The Hon. Rauff Hakeem, Attorney-at-Law

¶ 01 The Hon. Deputy Minister Sunil Watagala is known as the chief strategist of the secret ballot in the Colombo Municipal Council. Speaking, he mentioned Sara Jasmin. Before seeking Sara Jasmin’s DNA, first find Ishara Sewwandi. The fellow who came with Ishara to court fired shots and left. The Hon. Deputy Minister, in panic, abused the driver—we all saw that. That panic still has not abated. Anyway, first find Ishara Sewwandi, then seek Sara’s DNA.

¶ 02 Hon. Deputy Chairperson of Committees, our Leader of the House took a sound approach to this debate. I wish he were in the Chamber now. A shocking event is happening right now—the excavation of mass graves in Chemmani. Day by day bodies surface—infants, babies with their toys—atrocities reported daily, especially in Tamil-language papers, less so in southern media.

¶ 03 YouTubers Tharindu Jayawardena and Tharindu Uduwaragedara did a programme; I watched it. They visited Chemmani, went to victims’ homes, including Krishanthi Kumaraswamy’s. What did victims say?

¶ 04 The excavations are conducted by Prof. Raj Somadeva’s team. They say no one from Government has even set foot there. What is the Government’s responsibility? I point out: the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act provides powers. As Hon. Harshana Nanayakkara spoke earlier, Section 12(d) “Powers of Investigation” states: I quote—

¶ 05 “(d) to apply to the appropriate Magistrate’s Court having territorial jurisdiction, for an order of Court to carry out an excavation and/or exhumation of suspected grave sites, and to act as an observer at such excavation or exhumation...”

¶ 06 Has the OMP gone there? They are asleep in Colombo. The OMP is not even properly constituted. I tell Minister Harshana Nanayakkara: please act. The OMP Act empowers you.