May 20, Colombo (LNW): A five-member committee tasked with re-evaluating the Batalanda Commission Report is set to hold its inaugural meeting today (20), initiating a process that could reopen scrutiny into one of Sri Lanka’s most controversial periods of political repression.
The committee, chaired by Senior Additional Solicitor General Rohantha Abeysuriya, PC, was appointed by Attorney General Parinda Ranasinghe following the recent handover of the Batalanda Commission Report to the Attorney General’s Department by the President’s Office.
The decision to revisit the report comes in the wake of renewed public debate sparked by former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s appearance on Al Jazeera’s Head to Head programme in early March, during which he was questioned about past allegations linked to state-sanctioned violence.
Covering the politically volatile years from 1988 to 1990, the Batalanda Commission Report investigates a series of grave human rights violations—including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and illegal detentions—allegedly carried out at an unofficial detention centre in Batalanda.
The commission, initially appointed in the 1990s, had recommended legal action against certain individuals, but successive governments did not pursue prosecutions.
The newly formed review panel has stated that it aims to submit its findings to the Attorney General without delay, focusing on key areas of concern identified during its reassessment.
This swift timeline reflects growing public and political interest in uncovering the full extent of state accountability during one of the darkest chapters in Sri Lanka’s modern history.
Legal analysts suggest that the outcome of the review could have significant implications—not only for possible criminal prosecutions but also for truth and reconciliation efforts in a country still reckoning with multiple cycles of political violence.
While no formal charges have been brought so far as a result of the original commission’s findings, a renewed legal review could pave the way for long-awaited accountability measures or at the very least, official clarification on previously obscured events.
The political stakes are high, given that some of the individuals named in connection with the Batalanda allegations have occupied senior political roles in the decades since, including top executive positions.
The process may also raise questions about institutional memory and the state’s willingness to revisit unresolved injustices in a credible manner.
The Attorney General’s Department has so far refrained from commenting on the potential scope of legal action but confirmed that the review process would be conducted independently and guided by the law.
The committee is expected to examine not only the original report’s content but also additional evidence and testimonies that may have surfaced in the years since its publication.
