Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UK, Chris Nonis slammed the Amnesty report as a "propaganda exercise in misinformation and heresay", during an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today Programme.
Asked about the countless deaths during the end of the armed conflict, Nonis replied: "the terrible thing about a terrorism is that we don't have any other option"
Listen here at 01:20:55 for full interview. Extract transcribed below:
Nonis: "As usual, Amnesty International has carried out its usual propaganda exercise in misinformation and heresay. I would say it's a fascinating piece of fiction. It's based on unverified third party news reports, and websites, and only contributes to this dreadful proxy propaganda war. All it does is fan the flames of hatred. You have to understand that we in Sri Lanka have lived as a heterogeneous community for two and half thousand years. We had a 28 year history of a bitter and internecine conflict with the terrorists, but finally in May 2009 we achieved peace on the country under the leadership of his Excellency Mahinda Rajapaksa."
BBC: And an awful lot of people got killed in the process - and that's a fact.
Nonis: "Well the tragedy of war - in any country, and including all countries, whether it's Britain or the States - war is dreadful. And the terrible thing about a terrorism is that we don't have any other option."