THE PAST MUST BE CONFRONTED

Dr. Jehan Perera writes that Sri Lanka should lay a path for national healing

Sri Lanka’s engagement with human rights issues has long been contentious both domestically and internationally. The controversy over what transpired at the Batalanda detention centre nearly four decades ago during the period of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection was largely domestic; it didn’t receive the international attention that events related to the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did.

Since 2009, successive governments have resisted United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolutions on war crimes and human rights violations, and considered them as being external interference.

Earlier this year, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva rejected key UNHRC resolutions and the external evidence gathering mechanism it has operationalised. However, since then, the government has taken a more conciliatory stance and Minister of Foreign Affairs Vijitha Herath reaffirmed Sri Lanka’s commitment to domestic reconciliation.

He pledged to strengthen institutions such as the Office on Missing Persons (OMP) and the Office for Reparations, and added that no citizen should suffer discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or politics.

While these commitments are encouraging, the government has yet to address war crimes allegations, enforced disappearances and militarisation of the north and east, which is why international scrutiny continues to remain high.

An inquiry by the UNHRC in 2014 and a mandate in 2021 to preserve evidence for future prosecutions highlight concerns that justice has not been served. The extension of OHCHR Sri Lanka accountability project (OSLap) in 2024 underscores the need for external monitoring of developments in Sri Lanka.

Now the government says that discussions for a truth and reconciliation framework are underway. The report by the presidential commission chaired by Supreme Court Justice A. H. M. D. Nawaz stressed the need for a structured process to acknowledge past atrocities and prevent future conflict.

Meanwhile, the resurfacing of the Batalanda Commission Report has added another layer to the human rights debate and reignited controversy, as it details abuses during the 1987-89 JVP insurrection.

The events at Batalanda, where the JVP insurgency was violently suppressed, remain a raw wound. This issue challenges the notion that only Tamils suffered state repression – and that Sinhalese youth were also targeted.

Disturbing accounts of Batalanda now flood social media including Tamil platforms; they reinforce the fact that counterterrorist measures affected both Sinhalese and Tamils. The past refuses to be buried and many seek closure after nearly 40 years. Atrocities of the late 1980s were neither confined to one location nor the responsibility of a single group.

The JVP also committed human rights violations, and targeted political opponents and civilians. Former government officials, military personnel and leftist political groups were also involved, and many of these persons later assumed prominent political roles.

If the debate becomes a platform for blame rather than reconciliation, it could deepen divisions. Sri Lanka faces urgent challenges including economic recovery and governance reform, which call for unity. Since further polarisation over historical atrocities will not serve the country’s future, a structured and impartial truth seeking process is essential for national healing.

The Nawaz Commission reviewed inquiries from 1994, 2001, 2010 and 2013 but victims feel these yielded no tangible justice. A truth and reconciliation commission will present another opportunity to establish an authoritative historical record, drive institutional reforms and ensure accountability.

In the meantime, credibility demands concrete action. Returning land to displaced communities in the north and east, addressing prolonged detentions under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and reducing the military presence in civilian areas are essential.

And in the case of victims during the JVP insurrection, as in the north and east, there is a need to provide reparations to those who lost kith and kin. They need to be supported in remembering their loved ones through memorialisation that is officially sanctioned.

The idea of a truth and reconciliation commission was first proposed in 2015 by then prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. Former president Gotabaya Rajapaksa also supported it in 2019 but neither of them ensured its implementation.

A truth and reconciliation process as outlined in Geneva by the new government, which has a mandate for ensuring both punishment and amnesty, will give the country the time and space in which to uncover painful truths – and create a path to national healing.

Sri Lanka can then move beyond its past, and build a more just and united future.