Sri Lanka’s Presidential Adviser on Reconciliation Rajiva Wijesinha indignantly dismissed calls for an international investigation, in a heated interview with Al Jazeera this week.

In a 5-minute interview, where Wijesinha frequently clashed with the Al Jazeera presenter whom he refered to as "my dear lady", he stated that there was “no question” of an international investigation into human rights violations. 

He went on to chide the presenter for echoing calls for an international investigation, stating that he "reject(s) totally" claims that the Sri Lankan government has been unable to independently investigate itself.

The Sri Lankan MP also went to slam British Prime Minister David Cameron, stating he doesn’t “run the world” and accusing him of “talking rubbish”, before labelling Gordon Weiss, who helped co-author an ICEP report released this week, “a very clear liar”.

Even Al Jazeera was lambasted by Wijesinha, who he accused alongside of having a “disease”, alongside people of the West for focussing on accountability for war crimes.

Extracts from the interview have been reproduced below.

Reporter: Why won’t the government now allow an independent investigation to come into Sri Lanka to really find out what happened?

The ICEP is really not a body of any standing and unfortunately they put on the ICEP, one name I recognise Gordon Weiss who self confessedly has a grudge against the Sri Lankan government… who is, as I said, a very clear liar. 

Reporter: I’m going to interrupt you, the one thing you are saying is the Sri Lankans want to conduct their own investigation but constantly we have heard international criticism that that is not credible and there has to be an independent body going in. That people are not going to turn away until that is done and indeed until someone is held accountable in the Sri Lankan government.

There seems to be an assumption of what you call the international community, which consists of a few Westerners, that anything we do is not independent…

Reporter: Well why don’t you name an international body that you trust to come in and do an inquiry?

There is no question of international bodies; we have made it very clear.
I reject totally the assumption that anything we do is not independent. How dare you insist on such matters…

Reporter: But sir, your government is being accused so how can it be independent? You are the ones that are being brought to book.

Well, my dear lady, in any country it is normal to have your own internal inquiry and only if it doesn’t seem to be independent… We had allegations about the LLRC, the Americans in particular were very nasty about it, when the report came out they welcomed it. The British, the High Commissioner told me ‘We had our suspicions, but it’s a very good report.’

Reporter: The British have called for an independent investigation. Their Prime Minister David Cameron has called for one.

Well, if you think David Cameron runs this world, I am very sorry for you. David Cameron does not run the world. When he was talking rubbish here, Jacob Zuma the President of South Africa came and told us you should have an inquiry like the one we did – that was an internal thing.

Reporter: So you won’t accept anybody? It has to be only the government, you won’t accept anybody else?

We will not have international interference in Sri Lanka, just as I hope you in Qatar will not allow international interference. There is such a thing, that the UN accepted of national sovereignty. But I agree about independent, what I am trying to tell you is when you have several allegations that nothing we do is independent, followed by bleating of “oh yes yes that is ok”.

Reporter: Sir, can I ask you, you are in charge of reconciliation, do you think this is really the way to reconcile Sri Lanka, with an attitude towards nobody coming in?

It is not only about war crimes. You people in the West, and I’m sorry but Al Jazeera seems to have this disease as well now, which is a pity because you were so much more civilised during the war as opposed to Channel 4, but you people think everything is about war crimes. It’s not, it is about reconciliation.