FOREIGN Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona yesterday (17) dismissed the threat of hauling the Sri Lankan political and military leadership before an international war crimes tribunal as a cynical exercise.
Addressing a press conference at the Met Department auditorium, Kohona said that like any other state Sri Lanka had a legal responsibility to rescue hostages held by terrorists. The Sri Lankan government couldn’t be held accountable for taking measures to liberate civilians held at gunpoint by the LTTE.
He was responding to a recent statement attributed to British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s administration could face a war crimes probe. In a Commons debate, Rammell said that the UK backed an early inquiry into shelling by the Sri Lankan army.
He said that as a sovereign nation, Sri Lanka was legally obliged to respond to the LTTE threat. He pointed out the absurdity in allowing LTTE activists to disrupt normal life in western capitals.
Peace Secretariat chief Dr. Rajiv Wijesinghe, too, harshly criticised the failure on the part of foreign governments to curb LTTE activity. Wijesinghe accused UN workers operating in Sri Lanka with access to welfare centres in the Vavuniya district of being a part of anti-government propaganda campaign. He said that inquiries conducted by him personally following UNHCR allegations of widespread abuse at welfare centres had revealed that there was absolutely no truth in these allegations. In fact there had been only one case involving an uncle and his niece, he said, nothing could be as ridiculous as the assertion that the army encouraged the man to rape his niece. The outspoken official said that two UN female expatriates had created stories including that of bodies of three young women floating in a river for the benefit of the London based Channel 4. He urged journalists visiting welfare camps to see whether any blue eyed children were there as expatriates had a ‘good time’ in the Vanni.
Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said that in the past few days a section of the international media had warned of a bloodbath in the no fire zone due to the ongoing humanitarian mission. He said that the situation had been worsened by the likes of UN spokesman in Colombo Gordon Weiss who warned of a humanitarian catastrophe on the Mullaitivu coast. But the army had rescued over 179,000 people since April 20, the minister said, accusing the UN and a section of the media of strengthening the LTTE propaganda campaign. (Courtesy: The Island)
