Rishad Bathiudeen He is the Leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Party, a registered political party in Sri Lanka. Bathiudeen was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Vanni Electoral District in December 2001 and was re-elected in April 2004, after which he was again re-elected in April 2010 and 2015 June from the same Electoral District which comprises Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullathivu Administrative Districts. Rishad Bathiudeen holds a National Diploma in Technology (NDT) in Civil Engineering from the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Engineering (C.I.E.) in the UK.
Controversy
Wilpattu Deforestation
Some environmental organizations and civil organizations accused Bathiudeen of enabling deforestation of the Wilpattu National Park. Resettlement in the Kallaru forest commenced in 2011 and 2012 under the Northern Spring (Uthuru Wasanthaya) project under Bathiudeen and has significantly affected the forested area.[1] However, Bathiudeen denied the allegations.[2] On 3 August 2018 the Court of Appeal dismissed an affidavit presented by Bathiudeen relating to the resettlement of Muslim IDPs[further explanation needed] in Wilpattu Forest Reserve.[3] The Court of Appeal ordered that the case be taken up for trial on 12 November 2018.[citation needed]
Ties with Islamic Extremists
In the aftermath of the 2019 Sri Lanka Easter Bombings Bathiudeen was accused of having ties with the bombers and interfering with the investigations in an attempt to release arrested suspects. According to the Army Commander Mahesh Senanayake, Bathiudeen called him three times first to confirm if a person was arrested and after ignoring him twice the commander confirmed that the person was arrested. Bathiudeen then mentioned the suspect's father and asked what can be done to which the army commander replied asking him to call back in one and a half years as he has the authority to detain him that long. Further a house belonging to his sister was rented out to the terrorists to which Bathiudeen stated that his sister was in Canada. Further he denied that his brother had any business dealings with the father of the bombers and also stated that the IDB under him provided materials to the terrorists legally as they provide materials to small and medium enterprises and did not know their use. As a result of the allegations members of the Joint Opposition signed a No Confidence Motion against Bathiudeen consisting of 10 charges including the arrest of Abdul Hanuth who was a secretary to Bathiudeen and a Maulavi who was an advisor to Bathiudeen. Further it also accused him of influencing the police not to arrest suspects under Prevention of Terrorism Act allowing them to be give bail on 6 May 2019,[4][5][6][7]
On 31 May Athuraliye Rathana Thera began a hunger protest requesting the removal of Muslim politicians with alleged ties to Islamists including Rishad Bathiudeen and Hizbullah. There were several protests by Sinhala and Tamil as well as Hindu, Christian and Muslim figures and organisations in support of the thera including by relatives of the bomb blasts.[8][9]
On 5 June the All Island Canteen Owners' Association Chairman (AICOA) complained that Bathiudeen abused the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA) to mistreat Sinhalese businessmen and also distributing food commodities unfit for human consumption through Lanka Sathosa.[12] On June 7 S. B Dissanayake and Dilan Perera and several other organisations filed charges against Bathiudeen to the CID including two murders, providing Sathosa vehicles to extremists as well as using state owned resources and removing whistleblowers from ministries after resigning. The Sinhala Buddhist NationalistRavana Balaya also provided a file with evidence against him to the Police Headquarters to be sent to the CID. In turn Bathiudeen filed a complaint against S. B and Wimal Weerawansa.[13][14]
