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Fonseka brings back focus on war crimes: Lankan government
An angry Sri Lankan government on Wednesday lashed out at former army commander and the opposition's Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka for bringing back "international focus" on alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
An angry Sri Lankan government on Wednesday lashed out at former army commander and the opposition's Presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka for bringing back "international focus" on alleged war crimes committed during the last phase of war against the LTTE.
"We are looking into taking some sort of legal action against general Fonseka in line with the constitution and the laws of the country," Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe told reporters.
The Minister said Fonseka had unnecessarily brought back focus on the war crimes' issue, which the government thought had been dealt with after the UN Human Rights Council wound up its special session on Sri Lanka in late May by adopting a resolution acknowledging the commitment of the Sri Lankan government to provide access to humanitarian agencies "as appropriate".
As many as 29 countries including India and China voted in favour of Sri Lanka. However, 12 countries, including the EU, Mexico, Japan and Chile, voted against the resolution, while 6 countries had abstained.
Samarasinghe was reacting to the United Nations (UN) seeking a clarification from Lankan authorities on the circumstances leading to the deaths of three senior Tamil rebels who had wanted to surrender as the war came to an end in the third week of May.
Quoting from a Fonseka interview to local newspaper on the alleged executions, the UN's Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary execution wrote a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa asking for an explanation about the alleged war crimes.
Fonseka said in the interview that he was given information about the alleged killing of the surrendering rebels by an unnamed state media reporter embedded with troops.
Samarasinghe said the government was preparing a reply to Alston's letter but could not rule out a special session on war crimes in Sri Lanka when the UN Human Rights Council meets in March.
"It (Fonseka's interview) was an irresponsible statement…not good for Sri Lanka. He has betrayed the entire nation...(and) all those who sacrificed their lives to eradicate terrorism," Samarasinghe said.