Unlawful detention centre operator appointed advisor to Ministry of Public Security: Opposition MP alleges

By Yohan Perera  

A person named ‘Ranaweera’ who ran an unlawful detention  centre in Welipanne during the late 1980s has been appointed as an  advisor to the Ministry of Public Security today, opposition MP Mujibur  Rahman told Parliament yesterday.  
Speaking during the debate on the report of the Commission  which probed unlawful detention centres in Batalanda, MP Rahman  questioned how the JVP-led government could associate with those who  ran unlawful detention centres. “JVP-led government is shouting about  Batalanda detention centre after associating with the very same persons  who have killed its cadres in the past,” the MP said.  
“Yasapalitha Nanayakkara, the father of current Minister  of Justice Harshana Nanayakkara, was provided with arms by late President  J. R. Jayewardene when he was threatened by the JVP for contesting for  the provincial council election in 1988. He contested from the party  which was led by Ossie Abeygunasekera who led a paramilitary force to  destroy JVPers,” the MP added.  
Also he said Minister of Industries Sunil Handunnetti was  associated with Thoradeniya who was charged with executing JVP Founder  Leader Rohana Wijeweera in 1989. I have a photograph of Minister  Handunnetti posting with Thoradeniya on my phone. If you talk about the  past, the skeletons in your cupboard will also come out.  
“It is also ironic that JVP pasted posters calling  the Sri Lankan people not to allow the J. R Jayewardene government to  convert Sri Lanka into the 26th state of India, welcoming Indian Prime  Minister Narendra Modi. There were errors in the wording used on  billboards and on banners which were erected to welcome the Indian  Premier. Stickers were pasted to hide the language errors,” he said.