The British High Commission in Sri Lanka distanced itself from statements made by MP Lord Naseby in parliament, reports island.lk.

Responding to a query made by the island.lk, the high commission said,

“A point that has not been in dispute in all that has been written and said since Lord Naseby spoke is that many thousands of civilians died during the conflict. We continue to encourage the Sri Lankan Government to implement the commitments it gave and which are set out in UNHRC resolution 30/1 and reaffirmed in UNHRC resolution 34/1 , including the undertaking to establish truth-seeking commission. Resolution 30/1 emphasis the importance fo a comprehensive approach to dealing with the past, incorporating the full range of judicial and non-judicial measures, including truth-seeking. The resolution affirms that the commitments given, if implemented fully and credibly, will help to achieve reconciliation. Achieving reconciliation is in the clear interests of every community in Sri Lanka.”

In a recent statement in parliament, Lord Naseby said the UK should call on the UN to reduce the civilian causality figure at the end of Sri Lanka’s armed conflict. Disputing the UN figure of a minimum civilian casualty of 40,000, Lord Naseby said,

“This figure is bandied about by virtually every human rights organisation and the thousands of Tamil diaspora throughout the world, many of whom were LTTE Tamil Tiger supporters and still are, inflamed by Tamil Net and those ghastly Channel 4 “Killing Fields” films, which so influenced the previous Prime Minister.”