Govt. turns down opposition’s request to postpone debate on Batalanda Commission report

By Yohan Perera and Ajith Siriwardana   

The ruling National Peoples Power (NPP) has turned down a request made by the opposition to postpone the debate on report of illegal detention camp in Batalanda until after the local government election, Chief Opposition Whip Gayantha Karunathilleka said yesterday.   

“We requested that the debate be postponed until after the local government election. We did so as we will not have the time to study the report as we will be busy because of the election. However the government insisted that the debate will be taken up on April 10 2025,” MP Karunathilleka told Daily Mirror.   

Meanwhile Leader of Opposition Sajith Premadasa has requested the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MPs that the report has to be subjected to an in-depth. study before making any comment. “ It is essential to subject the Batalanda Commission report to an in-depth study as it looks like the exercise behind the commission report is politically motivated,” a letter sent by the leader of the opposition to the MPs said.   

“ Batalanda Commission has probed on behalf of one party which has been affected. There is another aspect behind the exercise. There are some who have become victims as a result of the commission probe itself. These include Buddhist Monks, Christian priests, politicians, public officers and, journalists and members of security forces and the police. Justice has to be meted out to these persons,” Premadasa said in his letter to SJB MPs.  Meanwhile SJB National List MP Dayasiri Jayasekera who was very critical of the government’s move to present the Batalanda Commission report to Parliament stressed the need for a truth commission to probe all kinds of violent activities that had taken place in the county in the past. “LTTE killed people and so did the security forces, Youth in both North, East and South were been subjected to forced disappearances. The DJV which was identified as a group affiliated to the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) has killed so many people including Vijaya Kumaratunga, Venerable Saddatissa , Fr. Michael Rodrigo, and onetime Chairman of State Pharmaceutical Corporation Gladys Jayawardene. all these should be probed,” he told Parliament.   

He also questioned as why did the JVP led government waited to bring out the Batalanda Commission report till Al Jazeera questioned former President Ranil Wickremesinghe about it.