Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam
Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam said he supported investigations into alleged torture sites such as Batalanda and punishment for those responsible. He argued that victims of killings, bombings and disappearances over past decades should be remembered and treated equally, without branding some communities’ expressions of grief as racist. He urged the NPP Government to show empathy and equal concern for all affected people, warning that national progress depends on such equal treatment.
Verbatim record (translated)
Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English¶ 01 Please grant two more minutes.
¶ 02 We supported inquiries into torture camps like Batalanda and punishment for perpetrators. Hon. Bimal remembered his comrades killed and tortured with tears. Over 30 years, people of my age, including me, witnessed many killings and bombings. We lost family; many disappeared. When we speak of them, we are called racists; when you speak, it is called brotherhood. Now that the NPP Government has come through struggle, show empathy. Treat all equally. If not, this country will not progress. Thank you.
Provenance
- Source
- Hansard, Wednesday, 21 May 2025 ·No. 1749121318003248 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
- Page · column
- not yet extracted — page/column anchors are not in the current dataset; the source PDF is the citable location.
- Permalink
/lk/speeches/8137
Cite as: Hon. (Dr.) Pathmanathan Sathiyalingam. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 21 May 2025. No. 1749121318003248. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/8137