Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe is set to deliver a special statement today regarding the controversial Batalanda Commission Report, following renewed calls for accountability over alleged human rights violations during the 1988-1990 period.
A statement from the United National Party (UNP) office last week confirmed that Wickremesinghe will address the findings and recommendations of the report, which investigated illegal detentions, torture, disappearances, and assassinations linked to the Batalanda Housing Scheme.
This follows Wickremesinghe’s recent interview with Al Jazeera, where he dismissed the report’s validity, claiming it was never tabled in Parliament. His response has intensified demands for accountability, with critics accusing him of evading responsibility for the reported atrocities.
His statement also follows Leader of the House Minister Bimal Rathnayake’s decision to officially table the long-awaited Batalanda Commission Report in Parliament last Friday.
Minister Rathnayake said that the report would be sent to the Attorney General for legal review and that President Anura Kumara Dissanayake would appoint a special committee to study its findings. A two-day parliamentary debate on the report is also scheduled.
The Batalanda Commission was established in 1995 by then-President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga to investigate crimes committed at the Batalanda detention centre. After nearly three years of inquiry, the Commission submitted its report in March 1998, but its recommendations were never implemented, and the report remained outside parliamentary scrutiny, until now.
