Sri Lanka is facing a critical shortage of essential medicines, with life-saving drugs for cancer, diabetes, epilepsy, psychiatric illnesses, and infectious diseases either unavailable or unaffordable in both state-run hospitals and private pharmacies.

Tamil Members of Parliament raised pressing concerns over the continued occupation of civilian lands in the North-East during a meeting of Sri Lanka’s Ministerial Consultative Committee on Defence, which was chaired by Anura Kumara Dissanayake in Parliament on Tuesday.

Between May and June 2025, the Sri Lankan military intensified its presence in the Tamil homeland through environmental projects, medical camps, and even a sports tournaments in Mannar. Marketed as religious festivals, humanitarian aid, and school donations, these activities - conducted by units implicated in past war crimes - serve to entrench Sinhalese dominance and normalise military occupation in the everyday life of Tamil civilians.