The Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen

Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen raised several constituency and national concerns in this wide-ranging speech. He called for urgent action following a fatal shooting of two young men from his Mannar constituency in Colombo, requesting medical care for the survivor, compensation for the victim's family, and measures to prevent such crimes. He also demanded the Attorney General's Department expedite cases against individuals associated with a matter in which he himself was acquitted, arguing it is unjust for secondary suspects to remain under prolonged prosecution. On drug smuggling, he alleged complicity by Navy officers and government ministers in Mannar and called for personnel rotation and proper investigations. He further demanded the removal of a Gotabaya-era Defence Ministry requirement restricting Qur'an imports — which he characterised as discriminatory — the reopening of the Mahara Mosque ahead of Ramadan, and the reopening of the Mannar–Puttalam road, warning of post-Ramadan protests if no action is taken. He defended the resettlement of displaced Muslims near Wilpattu as lawful, rejecting allegations of forest encroachment, and noted that Rs. 120 million in IDP resettlement and road development funds had been returned unspent.

## Summary Hon. Rishad Bathiudeen used the debate on the Sri Lanka Real Estate Professionals' Institute Bill to raise concerns about the Mannar–Puttalam road, a B-class RDA road that shortens travel between Jaffna and Colombo by approximately 100 kilometres. He argued that while previous governments under Presidents Rajapaksa, Sirisena, and Wickremesinghe had not permanently closed the road, the current NPP Government's Forest and Wildlife Departments have actively aligned themselves with petitioners in a longstanding court case, effectively seeking its permanent closure under the pretext of conservation. Bathiudeen noted that President Dissanayake had personally promised Mannar residents the road would be reopened, and called on the Ministers responsible for Environment and Roads to urgently convene discussions with MPs from Vanni, Jaffna, and Puttalam to resolve the matter. He warned that permanently closing the road while citing environmental protection, while ignoring the hardship caused to Northern communities and the environmental cost of 100 additional kilometres of travel, would be unjust and inconsistent with commitments made during the election campaign.