In an interview with Al Jazeera, the Commander of the Security Forces in Jaffna Major General Mahinda Hathurusinghe laughed off reports of abductions, torture and rape committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces, dismissing them as ‘lies’.
Speaking on the documentary ‘Scars of Sri Lanka’, which aired on Thursday, Hathurusinghe dismissed claims of abductions, stating,
“I flatly deny... None we do not. We don’t have anyone and we don’t abduct. Because there is no reason, why should we abduct? We have no terrorism.”
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See interview from 14:00 |
When questioned about individual reports of abductions by reporter Evan Williams, Hathurusinghe laughed before responding,
“You know... I really can smile. There is nothing else I can do. Because this is politics. This is the problem…”
Further questioning on rapes and abductions from a Human Rights Watch report released earlier this year (see here), lead to more smiles from the Commander, who went on to add,
“I suppose my smile tells the story. They are all fabricated, no base at all, all stories. Because they just want to stay in UK. They want to continue in other countries. These are all lies. These are all lies.”
Last month an Australian Senator and New Zealand MP visitng the North-East had seen text messages sent Hathutusinghe himself to 'comfort women' he personally abuses.
Speaking on the Army’s current focus Hathurusinghe added there was,
“a serious diaspora and certain people who really want to see our country destabilised. So therefore that threat we are fairly worried of... so therefore that is one focus we are really looking at now”.
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