Sri Lanka, March 19 -- The history of Presidential Commissions in Sri Lanka is one of brazen political opportunism and travesty of justice. They were the oft-deployed tools in the government's arsenal before local and international outcry, as an eyewash and distraction from its grim human rights record. As a general rule, they are toothless and devoid of powers to take legal action against perpetrators. Very presidents who established presidential commissions had rarely followed up with their recommendations. At other times, they are used as a political tool to malign political opponents. The Batalanda Commission falls into this category- not due to the absence of guilt, but due to the sheer and sickening hypocrisy of the political leadersh...