Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 Hon. Presiding Member, please allow me about three more minutes. Now, I will speed up a little bit. So, work with us on these things.

¶ 02 Recently, there were some returnees from India. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has sent a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the effect that those returnees are being detained when they come here. When the Hon. Minister in charge of Public Security saw it in “The Hindu” newspaper — I am sorry, we saw it in “The Hindu” newspaper, not that it was officially communicated to us — we acted, gazetted and instructed that that should not happen. It was a technical issue. On Monday, we will be informing of the actions to the Cabinet. So, an isolated incident took place, we acted on it. When I inquired, that particular letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had been sent on the 13th of August, 2025. They have stopped the flight on the 14th of August. None of us received that communication and by the 17th, it was on “The Hindu” newspaper. It is true that they sent the letter to our Foreign Mission, but surely we are only a WhatsApp away. So, I hope our international friends understand that we are here to work together. We are a Third World country and we may not be as efficient as European Governments and their bureaucracy. So, give us time and cooperate with us. Therefore, I would say to the UN and our international friends, we want your help, we want your assistance and we are open and willing to work with you, but be reasonable. That is my request. Also, I would like to say that, for decades, a lot of Gazans have been waiting to be resettled. I hope the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would look into that matter, too, and warn Israel that they are being naughty, if the situation arises.

¶ 03 Then, with regard to the Office on Missing Persons, it is true, there were weaknesses. What did the UNHRC Report say about the OMP, to which I agree? It states this much, I quote: “...the Office on Missing Persons has not clarified the fate and whereabouts of thousands of forcefully disappeared persons and faces lack of trust from victim communities. Successive Governments, particularly during 2019-2022, have undermined the institution’s independence by appointing members lacking credibility and independence. A lack of political will, weak institutional framework, limited resources and capacity have also prevented the Office on Missing Persons from achieving its core mission.”

¶ 04 Which is true and which I agree to. That is why from the time our Government came in, we have been trying to expedite things. On Monday, I am putting up a Cabinet Paper to appoint a 75-person expert panel — that is not enough staff — to investigate these expeditiously, for which I am asking for allocations and the Cabinet will give those to me.

¶ 05 The ONUR — the Office for National Unity and Reconciliation — is working with the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and the UN to establish a reconciliation plan and a roadmap. So, we are on it.

¶ 06 Then, take the Chemmani mass graves, which people are talking about. You all are talking only about Chemmani. There are 17 mass grave sites, with which the Office on Missing Persons is currently engaged, assisting effectively in court cases and allocating money and experts. We are getting cooperation from the ICRC; we are speaking with our international partners and friends to get expertise to help us because we do not want to cover up anything. For us, the graves in Chemmani are important; the Matale grave is important and also the Port City is important. As long as it is a human being and a Sri Lankan, that is our responsibility. His race, caste and religion are immaterial to us.

¶ 07 I have to conclude now because of the time constraint. Finally, I just want to say, let us work together on this; it is a sincere invitation. What people say and what they actually mean are two different things. Let us do politics on other fronts, but let us work together in this. Humans are humans. We cannot divide them on the basis of geography. Whenever some Opposition Member, a Representative from the North, says “our people”, I say, do not use the term “our people” just to represent your ethnic community. Use the term “our people” to represent people, both from the North and the South. We have friends in the North, unlike previous governments. I have friends and family in the North. We walk on the streets; we talk to them and ask them, “What do you think of the Government now?” And they say, “Sir, we have a lot of problems and all the problems are not getting solved, but we are being positive that something good is happening.” I have distant members of my extended family in the North. We go there like normal citizens and talk to them. When my mother-in-law visits her hometown, Tellippalai, we speak to people. They say, “Okay, you guys are not perfect, but we are happy because you are heading in the right direction.”

¶ 08 So, let me invite you, let us finish off this racial hatred and divisive politics. Clean Sri Lanka means, clean minds and hearts. We are clean in mind and heart. When it comes to human rights, we are not just ticking off boxes for the UN or complying with the human rights conventions. We are doing what we do from the bottom of our hearts and we are not just ticking off boxes. We are not doing this out of fear for the UN; we are doing it because that is the right thing to do and that is what we have promised to do. So, I invite all the people from Point Pedro to Dondra, let us unite and protect each other because, for us, all are brothers and sisters, at the end of the day. Thank you very much.