Sri Lanka detention centre report referred for legal action President's office

Colombo, Apr 29 (PTI) A report by a probe panel to inquire into a detention centre at Batalanda in north Colombo during 1987-1990 has been referred to the attorney general for necessary action, Sri Lanka President Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s office said on Tuesday.
     The Batalanda Commission was appointed in 1996 and the report published in 2000. The report said an illegal torture chamber existed in Batalanda during 1987-1990 when the current ruling party Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) led a bloody anti-India rebellion to protest the Indo-Lanka Accord of 1987.
     The commission was appointed to implicate the then opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe by his main rival the then president Chandrika Kumaratunga to accuse him of being behind the detention centre.
     The report concluded Wickremesinghe was indirectly responsible for providing a state facility to provide a home for the detention centre where the JVP rebels came to be grilled by police.
     The matter resurfaced in February when Wickremesinghe was interviewed by Al Jazeera television.
     The current ruling party charged that the commission report was not acted upon by Kumaratunga.
     Earlier this month, a parliamentary debate was held where Wickremesinghe’s role at Batalanda came to be revisited.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)