‘This is Sri Lanka’s problem. The state will always defend itself’ – Shanakiyan
March 15, 2025 06:06 pm
“I don’t see any action being taken over Batalanda commission report”
— Ada Derana (@adaderana) March 15, 2025
- Shanakiyan claims even some JVPers opposed tabling report pic.twitter.com/dSxsnFlfUp
TNA parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rasamanickam says that Sri Lanka’s problem is that regardless of who is in power, “the state always protects the state”.
Referring to former President Ranil Wickremesinghe’s recent ‘Al Jazeera’ interview, the Batticaloa District MP said he does not understand why the ex-president is defending the previous government.
He charged that former President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who sat in the opposition at the time, “who seemed to be a champion of human rights, has gone on Al Jazeera and defended the government he himself was opposed to.”
“This is precisely the problem in this country. The state will always protect itself. And now this government is no different. This government is also trying to protect itself, the state,” he said.
“President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who wasn’t even responsible for the attack, is going on Al Jazeera and defending the person who is accused of it. This is the problem in this country. The state will always defend itself.”
He added that incumbent foreign minister Vijitha Herath and his government are no different. “The entire Northern Province voted for you. This is how you repay their faith they put in the government. Shame on this government.”
Rasamanickam charged that the foreign minister spoke only about domestic mechanisms on accountability that were already in place, during his speech at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
“The Tamil people have rejected any domestic mechanism because 16 years later there has not been a single case that you have solved.”
Referring to the ‘Batalanda’ Commission report which was recently tabled in Parliament, the MP said: “The problem is, all these reports that are generally tabled, we never see any action.”
“The Paranagama commission report was tabled. The Udalagama commission report was tabled. What action has the previous government taken? This government has also had enough of time. The President has been the President for 6 months. If his position was to take action on these things, if it was to investigate, he would have started it by now. Nothing.”
“So, again what we are going to see is that Tamil people will be denied justice in this country.”
“If the former President is defending his nemesis on foreign media, what faith can we have in this particular government?” he questioned.
