Sri Lanka's foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera said on Wednesday that the architecture for the mechanism for accountability would be ready by early next year for discussion.
Speaking at the press conference, Mr Samaraweera also sought to play down differences of opinion on foreign involvement in the mechanism, stating that a solution would be found in between the two positions.
"The best way to prove all these allegations wrong is to have a credible mechanism to look into these allegations and then we can respond once we have gone into it thoroughly," he reiterated.
His remarks in English are transcribed below:
Speaking at the press conference, Mr Samaraweera also sought to play down differences of opinion on foreign involvement in the mechanism, stating that a solution would be found in between the two positions.
"The best way to prove all these allegations wrong is to have a credible mechanism to look into these allegations and then we can respond once we have gone into it thoroughly," he reiterated.
His remarks in English are transcribed below:
“Sri Lanka has a democracy where even the leader of the republic has the right to express his opinion. The President has said so and we respect his views. But finally, we know the President and the Prime Minister will look at all the options available and take a decision which will be acceptable to the majority of the stakeholders,” he said.
"Between these two positions there are many alternatives available. So we will study all these alternatives because in the final count what is important is if this is to work, this must be a credible alternative. This is not an attempt to satisfy ourselves. So whatever we come up with must also be acceptable to the stake holders. We.. I am confident that we can come up with such a mechanism once the consultations are over."
"We have maintained through out and everyone understands the need to do consultations prior to taking any final decisions and we have always maintained that it will take some time. Our time line as I have always said was to deal with the low hanging fruits so to speak and that is why we have already completed work on the OMP, the Office of Missing Persons. Now the next step will be to work on the truth seeking mechanisms and hopefully by next September we hope to have a white paper for discussion and then take it to cabinet."
"By early next year the architecture of the special mechanisms or the special accountability courts would also be ready for discussion."