US Wants Lankan Troops Investigated; Former Army Commander Says 53, 57 Divisions Seem Blackliste
August 23, 2013 |
Criteria for US sponsored military training is directly linked to accountability the US Government has said, urging President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government to pursue a mechanism to investigate allegations of gross human rights violations by its soldiers in a credible way, according to a Colombo based newspaper report.
Chief of Defence Staff
The renewed call for credible investigations follows a decision by the US Government to reject two senior military officers for a training programme in New Zealand on the basis of accountability concerns against the two Majors General. Major General Jagath Dias who was recently put in charge of the military board of inquiry into theWeliweriya violence that claimed three lives when the army was sent in to disperse a demonstration and Major General Sudantha Ranasinghe who was recently appointed Commanding Officer of the 53 Division were rejected for training by a US foreign troop vetting system.
Quoting a US Embassy official in Colombo the Daily FT said the Washington believed there was a cloud over certain sections of the Sri Lankan security forces because of “credible allegations” against them.
“There is a limit of work the US Government can do with a particular regiment if there are credible allegations of human rights violations against them and we can’t move forward until there is a credible investigation into the allegations,” the newspaper quoted a US Embassy official as saying.
The selection of military candidates is performed through a rigorous vetting process, under the 1998 US Leahy Laws, that specifically disqualify personnel against whom “credible information” exists regarding human rights violations, the Daily FT reported.
The newspaper quotes the Embassy official as saying that there was a cloud over certain military divisions due to the allegations. The ineligibility for US facilitated training was no way permanent and could be reversed with a genuine inquiry, the newspaper reports the official said. Read More
