Sri Lanka will not start a domestic war crimes probe before September, said Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith Perera to Ceylon Today, despite President Maithripala Sirisena’s pledge last week to launch an inquiry in June.
The deputy minister said Sri Lanka would only present a report on the modalities on how such a domestic inquiry would be conducted at the UNHRC in September.
Mr Perera said the government achieved a “great diplomatic victory” in March this year, referring to the deferral of the OISL report until September.
"We made it clear to the UN that there was no need for an international inquiry and told that we have an independent judiciary and independent public service,” he said.
“The UN mechanism asked us to ensure the independence of the Judiciary, police and other institutions so that we carry out a credible domestic inquiry instead of an international inquiry."
"We are to hand over a report to the UNHRC as to how we will be conducting the domestic inquiry after getting approval to that in September only the inquiry will be conducted," Mr Perera further said.
President Maithripala Sirisena’s initial self-imposed deadline of one month to set up a domestic inquiry passed on Monday.
During his visit to London, exactly one month ago, he promised he would set up “a special investigative commission within a month to inquire into the alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of the country's civil conflict”, the government’s official news portal said.
Last week, in an interview to Time magazine, the president said the domestic inquiry would be launched in June.
No 'shortcuts' to reconciliation in Sri Lanka says UN official (11 Apr 2015)
Sri Lanka to launch domestic probe in June and hold parliamentary elections (09 April 2015)
Government 'lacks political will' to pursue justice – Tamil Civil Society Forum (01 Apr 2015)
Tamils protest across North-East rejecting domestic probe into atrocities, call for international action (23 March 2015)
Cameron tells Sri Lanka in 6 months time the spotlight will be back on (10 March 2015)
UK expects progress on accountability in Sri Lanka, says British foreign secretary (09 March 2015)
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