The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka has called for an impartial investigation into the mass graves found in the Jaffna Peninsula, saying the long-running excavations at Chemmani must be completed if the truth is to be established and accountability secured.
The call comes in a statement issued after the Conference’s plenary session, held from 18 to 20 August, Daily Mirror reported. The bishops said the mass graves and the alleged crimes associated with Chemmani require serious attention, and pointed to other unresolved incidents of terrorism and mass killing during the nearly three-decade civil war, as well as acts of terrorism that preceded it.
The Chemmani excavation has run since May and had recovered 507 sets of remains by its 100th day, with DNA testing raised in Parliament in August. The site also features in the OHCHR report on accountability presented to the Human Rights Council this month.
What the bishops welcomed
The statement is not solely critical. The Conference thanked the Government for its decision on the proposed Mannar wind farms, noting that 14 have been established and that, as promised, there will be no further expansion.
It also welcomed the increase in tea estate workers’ salaries, an issue the bishops said they raised with President Anura Kumara Dissanayake in August last year, describing the rise as a long-standing need that would benefit the estate community and the wider economy.
Environmental objections
The Conference raised extensive environmental damage it attributes to sand mining on Mannar Island, and said it had received information about land excavation around Mannar for fuel and gas exploration. Such projects may aid development, the bishops said, but environmental assessments should be conducted transparently, the public properly informed, and meaningful consultation held beforehand — particularly to protect the livelihoods and water resources of fishing communities.
The statement further raised the implementation of the court decision on environmental damage from the MV X-Press Pearl disaster and the compensation awarded — a matter now entangled in a bribery complaint against judges — and warned of threats from the ongoing reclamation of the Muthurajawela wetland.
Signatories include Conference President Bishop Harold Anthony Perera, Archbishop of Colombo Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Bishop of Mannar Anthony Pillai Gnana Pragasam and Bishop of Jaffna Anton Ranjith.
Sources: Daily Mirror.
