Pillay Alerted

By Easwaran Rutnam and  Indika Sri Aravinda-Saturday, August 17, 2013

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Navi Pillay has been alerted over the violent incidents which took place in Weliweriya recently and is now in the process of gathering more information.

Pillay’s spokesperson Cécile Pouilly said that OHCHR is concerned over the reported incidents in which three people were killed and many others sustained injuries.

“We are concerned about reported incidents in the town of Weliweriya, Sri Lanka, where protesters asking for clean water were reportedly injured. We are trying to gather more information on these incidents,” Pouilly told The Sunday Leader.

Concerns have been raised even as Pillay prepares to visit Sri Lanka at the end of this month on an invitation extended by the government.

When contacted by The Sunday Leader, External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama said that so far Pillay’s office has not indicated that she will be looking into the Weliweriya incident.

However he said the government is ready to respond to any concerns she has and communicate the government’s position.

Meanwhile the opposition UNP said that a report on Weliweriya has been sent to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission.

UNP MP John Amaratunga said that a UNP delegation will also meet Pillay and discuss the Weliweriya incident during her visit.

The government had last week said it has nothing to hide and welcomes the visits of high profile foreign dignitaries to Sri Lanka including the North. External Affairs Minister Professor G.L. Peiris said that most high profile foreign visitors who had been to Sri Lanka in recent times have found that the actual ground situation is not what is projected by some people overseas.  “All of the delegations have said we have seen for our own eyes the development that is taking place,” the External Affair Minister said at a media briefing in Colombo.

Asked about the Weliweriya incident and the impact it will have on Sri Lanka, the Minister said that, as was mentioned in Parliament, the government will conduct an independent and impartial investigation into the incident.

“That is what the government should do and that is what the Sri Lankan government will do,” he said. Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva had told Parliament that the government will conduct an investigation into the incident following allegations that the army had shot at and assaulted some of the people in Weliweriya who were demanding clean water.