් රාසමාණික්කම්
කැඳවුම්කරු
දෙමළ භාෂාව කතා කරන ජනතාවගේ දේශපාලන සභාව
//What we want is a new Constitution with the dismantling of the Executive Presidency. And for that, we want all-party consensus. We need to demand that. We must also demand this of the NPP, because this was their commitment to us the People.// island.lk/independence-of-th…
The government knows this intimately. Yet this bill retains the core architecture of the law they denounced. NPP’s election manifesto pledged the abolition of “all oppressive Acts including PTA” PSTB does not deliver that abolition; it delivers a successor dailymirror.lk/breaking-news…
M A Sumanthiran retweeted
"If PSTA was in force yesterday
GOTA would be in power today"
religious leaders joined trade unionists, civil society activists and several political groups opposite Sri Lanka presidential secretariat for a tense protest demanding the immediate withdrawal of the new terror bill.
OHCHR calls for narrower definition of terrorism, stronger judicial oversight of detention and tighter controls on executive & military powers under PSTA as concerns persist over safeguards against arbitrary arrests and restrictions on fundamental freedoms pulseline.lk/news-feature/ps…
