The Hon. Rohana Bandara

¶ 01 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, thank you for the opportunity to speak as we revisit a period that brought fear to all Sri Lanka. We have no need to protect any of those Batalanda torturers. What matters to us is why this arose, how people’s lives were affected, and the responsibility of the governments and security forces then. We have no desire to protect Ranil Wickremesinghe or any who led that apparatus. Our Hon. Mujibur Rahuman named several ministers and security chiefs of that era — we do not need to defend them.

¶ 02 What do we truly want? We all know one of the greatest blows to our development was the 1988-89 period. In 1994, when power transferred from the UNP — from President Premadasa and then D.B. Wijetunga — to President Chandrika Bandaranaike, Sri Lanka was recorded as one of South Asia’s top economies. Today, when people attack politicians, the refrain used even to topple governments is “politicians are thieves, corrupt, and have no will to build the country.” That is the battle cry this Government keeps amplifying. But in 1994, to change the government, no one called ministers and MPs “thieves.”

¶ 03 When we saw the terror and tragedy of 1988 — bodies on the roads, arson — people changed the government in 1994 to relieve that pressure. At a time we were rising in development, the tragedy struck. Today, those who speak of this should be ashamed, given how they sowed those seeds and are now washing their hands. Draped in patriotism and false heroism, many innocent lives were lost. We pray for their peace. But using that patriotism to breathe life into terrorism and to destroy lives and property — we curse those vile terrorists. Because of that evil deed, children born later in this country have become debtors, and our country is disgraced before the world.

¶ 04 There was LTTE terrorism which devastated lives. But worse, this other terrorism spread more insidiously. This was guerrilla war. To end it, the terrorists had to be identified. How were security forces to identify them? Did they have labels? Uniforms? Our neighbor who drank tea at our house by day would be a terrorist by night, snatching IDs, stealing rice, gold, and goods. How to identify them?

¶ 05 Let me recall a recent matter that disturbed the media. In Anuradhapura, a doctor was raped. The suspect was arrested in Galnewa and produced in court. The judge asked why he was stooped and couldn’t stand straight. He replied, “They inserted various objects into my rectum while questioning me.” He was not from an armed gang; he had committed a crime of passion after obtaining bail in another case, not premeditated. But if interrogators do such things even to an ordinary suspect, imagine how guerrilla terrorists who endangered the entire public life, masking themselves among civilians, would be questioned — should we give them a cup of tea and ask politely? It is this vile terrorism that produced places like Batalanda.

¶ 06 On the other hand, we point at LTTE terrorism. The JVP later boasted they helped bring Mahinda Rajapaksa to power to end the war. If so, what cruelties happened behind that war? How many suspected LTTE cadres were subjected to torture in camps to extract information on Prabhakaran’s locations, camps, depots, and bunkers?

¶ 07 Through indoctrination, neighbors, brothers, and friends were turned, gathered to meetings, agitated, their minds warped with false patriotism, and made into killers. Lives were destroyed, and much developed property was burned.

¶ 08 We learned of 88-89 at school. Our main exports were tea, coconut, and rubber. How many tea factories were burned? How many Agrarian Service Centers? How many Pradeshiya Sabha buildings? Wasn’t Thambuttegama railway station burned? Who led schoolchildren from Thambuttegama to Nallachchiya? Who gave them placards “Milk to Colombo, Cucumbers to us”? Today the people of Thambuttegama accuse the very person who leads the country now. He led children out of school with brainwashing slogans, and then, having sacrificed many of his own comrades, hid and now appears as a saint.

¶ 09 Those who opposed Indian expansionism then now go with Prime Minister Modi. Both positions may have right and wrong. J.R. Jayewardene thought to protect our bullets and lives by bringing in India’s Peace Keeping Force. He could have thought it right — just as he went to England and got the “Victoria” name for our dam. He may have thought to use India to end the war with no cost to us. Later, when Rajiv Gandhi came to discuss provincial councils, one of “their henchmen” hit him. If a bullet had been used there, where would we be today?

¶ 10 Even in the Army, some were indoctrinated with false heroism to attack the Indian PM. Today those same people go in line with Modi, and in Anuradhapura they make offerings to the Sri Maha Bodhi after previously denigrating it, and now the Sacred Tooth Relic is on exposition. We revere the Tooth Relic; it was the symbol of statehood. But who tried to bomb the Temple of the Tooth and steal its gems? How much damage did those upheavals cause?

¶ 11 I was a student then. A classmate’s father was killed publicly — tied to a tree. His mother was our teacher. He was killed for being a UNPer. Are these right? If such people were taken to Batalanda and questioned with a cup of tea, would they reveal where their leaders were hiding? The LTTE took cyanide because they feared questioning. Thus questioning of terrorism is cruel everywhere in the world’s camps. It is because of those measures that a JVP leader hiding as a superintendent was found.

¶ 12 Those who betrayed their own now sit here to govern after selling out their comrades. The curse of those lost lives will fall. Many lives that would have built this country were lost, and we are paying for that sin now. You have come to govern, but the day to pay for it is not far. You said 159 MPs are here — who will speak fairly? Only empty chairs. Those here sit with fingers in ears. They criticized the Justice Minister and his father; he hangs his head. The people have given those who erred the chance to govern — not a privilege but a punishment.

¶ 13 Therefore, I table now the dossier “Effects on Civilian Life during 1987-88-89.”

¶ 14 I do not have time to analyze each. They show how many lives and properties were harmed. Ultimately, when we clean our past filth, those responsible for creating this accursed situation that turned our youth into debtors are none other than the leaders of the JVP. This is now exposed. We thank Al Jazeera. You lit the fire — Batalanda now burns the JVP to ashes. I conclude. Thank you.