SL opposed to anti-LLRC mudslinging

*Willing to have open engagement

*Spirit of renewal in former conflict hit areas

Sri Lanka yesterday reiterated that it is more than willing to have an open engagement with parties that are genuinely interested in discussing the truth and its eventual benefits to the Sri Lankan people.

Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe

It is also opposed to moves to denigrate the work of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) and its members without any justification, even before the Commission gets the opportunity to submit the relevant report to the government.

Addressing the meeting of the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs Committee of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly, Sri Lanka’s Special Envoy on Human Rights and Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe stressed that Sri Lanka vehemently opposes all efforts to deride the local mechanism.

“This proposal for analysis and discussion of a domestic process at the international level even before it has reached its natural conclusion and the ramifications it may have for the future in other contexts, must be treated with extreme caution and dealt with appropriately.

The minister added that Sri Lanka as a democratically elected and legitimate government of the people is confident of overcoming challenges ahead of the

country and usher in an era of peace for people of all communities regardless of their linguistic, cultural and religious differences.

Minister Samarasinghe explained that massive public investment in roads, railways telecommunications renews links with the rest of the country and is the basis for the resumption of normality.

He said that 95 per cent of the people displaced by terrorist atrocities have been resettled with the balance awaiting the demining of their land. “The local economy has shown vast potential with 22 per cent rise in GDP in the North as against 8 percent national which shows the spirit of enterprise and renewal that pervades the now conflict free areas”, he added. The Minister added that the government led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa took concrete measures to address the question of reconciliation soon after the end of conflict. He appointed the country’s most respected professional and public officials to a commission that was based on an adaptation of best practice elsewhere.

Minister Samarasinghe said the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by the President is endowed with a wide mandate and a solemn charge to recommend steps to ensure reconciliation, and restitution for victims and non repetition of the scourge of internal armed conflict.