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Interim Truth & Reconciliation Secretariat DG: Sri Lankan military will not be targeted

Published

1 year ago

2024/09/5

Sahan Weerasooriya

Dr. Asanga Gunawansa

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Interim Secretariat for Truth and Reconciliation (ISTRM) Director General Dr. Asanga Gunawansa, PC, declared there was absolutely no basis for concerns that the proposed Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation (CTUR) targeted the war-winning military.

Dr. Gunawansa said so responding to The Island query regarding Sarvajana Balaya raising this grave concern, both in and out of Parliament.

The PC asserted that Sarvajana Balaya or other political parties and organisations may have reached that conclusion for want of understanding of the Bill. Had the Bill been perused carefully, they would have realized their concerns were baseless, the ISTRM Chief said. “Perhaps, they misinterpreted the Bill due to lack of understanding of the issues at hand.”

The government presented the relevant Bill to the Parliament on Tuesday (03). National Freedom Front (NFF) lawmaker Wimal Weerawansa emphasized that the Bill shouldn’t have been presented in view of the impending Presidential Election and the matter should have been addressed after the Presidential Election.

Dr. Gunawansa emphasized that the Bill was not meant to harm the military.

In section 16 of the proposed Bill, it is specifically provided as follows:

“16. (1) The Commission’s recommendations shall not be deemed to be a determination of civil or criminal liability of any person.”

Even though Section 16(2) of the Bill provides as follows,

“16 (2) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, No. 15 of 1979 or any other law, it shall be lawful for the Attorney-General to institute criminal proceedings in a designated court of law in respect of any offence based on material collected in the course of an investigation or inquiry or both, as the case may be, by the Commission established under this Act”,

Pointing out that the Attorney General has the power to investigate and prosecute suspects for crimes,” Dr. Gunawansa explained if evidence emerged regarding perpetration of a crime during investigations and inquiries undertaken by the proposed Commission, then prosecutions would take place based on further investigation into such matters and provided that the Attorney General is satisfied that there were sufficient grounds to issue an indictment.

“Even if an indictment is issued, the starting point for any criminal prosecution in Sri Lanka is the presumption of innocence. Therefore, no one could be punished for a criminal offence unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.”

Dr. Gunawansa said that ISTRM conducted a spate of stakeholder meetings during December 2023 to August 2024 period. Representatives of police and the armed forces, as well as the Defence Ministry, who appeared before ISTRM, expressed the view that a credible domestic reconciliation mechanism could help them clear their names. Dr. Gunawansa quoted them as having said that in the absence of such a credible mechanism they and in some instances their children found it difficult to obtain visas to travel overseas.

Responding to another query, Dr. Gunawansa stressed that the Bill had been explained to all political parties, including senior members of the Sarvajana Balaya. According to him none of the political parties had submitted their views and observations as regards the draft Bill though they were invited to do so.

The government established ISTRM in September 2023 to lay the ground work for establishing the proposed CTUR.

Dr. Gunawansa pointed out that the ISTRM is a temporary entity. Since its establishment, it has done the following key functions:

(a) There was a draft prepared back in 2016 to establish a Truth Commission following the extensive consultations held by the Consultation Task Force. The ISTRM compared this draft with the laws enacted in other jurisdictions to establish truth commissions and based on a comparative study, introduced several amendments. This amended version was thereafter gazetted on 1st January 2024, in all three languages, as a concept paper, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the objective of facilitation further consultations with stakeholders.

(b) The ISTRM held over 150 meetings with stakeholders during the period December 2023 to August 2024. These meetings were held in the Western province and all other eight provinces, covering 17 districts. The stakeholders included political leaders, religious leaders, victims, families of victims, civil society organizations, the military and the police, and former soldiers. Based on the findings and input received during the stakeholder meetings, several amendments were introduced to the aforesaid concept paper. Thereafter, the revised draft was Gazetted by H.E. the President on 05th August 2024.

(c) In addition to the above, currently the ISTRM is in the process of completing a study based on 12 jurisdictions which will provide way forward examples for the CTUR, should be established in Sri Lanka.

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Landslide Early Warnings issued to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale, Monaragala and Nuwara Eliya

Published

3 mins ago

2026/01/6

Priyan

The landslide early warning center of the National Building Research Organisation [NBRO] has issued landslide early warnings to the districts of Badulla, Kandy, Matale, Monaragala and Nuwara Eliya in force from 1200hrs on 06th January to 1200hrs on 07th January 2026.

Accordingly,
Level III RED landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Udadumbara in the Kandy district, and Nildandahinna and Walapane in the Nuwara Eliya district.

