US State Department report on Sri Lanka:

President to appoint committee to study

Shirley Wijesinghe

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to appoint an expert committee within one week to verify the facts behind the allegations against the Sri Lanka Government in the report submitted by the US State Department to the US Congress on incidents during the recent conflict in Sri Lanka, Human Rights and Disaster Management Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

The Government stance on the report will be announced after the report was made by the committee appointed by the President, he added.

He was addressing a media conference held at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday to explain the new situation following the submission of the said report.

Minister Samarasinghe said that the third paragraph of the report itself highlights that the facts included in the report are without any legal value and cannot be proved. They are not in a position to prove the allegation contained in the report.

It has been clearly stated that the Report of the US State Department was based on some sources such as Amnesty International, Humanwatch and imbalanced and haphazard private sources and communiques, he stressed.

Minister Samarasinghe further said that certain international elements were once again trying to fuel the flames of secession and undo the concerted efforts of the Government and the people of Sri Lanka for rehabilitation and national reconciliation. “The report does not speak of any war crimes at all,” he said.

He said that he has already discussed this matter with the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and she was very keen about the decision of the Sri Lanka President on this controversial report.

Commenting on the de-congestion of IDPs in the North, he said the Government was able to reduce the number of IDPs up to 200,000 and resettle them in their own villages so far.