Government to table Batalanda Commission report in Parliament this week

By Ajith Siriwardana

Amidst widespread discussion on the Batalanda Commission report after former president Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent interview with Al Jazeera, the government announced yesterday that the Cabinet decided to table the Batalanda Commission report in Parliament within this week.   
Cabinet Spokesman Dr. Nalinda Jayatissa told the weekly briefing to announce Cabinet decisions that the President paid special attention to the matter at Monday’s Cabinet meeting and that Cabinet of Ministers discussed the matter at length.   
Responding to a question, the Minister said the government will announce its next course of action regarding the report after the report is tabled in Parliament.   
He said there has been number of incidents of violating democracy and human rights in the past and added that people need democracy and their human rights must be upheld.   
“We are a government which came to power on the promise of ensuring democracy and human rights,” he said.   
When asked whether the government was attempting to take political advantage by tabling the report in Parliament ahead of the Local Government elections, the Minister said it is not so and that they could use the report outside Parliament if they wanted to do so.   
The Minister said the discussion in Parliament on the report will be important to take further action. “We will table the report. No one should make it an issue,” he said.