Only an ‘impartial independent international investigation can establish truth and serve justice,’ said the Global Tamil Forum spokesperson, rejecting the recently announced Presidential Commission of Inquiry on Missing Persons.
“When we do not have any faith in the commission or its limited mandate, why would anyone even consider being engaged in such a flawed process? The answer to your question is ‘No’,” said the GTF spokesperson Suren Surendiran, when asked by the Sunday Leader if the Tamil diaspora would contribute to the investigation.
Questioning the credibility of a presidential inquiry, Suren Surendiran added,
Highlighting previously failed inquiries, he added,
“When we do not have any faith in the commission or its limited mandate, why would anyone even consider being engaged in such a flawed process? The answer to your question is ‘No’,” said the GTF spokesperson Suren Surendiran, when asked by the Sunday Leader if the Tamil diaspora would contribute to the investigation.
Questioning the credibility of a presidential inquiry, Suren Surendiran added,
“When an alleged party to crimes is involved in the decision making process of choosing the investigators or the counsel of advisors and their terms of reference for the investigation, that may not be impartial.”
Highlighting previously failed inquiries, he added,
“Why did President Mahinda Rajapaksa take more than five years to appoint and/or expand the mandate? Why did he now believe that there is a reason for increasing the mandate to investigate whether war crimes were committed? Why did the Government publicly accept an army investigation that exonerated the military from all charges only a few months ago to now accept the President’s decision to increase the mandate to include war crimes investigation too?”Expressing scepticism over the government's appointment foreign experts to aid the Presidential Commission, Surendiran said,
“These will be the questions the thousands of victims and the general public will want the two most powerful people in the country to answer.”
“At the same time, senior cabinet ministers say that the advisory panel could only advice but the President and the government have the final say to either listen to or reject any such advice given. Why anyone with basic understanding of law, governance, controls and due processes would consider these appointments as giving any more credibility to an already discredited commission?”