Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has expressed his dissatisfaction with a recent interview on Al Jazeera, raising concerns about the integrity of the panelists involved.
Speaking to the media shortly after the interview aired, Wickremesinghe alleged that two of the three panelists who joined broadcaster Mehdi Hasan had pro-LTTE affiliations.
“I was initially informed that Human Rights Lawyer and former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Ambika Sathkunanathan, would be part of the discussion. I was comfortable with that, despite our ideological differences. However, I later discovered that two other panelists had replaced her, and I have been told that they had links to pro-LTTE groups,” he said.
Commenting on the nature of the interview, Wickremesinghe noted a stark contrast between local and international media.
“Local interviews are conducted live, and both positive and negative aspects come out. However, Al Jazeera recorded my interview for two hours and only aired a one-hour version. The most important parts were missing,” he remarked.
Addressing questions about past administrations, he clarified his stance on Sri Lanka’s political history.
“I was questioned about events that took place under the Rajapaksa administration. I made it clear that I was not in power during that period,” he said.
Wickremesinghe also commented on religious leadership in Sri Lanka, stating, “The Mahanayaka of the Malwathu Chapter is the foremost religious leader in the country, while others, including Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, are simply religious leaders.”
Hasan and Wickremesinghe were joined by a panel of experts like Former BBC Sri Lanka correspondent and author of ‘Counting the Dead’, Frances Harrison; Former UK MP and envoy to Mr Wickremesinghe during his presidency, Nirj Deva; and Madura Rasaratnam, Executive Director of human rights organization PEARL and Senior Lecturer in Comparative Politics at City, University of London.
Wickremesinghe, who was voted out of office in 2024, threatened to leave 8 minutes into the hour-long interview with Mehdi Hasan, but ultimately remained seated for a heated debate that also covered the government’s handling of war crimes investigations following the country’s civil war, and allegations of torture committed under his watch in the late 1980s.
