Ramesh Pathirana is a

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

n politician, a member of the

Parliament of Sri Lanka The Parliament of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා පාර්ලිමේන්තුව ''Śrī Laṇkā Pārlimentuvā'', Tamil: இலங்கை நாடாளுமன்றம் '' ...

and former Minister of Health. He previously served as the Minister of Plantation Industries, Minister of Industries and Minister of Education. He belongs to the

Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna The Sri Lanka People's Front (; ), commonly known by its Sinhalese name Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), is a political party in Sri Lanka. It was the ruling party in Sri Lanka from 2019 to 2022 and was the largest party in Parliament of Sr ...

. He was educated at Richmond College, Galle and

University of Peradeniya The University of Peradeniya (, ) is a Public research university, public university in Sri Lanka, funded by the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, University Grants Commission. It is the largest university in Sri Lanka, which was origin ...

. He is a physician by profession and is the son of former Education and Higher Education minister

Richard Pathirana Richard Pathirana (24 February 1938 - 3 July 2008) was a Sri Lankan politician and educationist. He was the minister for education and higher education from 1994 to 2000 and the minister for state administration, home affairs and administration ...

Political career

He was appointed as Minister of Plantation Industries and Export Agriculture on 22 November 2019. He was appointed as Minister of Plantation on 12 August 2020 by the SLPP government.

Political Interference in the Police

After the 20th Amendment to the Sri Lankan Constitution reduced the independence of the police Ramesh Pathirana was accused by other SLPP MPs of assuming the power of the police chief. SLPP legislator Chandima Weerakkody claimed that all police transfers were done according to letters sent by Pathirana where many OICs were appointed according to political ties rather than merit where many inexperienced officers were promoted over senior experienced officers. Thus the police was incapable of handling the mass violence that occurred when loyalists of Mahinda Rajapaksa including those brought by Pathirana attacked peaceful protestors on 9 May 2022. The resulting retaliatory riots destroyed many houses of Rajapaksa loyalists including that of Pathirana as the politicised police was incapable was handling the situation.

Elections

Elected to parliament first in 2010. In the 2020 general elections held on 5 August 2020 he won the highest preferential votes of 205,814 in the

Galle Galle (, ; , ) (formerly ) is a major city on the southwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south of Colombo. Galle is the provincial capital and largest city of Southern Province, Sri Lanka and is the capital of Galle District. Galle was known as ''Gi ...

district.

Notes

References

1969 births Living people Members of the 14th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 15th Parliament of Sri Lanka Members of the 16th Parliament of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka Freedom Party politicians United People's Freedom Alliance politicians People from Galle Alumni of Richmond College, Galle {{SouthernLK-politician-stub