Level II AMBER landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Kandaketiya in the Badulla district, Wilgamuwa in the Matale district, and Hanguranketha and Mathurata in the Nuwara Eliya district.

Level I YELLOW landslide early warnings have been issued to the Divisional Secretaries Divisions and surrounding areas of Hali_Ela, Badulla, Passara, Lunugala, Welimada and * Meegahakiwula in the Badulla district, Doluwa in the Kandy district, Ambanganga Korale in the Matale district, and Bibila in the Monaragala district.

Latest News

Advisory for low pressure area over South-east Bay of Bengal Sea area

Published

8 hours ago

2026/01/6

Priyan

The Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology has issued an advisory at 11.30 pm on 05 January 2026 regarding a low pressure area over South-east Bay of Bengal Sea area.

The low-level atmospheric disturbance in the Bay of Bengal, to the southeast of the Sri Lanka has intensified into a low-pressure area.

Hence, showery condition over the island, particularly
in the Northern, North-Central, Eastern, Uva and Central provinces is expected to enhance from January 8th.

The Meteorological Department is constantly monitoring the behavior of the system.

The general public are requested to be attentive to the future forecasts and bulletins issued by the Department of Meteorology in this regards.

News

US raid on Venezuela violation of UN Charter and intl. law: Govt.

Published

9 hours ago

2026/01/6

Sahan Weerasooriya

Herath

Foreign Affairs, Foreign Employment and Tourism Minister Vijitha Herath yesterday (05) told a media conference at his Ministry that the UN should deal with the US for violating international law.

Herath, who is also a senior member of the ruling National People’s Power (NPP) party’s National Executive Council, in addition to being a member of the JVP politburo, emphasised that member states couldn’t violate UN Charter and international laws.

The Minister said so when The Island sought the government’s position on the abduction of legally elected Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in a lightning raid carried out amidst heavy air strikes on that country. We raised the issue at hand pointing out that there were persistent allegations regarding US and Indian interventions in the 2022 regime change operation here and that the NPP finalised defence agreements with Washington and New Delhi.

Minister Herath said that Sri Lanka backed the ongoing UN Security Council bid to deal with the developing situation in Venezuela.

Herath was flanked by Deputy Foreign Minister Arun Hemachandra and Deputy Tourism Minister Prof. Ruwan Ranasinghe.

Minister Herath said that the UN Security Council was scheduled to take up this issue today. The US is one of the five members of the UN Security Council.

In terms of the UN Charter, UN members are to refrain from the “use of force” against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state. Another permanent member of the UN Security Council, France, broke ranks with the Western block to condemn US action. France unequivocally declared that the US operation was a “violation of sovereignty.

Minister Herath didn’t respond to the query whether he discussed the issue at hand with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake.

While pointing out that Sri Lanka had been subjected to foreign interventions, The Island sought the position the JVP in respect of US President Donald Trump threatening to move against Mexico, Cuba and Colombia as the party always took a strong stand against US actions. Declaring that his response would be for the government and not the JVP, Minister Herath said that there was a way to deal with situations through the UN.

Minister Herath strongly defended recently signed agreements with India and US pertaining to defence. Stressing that both agreements were beneficial, Minister Herath pointed out that they weren’t defence agreements but security cooperation arrangements.

The US and Sri Lanka signed a Defence Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in November 2025, formalising defence cooperation under the State Partnership Programme (SPP) with the Montana National Guard. The MoU with India was signed in April, 2025. It was among seven MoUs.

Referring to devastating Cyclone Ditwah, the Minister said that India provided material support under the MoU signed in April whereas the US provided 10 helicopters to the SLAF recently.

Responding to a query on US-Sri Lanka tariff negotiations, Minister Herath said that about 95% of the negotiations have been finalised.

At the onset of the briefing, Minister Herath and Deputy Ministers Prof. Ranasinghe and Arun Hemachandra explained how the tourism sector and expatriate Sri Lanka work force contributed to the national economy.

Referring to Central Bank figures, they declared that tourism had brought in USD 3.2 bn whereas expatriate workers contributed USD 7.19 bn up to November last year. Once the Central Bank made available December figures it could reach USD 7.8 bn, they said. Tourism and expatriate work force together brought in as much as USD 11.6 bn, they declared, expressing hope 2026 would definitely be better.

Although the devastation caused by Cyclone Ditwah caused concerns that it may cause a significant drop in tourist arrivals, a steady flow of visitors paved the way for a comfortable 15% increase in arrivals by end of 2025, they said.

Minister Herath said that the government was happy that the country recorded the highest number of tourist arrivals this year.

By Shamindra Ferdinando