In a column - ‘Acting’ President Priyankara on cloud nine - the SundayTimes.lk has asked if the GTF and the TNA were responsible for Botswana's vote of abstention.

In an email interview with the Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka's Special Envoy to Geneva on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe asserted that the UNHRC and the resolution seemed "to be pursuing other agendas [not human rights] bordering on the political," and went on to forewarn that "we will expose time and again and resist with all our efforts".

Reiterating the efforts made by Sri Lanka to present itself in a positive light, Samarasinghe said, "remnants of the defeated LTTE remain and wield influence in many countries".

He added,

"They are highly motivated, well-funded and are working against any success in reconciliation in Sri Lanka. They do exercise some influence in countries in which they have taken up domicile. They influence the domestic agenda in these countries."

Extracts of the interview are reproduced below. See here for full transcript on the Sri Lankan military's website.

MA Sumanthiran of the TNA, spoke to the Sunday Leader on the resolution recently adopted by the UNHRC:

Q: What impact do you think the adoption of the latest US backed resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC would have on the country?
A: That will be determined by how the Government reacts to this. If it acts responsibly at least at this stage and engages constructively with the international community, we can do ourselves a favour and deal with all outstanding issues that hinder genuine reconciliation with the help and assistance of the international community.

Human Rights Watch blamed Australia and India for the final watering down of the UNHRC resolution, thus easing the pressure on the Sri Lankan government, by putting domestic political concerns ahead of human rights, The Weekend Australian reported.

A heated exchange took place between visiting Canadian Senator Hugh Segal and External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L Peiris over Sri Lanka’s impeachment of the Chief Justice, the Daily Mirror reported.

Segal was being hosted by Peiris in delivering a guest at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, when in response to a journalist question, he criticised the impeachment.

Photograph Tamilwin

Speaking at a press conference in Jaffna on Friday, the leader of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam expressed "grave disappointment" on the UNHRC resolution 22/1, and asserted that the call for a "local investigatory process has to be outright rejected". 

Commenting on the resolution, he went on to say that the TNPF wished to "unreservedly distance" itself from it, citing three reasons: the call to use local mechanisms in order to carry out investigations, the resolution's emphasis on the LLRC, and the inclusion of the government's pledge to hold Northern provincial council elections.

See here for audio clip on TamilNet. Transcribed verbatim below:

Rejecting the UNHRC Resolution 22/1, Mahinda Rajapaksa said,

"This attack would not surprise us at all. These attacks would not subdue us either, nor would they defeat or intimidate us in any way,"

Defending bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner of Sri Lank to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, said told The Week that the resolution was brought about by "LTTE lobbies from the west".

He added:

“There is no dispute between India and Sri Lanka. Our bilateral ties are not at all affected,”

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has said that Sri Lanka will not be on the agenda at the forthcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Several countries have tried to include Sri Lanka on the agenda, especially due to November’s controversial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, hosted by Colombo.