Rev Fr M Sathivel, coordinator of the National Organisation for the Release of Political Prisoners, has accused Sri Lanka’s National People’s Power (NPP) government of moving swiftly to appease Sinhala Buddhist opinion over the jailed monk Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara while doing nothing to free Tamil political prisoners it pledged to release.
In a media statement issued on Thursday (29 October), Sathivel asked whether the government’s failure to keep its promise amounted to discrimination against Tamil political prisoners.
Sathivel contrasted the government’s inaction on prisoners with its response to the controversy over Gnanasara, the Sinhala Buddhist extremist monk notorious for anti-Muslim incitement who is currently in prison. He said the government had rushed to introduce legal amendments to appease the Sinhala Buddhist clergy, and asked why it had shown no similar urgency for Tamil political prisoners.
Monks have staged protests for weeks to demand Gnanasara’s release , backed by Rajapaksa allies .
Sathivel criticised the NPP government, led by Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, for failing to introduce any legal measures to release political prisoners despite pledging to do so during its election campaign.
He recalled that members of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which forms the core of the NPP, were well aware of the hunger strikes by political prisoners and the shutdowns held across the North-East demanding their release. Representatives of his organisation had met Dissanayake at the party’s Pelawatte office and urged him to support their release, he said.
Despite this, the organisation accused the NPP of abandoning its promise after securing Tamil votes.
Sathivel also condemned the arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) of a Tamil man who returned to Sri Lanka after serving a prison sentence in India, on allegations linked to an alleged revival of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). His organisation described the arrest as a threat of further terrorism arrests against Tamil political activists.
According to Sathivel, the man, Krishnakumar from the Northern Province, served his sentence in India and then spent a further four years in a camp there. On returning to reunite with his family, he was arrested by Sri Lankan police at Bandaranaike International Airport in Katunayake.
Sathivel asked whether the Sri Lankan government lacked confidence in the Indian court’s judgment, or whether it was seeking to impose further punishment after consulting the Indian government. Krishnakumar has since been released by the Mallakam court .
Sathivel also raised concerns over restrictions on Tamil memorialisation and political expression.
He said books documenting experiences of the war and seeking to preserve them for future generations had been held by Sri Lanka Customs . He also pointed to people being summoned for questioning over the statue of Lt Col Thileepan, the LTTE member who died on hunger strike in 1987.
He described these incidents, along with threats surrounding the remembrance of fallen Tamil liberation fighters on 27 November, as part of a broader pattern of intimidation against Tamils.
He criticised politicians who had made electoral promises concerning LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, including proposals for a statue and a memorial hall in his name, while later restricting publications and pursuing people under terrorism laws.
Sathivel called on the government to recognise the right of families in the North-East to remember those who died pursuing their political aims. He noted that the JVP itself holds commemorations for its members killed during its 1988–89 insurrection, and said Tamil families should likewise be allowed to remember their dead.
He urged the authorities not to criminalise memorial events, obstruct commemorations or threaten those seeking to remember their relatives ahead of 27 November, when Tamils mark Maaveerar Naal or Great Heroes' Day.
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