Sri Lanka will not allow foreign interferences to solve country's problems

Sri Lanka as a sovereign state will not allow any international mechanisms to interfere in the country's internal issues and cannot be pressured to bow down to any foreign interventions, Sri Lanka's External Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris said.


Addressing the committee stage budget debate on his Ministry in the parliament Wednesday, Prof. Peiris said Sri Lanka does not need foreign interference for solving the problems in the country.

He was responding to the opposition leader Ranil Wickremasinghe's statement that criticized the government's decision to oppose the appointment of a Human Rights Commissioner for the Commonwealth, a proposal that got defeated by the member states during the Commonwealth summit in October.

The Minister opposing the suggestion by the Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA), to have an international mechanism to probe human rights issues said Sri Lanka will not allow such external interventions.

He told the parliament that the foreign policy of the country has been formulated based on economic stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity and Sri Lanka has received the support from all countries in the world due to the right foreign policy being followed by the government.

Prof. Peiris said that the foreign assistance the country is receiving for huge development projects is a testimony to the validity of the country's foreign policy.

Responding to the comments made by TNA Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan on the United Nations panel appointed by the UN Secretary-General to probe the war, the Minister said the government has totally rejected the panel's report as the panel failed to investigate the credibility of evidences presented to them and such a system cannot be accepted.