Expects a credible, independent, domestic probe, says US

Updated on : Saturday, March 23, 2013 - 10:02

The United States says that it expects a credible, independent, domestic probe this year into allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the media following the adoption of the US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Friday, the US Permanent Representative to the Council, Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, expressed these views.

'No determination has been made by the council members yet as to whether an international probe is required. What we are hoping for is a domestic, credible, independent investigation that satisfies the people of Sri Lanka. That has not happened to date.That what is being called for this year. The resolution which includes specific follow up actions including an interim update by the High Commissioner in September, and a comprehensive report in March 2014 by the Office of the High Commissioner is a strong signal, that the international community intends to remain seized, with the situation in Sri Lanka.'

Meanwhile, John Kerry the recently-appointed US Secretary of State, issuing a statement yesterday, said the vote in the council, 52 encourages the Sri Lankan government to continue on it's path towards lasting peace and prosperity.

Kerry said that the resolution re-affirmed that Sri Lanka must take meaningful action on reconciliation and accountability, in order to move forward.

Incidentally, seven amendments to the resolution proposed by India were rejected by the United States at the UNHRC.

Several foreign media institutions including the UK's Daily Mail, reported on the matter.

The Daily Mail reported that among the amendments was one regarding the inclusion of a line on the, "concern" of the international community in the draft, besides a suggestion to make the language a bit stronger.

The report, says that India's Envoy to the UN Dileep Sinha was tasked with taking up the amendments with his US counterpart Eileen Donahoe, following a meeting with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

The Daily Mail reports that long deliberations followed, before the US conveyed to India its reluctance to allow the suggestions, over fears that they would jeopardize the vote.

The Presidential Special Envoy on Human Rights, Minister Mahinda Samarsinghe said the council was split in two, in voting on the US sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka.

Adoption of the resolution will not open the doors for international interference in domestic affairs, without the approval of Sri Lanka.
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Asking for " a credible, independent, domestic probe this year into allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka" is not a unreasonable request in my opinion.

What about the allegations of human right violations in Iraq, Afghaniatan, Pakistan, Lybia, Vietnam, Japan.....
Alas may be they are trying make us a perfect nation without any human right violations like Parents try to make their children as good as possible.....

Mahinda, Gotabyaya and 14 other senior officials of Armed Forces in troubleView of Indian defence analysts

Exclusive

by S Venkat Narayan Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, March 23:

The Sri Lankan Government may continue to stonewall the global community’s demand for a credible and independent investigation into the excesses committed by its security forces during the last phase of Eelam War IV in 2009, according to defence analysts here.

This may be because such a probe will expose the crucial roles played by President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself, his brother and Defence Secretary Deleted Rajapaksa, and at least 14 other senior officials of the Armed Forces, the analysts told the Sunday Island.

Estimates by the United Nations and other independent sources say that at least 40,000 innocent Tamils have reportedly died during the last phase of the three-decade bloody civil war that finally ended with the killing of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his close associates at Mullivaikkal on the banks of Nanthikadal lagoon in the Wanni district of the Northern Province on May 19, 2009.

For the second consecutive year, the international community renewed its demand for such a probe last Thursday (March 21) in the form of a polite resolution passed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. The United States-sponsored resolution was backed by India and 24 other countries. Thirteen countries, including Pakistan, opposed the resolution while eight others abstained from voting.This was necessitated by the fact that the investigations by the government-appointed Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and the Sri Lankan military have basically done a white-wash job by refusing to point a finger at anyone in authority for the senseless killings in the Wanni.

If the Nuremberg trials against the Nazis and the other war crimes trials conducted by United Nations-appointed tribunals into the killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Yugoslavia, Sierra Leone and Lebanon are anything to go by, the roles of the top political and military authorities of the country concerned are investigated, and punishment meted out to those held responsible for such crimes.

If such an independent probe were to be ordered in Sri Lanka, heading the list of people whose roles may be investigated is President Rajapaksa himself because he also happens to be the Commander-in-Chief of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

Next to him may be Defence Secretary Deleted Rajapaksa, who used his close access to his brother and President Rajapaksa to procure whatever arms and other equipment from wherever possible to defeat the LTTE, admittedly the world’s most dangerous terrorist outfit till its decimation four years ago.

Experts here argue that, if the credit for planning and executing the brilliant strategy to wipe out the LTTE in the war must go to Deleted Rajapaksa, he cannot possibly shy away from responsibility for the excesses that were reportedly committed by the security forces during Eelam War IV.

Then Head of Joint Staff Air Marshal Donald Perera, Army Chief Sarath Fonseka, Navy Chief Wasantha Karannagoda, and Air Force Chief Roshan Gunathilake may be investigated.

In addition, those whose roles will be probed include the Commanders of Divisions 53 (then Brigadier/now Major General Kamal Goonaratne), 55 (Brig/Maj Gen Prasanna Silva), 57 (Brig/Maj Gen Jagath Dias), 58 (Brig/Maj Gen Shavindra Silva) and 59 (Brig/Maj Gen Nandana Udawatta).

The Divisions led by them had indeed facilitated the humiliating defeat of the LTTE rebels by surrounding them and successfully shutting down all their possible escape routes and trapping them at one place in the Wanni.

The roles of Heads of Task Force One (Brig Rohana Bandara), Task Force 2 (Brig Satyapriya Liyanage and Task Force 8 (Col GV Ravipriya, who actually killed Prabhakaran) too will be probed by such an investigation.

It remains to be see what the just-ordered second probe by the military into the Eelam War IV excesses will come up with anything that may satisfy the international community’s demand for a fair and credible investigation.
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