The Sri Lankan government said that it has received the text of the report by Stephen Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues of the US State Department to the Congress titled "Report to Congress on measures taken by the Government of Sri Lanka and International Bodies to investigate incidents during the recent conflict in Sri Lanka, and evaluating the effectiveness of such efforts".
The report submitted as a supplement to an earlier report to the Congress last October expresses doubts on the impartiality and independence of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission appointed by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to investigate the alleged violations of humanitarian law during the war with the LTTE.
In response to the US report the government issuing a statement Thursday said it wishes to observe that in May 2009, Sri Lanka defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), recognized globally as a brutal terrorist organization.
"The conflict situation had a devastating effect on the people of Sri Lanka and the Government has set a vigorous goal of rebuilding the nation to move forward into a new era of peace and prosperity," it said.
The government acknowledged that the lessons which may be drawn from the past could contribute to true reconciliation, and said it is committed to a rapid process to achieve this.
"President Mahinda Rajapaksa has appointed an independent Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission. The work of the Commission is now underway and is dedicated to fairness and impartiality," the statement assured.
"Furthermore, the Government has almost completed the resettlement of all displaced persons and continues to support their livelihood. Also, in the past few months, the Government has repealed most of the emergency regulations that were necessary during the conflict situation," the statement said.
No comments:
Post a Comment