We will not allow Sri Lanka’s National ID responsibility to be handed over to India: says Wimal Weerawansa
29-Aug-2025.
Leader of the National Freedom Front and former MP Wimal Weerawansa said:
“We have no objection to issuing digital identity cards to Sri Lankans. But the Department of Registration of Persons alone should be responsible for distributing Sri Lanka’s National Identity Cards. Sri Lanka’s data infrastructure cannot be handed over to India. We will not allow it. Legal action will be taken.”
Weerawansa had already filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court on July 22 challenging the government’s decision to award the digital ID card project to India. The case was taken up yesterday by the Supreme Court.
Speaking to the media after the hearing, he further said:
“To modernize the National ID system and issue digital identity cards, the Department of Registration of Persons had already spent 5.5 billion rupees, with the project 99% complete.
At that stage, the government suddenly handed over the digital ID distribution project to India. Transferring Sri Lankan citizens’ personal data to India poses a threat to national security and sovereignty. That is why we challenged this project in court.
We have no objection to providing Sri Lankans with digital identity cards. But they must be issued only by Sri Lanka’s Department of Registration of Persons. We cannot hand over Sri Lanka’s data infrastructure to India. We will not allow it, and we will take legal measures.
It must also be noted that the JVP, which once maintained an anti-India stance, has now become more subservient to India than even former President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Did the government not consider the dangers of handing over the National ID system to India?
We have not united to protect Ranil Wickremesinghe. Our political and economic policies are fundamentally different from his. We have united because we cannot allow the government to undermine constitutional sovereignty while claiming equality before the law,” he said.
