The Hon. Dayasiri Jayasekara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, I wish to raise several points about the 1987–1990 period. This debate has resurfaced because Ranil Wickremesinghe spoke about it on Al Jazeera; otherwise, few would discuss Batalanda. But we must push this further. Killings happened on both sides—this is not about who stabbed or shot whom; both sides killed.

¶ 02 Recall 1971—why did you take up arms then? In the early 1980s, many parties and organizations were banned; that does not mean you take up arms. The spiral of violence grew: disenfranchisement in 1979; murder of trade unionist Somapala in 1980; the July 1980 strike and mass dismissals; the Fourth Amendment and referendum; the Sixth Amendment expelling TULF MPs; Black July 1983; and rising armed struggles.

¶ 03 JVP’s first murders date to 1986 with the killing of Daya Pathirana, head of the Independent Students’ Union—his throat slit. Why? Nandana Marasinghe, a revolutionary singer, was gunned down selling slippers at Anuradhapura fair. Why? Prof. Gladys Jayawardene—why was she killed? Prof. Stanley Wijesundera—why? Vijaya Kumaratunga—JVP leaflets asked “Why was Vijaya sent?” He too had earlier suffered under false “Naxalite” accusations.

¶ 04 There was massive election rigging in 1989. Comparing LTTE terrorism with JVP’s, terror is terror; you cannot paint one side as heroes. In 2018 I voted to oust Ranil as PM; yet some of you voted to keep him. All these killers and rogues were together in 2015 and even after 2022.

¶ 05 Tens of thousands died—some say 41,000, others 67,000—many were our young. We experienced brutal times in universities, protests, and crackdowns. But why destroy national assets—factories, buses, transformers? The LTTE, for all its crimes, kept schools open; but here, many public properties were burned.

¶ 06 Banks were robbed—an organized unit led by Ragama Semasiri in 1984; from 1985–1990, 62 state bank branches were looted, with 131 major robbery charges; in 1989, 60 kg of gold was seized from a residence. Many betrayed comrades—64 turned informants, leading to hundreds of killings, including at Eliyakanda. I do not whitewash UNP or anyone; SLFP cadres also died in large numbers.

¶ 07 Your organization even killed 22 IPKF soldiers. Last week, Indian PM Modi visited the memorial in my area to pay respects. Did your Government note that? How many shops did you force shut? People called bomb onions “bee loonu” out of fear. This cycle must end. Let us close this chapter; UNP killed, JVP killed, the state killed—how much, who gains now by reliving it?

¶ 08 There were horrific atrocities—like sending a murdered youth’s flesh to his parents who unknowingly cooked and ate it, and the killing of “Matara Dharme.” These are known to some here. Let us end this and move forward.