Colombo, Sri Lanka – Former BBC Sri Lanka correspondent Frances Harrison has re-shared the Batalanda Commission report, contradicting former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s claim during a controversial Al Jazeera interview that such a document did not exist.
During the interview, Wickremesinghe was questioned about his alleged involvement in illegal detentions, torture, and killings at the Batalanda housing complex in the late 1980s, as stated in the government-appointed Batalanda Commission’s findings. He vehemently denied all allegations and insisted that the commission’s report was not an official document, stating:
“I deny all those allegations.”
When pressed further, he initially claimed that no such report existed. However, Al Jazeera had already obtained a copy. Wickremesinghe later revised his response, arguing that the report was not valid as it had never been tabled in Parliament.
“It has not been tabled in Parliament. I cannot find anything against it,” he asserted.
Following the broadcast, Frances Harrison took to social media, specifically her X (formerly Twitter) account, to directly challenge Wickremesinghe’s claim. She posted the Batalanda Commission report, stating:
“Ranil Wickremesinghe is attempting to deny the existence of a government Presidential Commission of Inquiry report on Batalanda, an abandoned housing complex used for illegal detention and torture in Sri Lanka in the late 1980s. Read the report here.”
Harrison’s revelation has further fueled controversy surrounding Wickremesinghe’s role in the Batalanda case, a long-standing subject of political and human rights debate in Sri Lanka. The public release of the document has intensified scrutiny over Wickremesinghe’s past actions, adding to the political fallout from the Al Jazeera interview.
As scumbags in the SL political arena go, RW’s down there with the lowest. It beggars belief that some people still think highly of this vain charlatan.