The Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that “those opposed to peace” are making “baseless allegations of war crimes” against Sri Lanka, in a speech marking the 66th anniversary of Sri Lanka’s independence from the United Kingdom.

The president struck a defiant note in the run up to the UN Human Rights Council session in March, saying that those committed to separatism are levelling war crimes charges against Sri Lanka.

For full speech see here. See below for extracts.

Three decades of suffering ended on May 19, 2009. Since then there has been no bomb explosion or shooting by terrorists. And no white flags of mourning in our villages.

It is necessary for the people in the North to be aware that certain foreign forces are attempting to use them as human shields. The invaders always came to our country shedding oceans of crocodile tears. They interfered in these countries putting forward claims to protect human rights, establish democracy and the rule of law.

Every powerful country should realize the difficulty in defeating terrorism.

What we faced was a more serious and brutal challenge than they ever faced. The difference between them and us was that we instructed the security forces to give the highest priority to protect the lives of civilians. Those powerful countries took 50 to 100 years for reconciliation after civil wars. We have to ask the world whether there is any country that has progressed so much on the path of reconciliation in just four years.

We see the use of information provided by those who are committed to separatism and those who defeated by the people to level charges of war crimes and other alleged offences against Sri Lanka as a grave offence.

I see the attempts to level charges of war crimes against us in Geneva today as the triumph of those who are not in favour of peace.

We categorically state here that we are not ready, under any circumstances, to deprive our country of the freedom we have won.