Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader, MP Rauff Hakeem, has called for the forensic report by the Auditor General on the controversial VFS e-visa deal to be submitted to Parliament. 

Addressing the Parliament, MP Hakeem said that the report by the Committee on Public Finance had mentioned that the Auditor General must submit a forensic audit on the loss that was to be incurred by the government due to this e-visa deal. 

MP Hakeem pointed out that the delay by the said officials to implement the Supreme Court order and the 16-year contract with a dubious company would have caused the government to lose almost US$ 3.4 billion in revenue. 

“The contract had been given to a dubious company registered in Dubai, using a company such as VFS Global as a front. The main matter is up for argument on 20th November, and we are yet to receive the forensic audit report by the Auditor General,” he said. 

He made the remarks in connection with the Supreme Court’s order yesterday to sentence former Controller General of Immigration & Emigration Harsha Illukpitiya to two years of imprisonment on contempt of court charges for failing to execute a court order tied to the controversial VFS e-visa deal.

The verdict was issued after taking up for consideration the petitions that had been filed by former ministers Rauff Hakeem and Patali Champika Ranawaka, along with former MP Sumanthiran.

Harsha Ilukpitiya has been in remand custody since September last year after the Supreme Court ordered him to be remanded for failing to implement the Court’s order regarding the controversial visa issuance system by the global visa processing service, VFS Global.

A probe launched by the Committee on Public Finance also found that VFS Global had been selected without calling for official bids, resulting in the Department of Immigration and Emigration losing out on receiving competitive rates for visa issuance.

In August last year, the Supreme Court issued an Interim Order temporarily halting the Cabinet’s decision to outsource its visa application process to GBS Technology Services & IVS Global- FZCO, a VFS VF Worldwide Holdings LTD-led consortium.

The court ordered the reinstatement of the previous quick Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) process, which the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration, Harsha Ilukpitiya, failed to comply with, resulting in his arrest. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader, MP Rauff Hakeem, has slammed the government over its recent statement on Israel’s attack on Qatar, related to the conflict with Palestine. 

Issuing a statement, MP Hakeem pointed out that Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has demonstrated once again not just how incapable it is of distinguishing between an Occupier and the Occupied, or between an air attack and an incident, or even worse, between a mercenary behaviour and solidarity with victims. 

MP Hakeem further said the government appears to be in a tactical or strategic collusion with Israeli PM Netanyahu and his ruling cabal, not just with regard to crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially Gaza, but now far beyond, extending to Iran last June and now, more dangerously, in Qatar. 

“All the statements or official remarks that this government has issued, including in particular the latest one on Qatar, expose the government and the Foreign Ministry for their chronic inability to extend those ethical and moral parameters to Israel and to reject its aggressive behaviour,  prolonged occupation and challenges to regional stability,” he said. 

The SLMC Leader added that Sri Lanka’s foreign policy apparatus is not just becoming a pack of jokers, but they are actively making Sri Lanka a STRIKINGLY “INCIDENTAL” state.

The full statement of SLMC Leader MP Rauff Hakeem;

At the time of Israel’s recent attack on Qatar, I was in Tehran, Iran, attending the World Islamic Solidarity Conference on Palestine, which was attended by representatives from more than 50 countries.

While returning from there, I came across a statement issued by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs following Israel’s attack on Qatar.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Ministry has demonstrated once again not just how incapable it is or distinguishing between an Occupier and the Occupied, or between an air attack and an incident, or even worse, between a mercenary behaviour and solidarity with victims. 

It has also exposed the depths of a culture of tomfoolery, recklessness and vicarious criminality in which it remains ensnared when it comes to unconscionable and abominable breaches by the Netanyahu government of all norms of humanity and decency, principles of international law, and the sovereignty of other countries. 

Sadly, this is the government which has come to power on a pledge to create a culture of accountable and responsible governance. It often claims so vociferously that the “Clean Sri Lanka” project it has launched since it assumed office is aimed at placing the country on a governance footing that is ethically and morally sound. 

The government fails on all these criteria so miserably, when it comes to one single entity, that is, Israel. The entire world watches with bleeding hearts, discouragement, abhorrence, and condemnation of the Netanyahu government’s genocidal activities, violent, aggressive, and catastrophic conduct of war, and its breach of peace in the region and in the world. The government appears to be in a tactical or strategic collusion with Netanyahu and his ruling cabal, not just with regard to crimes committed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, especially Gaza, but now far beyond, extending to Iran last June and now, more dangerously, in Qatar. 

