Sri Lanka Brief/ 6 November 2025 – The Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, strongly urging him not to appoint individuals with security sector backgrounds to the Office of Reparations, warning that such appointments would undermine confidence in the institution and the broader reconciliation process in Sri Lanka.
In a letter dated 6th November 2025, signed by ITAK President C.V.K. Sivagnanam and General Secretary M.A. Sumanthiran, the party expressed deep concern over the pending appointments to four vacant positions in the Office of Reparations. The letter highlights that the Office is widely regarded as a key mechanism for advancing reconciliation in Sri Lanka following the Civil War in the North and East, with reparations intended to address violations—primarily by the country’s security forces.
However, ITAK states that the Tamil people have consistently rejected internal mechanisms for accountability or reconciliation, citing a lack of confidence in the impartiality of such institutions. “Any person with the security sector background appointed to this position will only go to confirm what our people have been saying all these days and the callousness of the government,” the letter asserts.
The party claims to have reliable information that four names have recently been recommended for appointment to the Office of Reparations, and that two of them have security sector backgrounds. This, they note, is in addition to the fact that the fifth member is already a Major General. Specifically, ITAK names Mrs. Wasantha Perera (previously Additional Secretary, Ministry of Defence) and Joseph Terence Gnananandan Sundaram (Ex Navy Officer) as the two candidates with security backgrounds. If these appointments proceed, ITAK points out, three out of five members of the Office would be from the security sector—“when not even one person should come from that sector into an office such as this.”
The Central Working Committee of ITAK, which met in Vavuniya on 5th November 2025, resolved unanimously to write to the President and urge him not to appoint Mrs. Wasantha Perera and Joseph Terence Gnananandan Sundaram to the Office of Reparations.
The letter concludes with the signatures of C.V.K. Sivagnanam (President) and M.A. Sumanthiran (General Secretary), reiterating the party’s position and its call for impartiality and credibility in the appointments process.
The ITAK’s intervention comes at a critical time for Sri Lanka’s reconciliation efforts, as the government seeks to fill key positions in institutions tasked with addressing the legacy of the country’s decades-long conflict. The party’s letter underscores the ongoing mistrust between the Tamil community and state institutions, particularly regarding the role of the security sector in post-war accountability and reparations.
Read Press Release here :ITAK Letter to HE – appointments to the office of reparations