Reiterating Sri Lanka's rejection of the UN inquiry into mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, President Rajapaksa stressed "we will not allow an external inquiry".
"We want a local enquiry here to find out what happened to them. Obviously many are missing in the war, both from the civilians and the Army. But we reject this UN commission, and how it was formed," he told The Hindu during an interview, published Thursday.
"Our government is speaking of local investigations, but we won’t allow them to internationalise it. The next time if they will say that there must be an international enquiry into Kashmir, what would be our position? Would we support such a thing? No! Whether it is against India or Sri Lanka, we will not allow an external inquiry. It is all politics," he added.
Commenting on the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, Rajapaksa stressed that her statements were "biased".
"From the beginning, the statements by the (former) UNHRC Commissioner (Navi Pillay) were biased. We invited her here. She told us one thing and said another thing after returning. But we have nothing to hide, so if the new Human Rights commissioner wishes to come, we would accept his request."
Militarisation and Sinhala colonisation of North-East
Rajapaksa dismissed concern about the military's presence and appropriation of land in the North-East, retorting "I have to find space for my Army in Sri Lanka itself…I can’t send them to be housed in India or some other country, can I?"
"I deny [accusation of colonisation of Tamil areas] categorically. There has been no demolition of Tamil monuments. There is no colonisation. But in Sri Lanka, any citizen can live in any part of the country — whether the person is Tamil, Sinhalese or Muslim.
India-SL relations
Praising India's decision to abstain from the UN Human Rights Council vote mandating the inquiry in March, Rajapaksa said Sri Lanka would remain grateful for India's support during the end of the armed conflict and expressed sympathy for India's decision to vote in favour of past resolutions.
"They had to face their electorate there. Look, relations between India and Sri Lanka are very strong and will remain strong. We will never forget that in the defeat of the LTTE, India was a major factor. We will not forget the support that India gave us."
See here for full interview.
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