All the statements or official remarks that this government has issued, including in particular the latest one on Qatar, expose the government and the Foreign Ministry for their chronic inability to extend those ethical and moral parameters to Israel and to reject its aggressive behaviour,  prolonged occupation and challenges to regional stability. Any reasonable-minded reader of the Foreign Ministry’s statement yesterday would conclude that it is nothing but an Israeli hand in the Foreign Ministry or in the government that drafts such statements. An average Sri Lankan citizen would never be so insensitive, illogical, and scornful as to even attempt to draft such a deliberately apathetic, one-sided, distorted statement as that was released yesterday. 

We need Qatar for labour migration, investment, trade, and tourism, which, alongside similar contributions from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain, bring much-needed foreign exchange to the country. We need the Gulf Cooperation Council to speak in Sri Lanka’s favour during the Human Rights Council session. Minister Bimal Rathnayake has just returned after a visit to Saudi Arabia, where he appealed for financial support for specific projects in Sri Lanka. But it is a poignant reality that when one of those countries comes under aggression with targeted air attacks, the government of Sri Lanka has no audacity to name the aggressor, or even talk about how it shared the sentiments of the government and the people of the country whose sovereignty was so blatantly violated. 

By calling serious breaches by Israel just incidents or strikes, not naming the perpetrator even as the world and the perpetrator itself so boldly claims it was carried out by Israel, what prevents the government and the Foreign Ministry from doing so? Sri Lanka’s foreign policy apparatus is not just becoming a pack of jokers, but they are actively making Sri Lanka a strikingly “INCIDENTAL” state. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader MP Rauff Hakeem says his recent speech in Sammanthurai has been misinterpreted, clarifying that it was his belief that the SLMC must retain the stronghold it has in Sammanthurai. 

“Across the country, we’re contesting as the SLMC in over 100 Pradeshiya Sabhas. It is only a few of our members who are contesting through the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) in the upcoming Local Government Elections,” MP Hakeem explained.  

Addressing a political rally in Ampara, MP Hakeem said this has been misinterpreted, stating that the SJB remains an ally of the SLMC.

“I too once contested under the SJB in Kandy to enter Parliament. But what I meant in my speech was that Sammanthurai must not be given to the SJB, as they are contesting against us in Sammanthurai. We’re the powerful party in this area. So while we are working with the belief that our party will gain power, there are some of our own rejected candidates who are contesting through the SJB,” he said. 

MP Hakeem further said that these candidates contesting under the SJB were spreading false information that they are doing so with the blessings of the SLMC Leader. 

“I had to respond to this. It was my attempt to explain this situation, which resulted in this misinterpretation,” he said, adding that the SJB Leader had also requested the SLMC to provide a clarification on the statement.

“It was not me speaking against the SJB. But I did say the SJB was powerless in that area. We cannot prioritise the SJB in that area, right?” he added.  

The SLMC leader was referring to an earlier statement he made in Ampara during a political rally, where he said the “telephone symbol” is outdated and should not be supported in the upcoming polls. (Newswire)

“The SJB has acquired the support of only a few SLMC candidates to contest under their party for this election. Some people are misinterpreting my speech. I only said not to vote for the SJB, as the SLMC was contesting as a separate party under a different symbol in Sammanthurai… pic.twitter.com/WhmTyUg0Dr

— NewsWire (@NewsWireLK) April 28, 2025

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The District Court of Colombo has issued a restraining order preventing the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) from sending the list of nominations for the SJB National List to the Election Commission.

The court ordered that the SJB’s nominations cannot be sent without including the name of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Secretary Nizam Kariapper. 

The order was issued by the District Court of Colombo after taking up for consideration a complaint that had been filed by SLMC Leader Rauff Hakeem. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader MP Rauff Hakeem has challenged National Peoples’ Power (NPP) Leader and Presidential candidate MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake for a debate on any television channel.

Addressing a public rally, MP Hakeem said prior to going to the courts, he would like to face off in a debate with MP Dissanayake, but only after the latter has lost the Presidential Election. 

MP Hakeem said he was ready to face any legal proceedings and for MP Dissanayake to explain what he meant in his controversial statement made in May 2019.

The SLMC Leader made the remarks in response to the Letter of Demand (LoD) that was sent by the NPP Leader, accusing the former of misconstruing the statement he had made in Parliament in 2019.

