'UNHRC should be more specific, rather than levelling charges'

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

National Languages and Social Integration Minister Vasudeva Nanayakkara said the UNHRC should discuss matters regarding the current situation in Sri Lanka in a rational and informed manner and take up specific matters of concern which need to be remedied. The UNHRC talks about accountability in a very generalised way. It should raise any specific matter so that it could be addressed by the Government. That would be far better than levelling charges without substantiating them with evidence, the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

"All that has been said was that there had been a war against terrorists and civilians had been killed. The LLRC had gone into detail as to how they had died and as a result of what circumstances such deaths had occurred. The LLRC had presented the details and the correct conclusions. This report was filed by the Government in the UNHRC."

The UNHRC must point out those matters which need attention or any Government action. Thereafter, these matters could be taken up on a specified basis rather than levelling blanket allegations that there had been extra judicial killings, war crimes or individual killings. The Government is willing to look into matters that are raised in a concrete way, the Minister said. Minister Nanayakkara said at present they have a video footage which does not give any evidence. It is just an incident or an event. There is nothing more that can be done about it unless they have some concrete evidence about the circumstances.