In keeping with ‘collective insight’ of international community:

Govt will discuss modalities to implement LLRC Report

by Manjula FERNANDO

The Government said it would discuss the modalities for implementing the LLRC report with the international community in keeping with its ‘firm resolve’ to continually engage with them and gain from their ‘collective insight’.

External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L.Peiris said, “We want to be engaged by the ‘collective insight’ of the international community.

As soon as it is published we will talk about the modalities of implementation. We are ready for such an exchange of views.”

He was addressing the inaugural national conference on reconciliation at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Centre on Thursday.

He said the international community must not receive this report with scepticism.

Instead, it should be dealt with an open mind.

“The report of the LLRC will be in the public domain shortly once it is tabled in Parliament. Please evaluate it, assess it, discuss it.”

He said the Government faced a ‘bizarre’ situation in Geneva in September this year when attempts were made to put down on the agenda of the Human Rights Council of March 2012, a document which did not exist at all. The LLRC report was at the time non existent.

“Almost every country that we spoke to, agreed that this was a total travesty of justice. The attempt was to malign the document before it was out. It was a demonstration of total prejudice.”

The move did not receive support and at the end of the day the resolution against Sri Lanka at the Human Rights Council was not presented.

“The LLRC in essence is a local mechanism. I think there has to be respect for the local mechanism and procedures.

This is an established practice in the international system. There are specific resolutions in the UN General Assembly, where countries are encouraged to evolve their own solutions on delicately sensitive problems. This is necessary to reach sustainability. He invited the international community to visit Sri Lanka and ‘not to be guided by what is being told’ either by the [Tamil diaspora] propagandists or the Sri Lankan Government.

“We welcome them and we want to see for themselves the enormous progress made with regard to all sectors of public policy within the brief period that lapsed since the eradication of terrorism in May 2009.”

Parliamentary delegations from Germany and Japan concluded a recent visit here and within the next few days Parliamentary delegations from the EU and Australia are due to visit Sri Lanka.

The Minister said that the Government has a clear resolve to work with the diaspora. “There is no intention to isolate them or demonise them.”

He said there are sections of the diaspora that are contributing to improve the quality of people’s lives in the Northern peninsula to be better, richer and beautiful. At the same time, there is a segment of the diaspora that does not recognise the irreversibility of the military defeat of the LTTE.

He called upon Western countries where the pro-LTTE diaspora presence is high to adopt a certain approach to ‘actively discourage’ the kinds of activity which are detrimental to Sri Lanka as well as them, stressing that the use or display of emblems, symbols and insignia of a banned organisation is a criminal offence. Thus there should be no impunity for such offenders, he said.