The Sri Lankan Minister for Plantations Mahinda Samarasinghe called the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay a "liar" and accused her of being determined to be aggressive against Sri Lanka. Speaking at an election rally, Samarasinghe, who is also the president’s special envoy on human rights, said the government will not “succumb to pressure from some countries or the UN Human Rights Chief to betray the soldiers who fought the war against the LTTE”, the Colombo Gazette reported.
Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa said that Sri Lanka is ready to face any challenge to preserve its independence and sovereignty, reported Outlook India magazine. "Achieving a stable peace has made it possible for the government to secure Sri Lanka's sovereignty, independence and food security thus strengthening its resolve to face any challenge," the brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa said at an event in Ratnapura.
Addressing the UN Human Rights Council today, Indian NGO Pasumai Thaayagam called upon the Council to establish an international Commission of Inquiry that will investigate the crime of genocide. Speaking as part of the Council discussion dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the “Convention on the prevention and punishment of the Crime of Genocide ", the organisation stated, "When crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity are left unpunished, and the international community lacks the will to ensure accountability, it creates an environment of impunity that makes the world more vulnerable. Accountability requires first of all fact-finding, then the identification of those responsible, punishment, reparations for victims, and restructuring of national institutions. When accountability is not a priority, prevention against future violations will also suffer."
The body of an elderly woman was found on Wednesday in the Velanai part of Jaffna, reported the Uthayan . The body was found with wounds suggestive of an attack, and has been identified as that of a 70 year old woman called Arulappu Alvinamma.
Expressing disappointment over the current text of the draft UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, the TNA Spokesperson Suresh Premachandran said it did ' nothing constructive towards addressing the genuine grievances towards the Tamils affected by war '. Speaking in an interview to Ceylon Today , Premachandran said, "Canada, Britain and the US had earlier vehemently condemned the human rights violations in Sri Lanka and had also called for an international investigation into the alleged war crimes in the Island. But the US draft resolution had failed to mention anything on the International investigation into the alleged war crime s,"
Photograph Colombo Telegraph The Sinhala Buddhist monk Galagoda Atte Gnanasara of Sri Lanka's Bodu Bala Sena met with the leader of Burma's notorious 969 movement, Ashin Wirathu, at the sidelines of the BIMSTEC conference in Burma earlier this week, reports Colombo Telegraph. The Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was also present at the conference, however it is unknown if BBS's Gnanasara traveled as part of the President's entourage. See 'This is the modern axis of Buddhist hate' by Jake Scobey-Thal published in Foreign Policy today.
Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, today rejected the US sponsored draft resolution on Sri Lanka tabled at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), alleging that the resolution was of no significance due to its ‘biased’ nature. Speaking on national television, Rajapaksa outlined that he was not concerned about the imminent resolution, as it was based on findings of the UN Human Rights Chief, Navi Pillay’s report, who according to Rajapaksa, was always expected to criticise Sri lanka. The President’s office further quoted him as labelling the criticism of Sri Lanka, as an ‘...
Bags with human remains have been found in Nanthikadal, near Mullivaikkaal, reported the Uthayan . The remains were found by a labourer from the area, who informed Northern Provincial Council member Mr. Ravikaran. Ravikaran confirmed to the Uthayan newspaper that he saw several sacks of human remains, of which the skulls had bullet wounds in the forehead area, and said he suspected the bodies were those of members of the LTTE, executed during the end phase of the armed conflict.
The former Army General, Sarath Fonseka, flatly rejected any allegations that his troops had committed war crimes during the final stages of the armed conflict in 2009, but added that " if there are war crimes allegations and somebody goes to the electric chair, it will be me because I commanded, I planned, I monitored, I directed, I supervised the battlefield activities and I gave orders ." In an interview to the Daily Mirror.lk General Fonseka said, "If there are allegations of war crimes against the army, I have said that I am ready to answer that anytime to anybody because I don’t agree that the army had committed any war crimes. I deny that . If somebody has a specific complain and any credible evidence, then we can always conduct an inquiry like we have done in the past. But you can’t baselessly blame the army."
The draft resolution tabled at the UNHRC on Monday is "disappointing", said the Global Tamil Forum (GTF). In an interview to BBC Tamil, the spokesperson of the GTF Suren Surendiran said, " It's certainly not satisfactory. It's disappointing . Importantly, when the British Prime Minister went to Sri Lanka last year for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meet, he very clearly stated, if the Sri Lankan government does not conduct a credible investigation, then the coming March - ie. this month, March 2014 - he, the UK, and other countries would call for an independent, international investigation. Till now, that clear statement has certainly not been realised . Therefore, this is definitely a disheartening act. It has disappointed us ."