Don't link critics to LTTE, Sri Lanka told

Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that it was wrong on the part of the Sri Lankan government to link those questioning the country's human rights record with the Tamil Tigers.

Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that it was wrong on the part of the Sri Lankan government to link those questioning the country's human rights record with the Tamil Tigers.

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"The (Mahindra) Rajapaksa government's strident opposition to this is hard to understand," a Human Rights Watch spokeswoman said, ahead of the voting in Geneva on a US-sponsored resolution denouncing "war crimes" in Sri Lanka during the end stages of the war in 2009.

The spokeswoman said the resolution only asks Colombo to take credible steps to ensure justice and accountability following the end of the long-drawn war that cost thousands of lives.

"These are the expectations from any responsible government that must examine allegations of violations against its own people," she said.

The spokeswoman said Colombo insists that anyone calling for accountability "is somehow linked to the LTTE", the vanquished Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"How does the government even justify such claims?

"Human Rights Watch has numerous reports on abuses by the LTTE, the US that is sponsoring the resolution had proscribed the LTTE, and the Tamil political parties in India, calling for support to the resolution, have long criticized LTTE actions including the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

"Sri Lankans should really start wondering what the Rajapaksa government wants to hide."