The Batalanda Commission was established to investigate allegations of unlawful detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings at the Batalanda Housing Scheme in Sri Lanka between 1988 and 1990, during the JVP insurgency.
The Batalanda report resurfaced recently following former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s interview with Al Jazeera, where he was questioned about the torture allegations.
Leader of the House Bimal Rathnayake, tabling the report in Parliament today, noted that despite its significance, the Batalanda report had never been presented in Parliament since its completion decades ago.
“As the main accused revealed during the Al Jazeera interview, it was never tabled in Parliament” he said.
Commissioned by former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, the inquiry focused on human rights violations in an unofficial government detention centre. The Commission, chaired by Justice D. Jayawickrama with N.E. Dissanayake, was appointed by a presidential warrant in 1995. The tenure of the Commission was extended on multiple occasions.
“A final Batalanda Commision report and relevant material was handed over to the Director of the National Archives in 1998, May 20th,” Rathanayake revealed in Parliament.
Upon instructions of President Kumaratunga, 750 printed copies of the report including Sinhala and Tamil copies had been printed, he added.
“The astounding fact is that not one of the 750 printed copies were forwarded to the Attorney General. Therefore those who called for this report not only failed to implement the recommendations, but merely used it as a political tool during elections,” Rathnayake charged.
“It is evident that the report should have been handed over to then-President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga before May 1998. However, the reason she did not forward a copy to the Attorney General was unclear at the time—but today, those reasons are clear as day,” Rathnayake said.
Minister Rathnayake said that the Cabinet and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake have decided to seek the Attorney General’s advice on the Batalanda Commission Report.
How does the Batalanda report implicate Ranil Wickremesinghe?
Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe was implicated in the Batalanda Commission Report due to his role in the allocation of houses at the Batalanda Housing Scheme, which were later used as detention and torture chambers.
As then Minister of Industries and Scientific Affairs, he directed the Liquidator of the State Fertilizer Manufacturing Corporation to allocate these houses to police officers, with the commission concluding that he “abused his authority” in doing so.
Additionally, House A2/2 was noted as his circuit bungalow from 1983 to 1994, with security officers occupying surrounding houses.
House B2, which Wickremesinghe reportedly used as his office, was identified by a witness as a torture chamber.
The commission found that Wickremesinghe chaired unauthorized meetings with police officers at Batalanda and gave “directions pertaining to the conduct of the Police relating to anti-subversive activity,” interfering in law enforcement operations.
Testimonies, including that of his caretaker Vincent Fernando, suggested he had knowledge of detainees being held at Batalanda, with the commission concluding that, given the proximity of these activities to his residence, he “must have known” about the torture chambers.
Furthermore, Wickremesinghe was linked to Sunil Perera also known as ‘Gonawala Sunil’, a known criminal and UNP regional leader, who had connections to violent incidents.
The commission ultimately found him “indirectly responsible for the maintenance of places of unlawful detention and torture chambers” and stated that his actions “facilitated the establishment of places of unlawful detention.” (Newswire)