The LoD dated 23 August 2024, states that MP Dissanayake has sought Rs. 2 billion for damages caused to his reputation by MP Hakeem’s defamatory statement.

In the LoD, MP Dissanayake alleges that MP Hakeem’s statement in Tamil in Kattankudy in August 2024, was deliberately misconstruing the statement he had made in Parliament in May 2019.

MP Dissanayake further alleged that MP Hakeem’s statement was made with malice, to injure and cause damage to his reputation and also to diminish his esteem in the minds of the public, as well as, cause damage to his public image as a political leader and Presidential candidate. (Newswire)

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National People’s Power (NPP) Leader and Presidential candidate MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake has sent a Letter of Demand (LoD) to Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader MP Rauff Hakeem seeking Rs. 2 billion for damages caused to his reputation via the latter’s defamatory statement.

In the LoD, MP Dissanayake alleges that MP Hakeem’s statement in Tamil in Kattankudy in August 2024, was deliberately misconstruing the statement made by MP Dissanayake in Parliament in May 2019.

MP Dissanayake further alleges that the statement has been made with malice, to injure and cause damage to his reputation and also to diminish his esteem in the minds of the public, as well as, cause damage to his public image as a political leader and Presidential candidate. 

As such, the LoD presented by the NPP Leader’s lawyer seeks Rs. 1 billion for damages caused to MP Dissanayake’s reputation and Rs. 1 billion for the impairment caused to his dignity. (Newswire)

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Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem has expressed his condolences over the demise of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member R. Sampanthan, stating that the late MP bridged the relations between the Tamil-Muslim Communities in Sri Lanka. 

Issuing a statement, MP Hakeem said the passing of the senior political leader Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, who served as a bridge of Tamil-Muslim relations, has distressed the Tamil-speaking people. 

“I was deeply saddened to hear the news of the demise of Hon Sampanthan, a political doyen who was tirelessly engaged in the pursuit of an ultimate solution for the national ethnic problem in the country, especially for the Tamil people and the minority communities in general.

“Hon Sampanthan has gone down in history as a leading political figure in Parliament, whose arguments in Parliament focused on the unfulfilled promises of the South’s chauvinistic political leadership,” he said.

Sampanthan was the leader of the Opposition from September 15 to December 2018. Nurtured in Thanthai Chelva’s (S J V Chalvanayakam’s) school of ahimsa-based politics, he entered Parliament through the Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Katchi (ITAK), representing Trincomalee on numerous occasions and served as the President of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) from 2001 to date, leading it remarkably well since the latter’s inception.

R Sampanthan remained strident in his opposition to the numerous unfulfilled promises for the Tamil-speaking minorities, made by successive governments and chauvinist political leaderships of the South, for whom he was an indubitable authority on minority rights.

MP Hakeem revealed that although the non-violent Tamil struggle to win the rights of the Tamil people, traditionally followed since the times of ‘Thanthai’Chelva, changed its course later, owing to several circumstances, R Sampanthan worked relentlessly to find consensus among the Tamil parties and the other minority communities for achieving mutually beneficial solutions to the Tamil sides and the minorities in the peace negotiations between the government and the LTTE.

He has also forthrightly expressed from time to time, that the North-East merger, which was touted as a solution to the ethnic problem would not be possible without the consent of the Muslims living there.

R Sampanthan represented Trincomalee district in Parliament at different times since 1977, and continuously represented his party in Parliament since 2000 until his last breath, conducting himself in an exemplary manner, faithfully upholding the principles of his party and the Alliance.

In later years, although his health weakened in his old age and he visited Parliament in a wheelchair, his eloquence and sharp wit remained unfazed. Above all, his memory was admirable to the extent that he would even point out and elaborate on various aspects of the issues of solving the ethnic problem at different challenging times.

MP Hakeem said that although it is regrettable that his loss has occurred at a critical point of time in the politics of the country, the Tamil people and the minorities, including all Tamil-speaking people remain indebted to him. “We owe him a sense of gratitude to the extent of committing ourselves steadfastly to achieve durable peace, in the settlement of the ethnic problem, by making every necessary concession for it, in the best of our ability with minimum damage. 

“Personally and on behalf of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, I offer my deepest condolences to late Hon R Sampanthan’s bereaved family, the people of Trincomalee, the Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Katchi and the Tamil National Alliance,” MP Rauff Hakeem added. (Newswire)

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