Domestic war crimes probe: Lack of clarity as Government tries balancing act
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe talking to Jon Snow (not seen) in the video grab taken from Channel 4 footage
By Our Political Editor-Sunday, January 31, 2016
- President tells BBC no foreign judges will be allowed, but PM speaks of foreign participation
- Fonseka likely to enter Parliament and get portfolio as part of the battle against Rajapaksa-linked group
- One stand for local polls and another for world community could put Sri Lanka in political quagmire again
With local council elections only six months away, according to his own agenda, President Maithripala Sirisena dropped a bombshell last week.
Sirisena was perhaps trying to nip in the bud a possible campaign at the polls by the opposition, backed by his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, about troops being tried by foreign judges. Leave alone a foreign judge, the very fact that they are being tried even by a local court is such a sensitive issue particularly in rural areas. It could be projected as the troops being punished for defeating the guerrillas. Sirisena told BBC’s Sinhala service Sandeshaya that neither the judges nor foreign prosecutors should be involved in an investigation into alleged war crimes. However, the remarks set off anger among local and overseas Tamil groups. The foreign offices of some western governments were livid. United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein who arrives in Colombo on Friday night, a UN source in Geneva said, would raise issue with President Sirisena.He declared that foreign judges and prosecutors should not be involved in investigations into allegations of war crimes by troops and Tiger guerrillas. It was only a week earlier he declared that local polls would be held in July. There is still some doubt on the date. The Delimitation Commission would have to first re-define boundaries of some local bodies. Thereafter, several amendments to local government laws will have to be passed by Parliament. One such amendment is to make provision for an increase in representation of women.
“He will ascertain whether the Sri Lanka Government is going back on the commitment made when it co-sponsored the US-backed resolution,” the source who did not wish to be identified said. On Saturday, Zaid will fly to Jaffna for a meeting with Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and others. Upon his return, he is due to meet President Sirisena, Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera. Thereafter, the Human Rights High Commissioner is to have a detailed meeting in Colombo with Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs on the basis they are key stakeholders.
Sandeshaya interview
The BBC Sandeshaya report, later widely reported by its English channel, said: “The President of Sri Lanka has said foreign judges and prosecutors should not be involved in an investigation into allegations of war crimes. In a BBC interview, President Maithripala Sirisena said the country did not need to ‘import’ specialists. Both the army and Tamil Tiger rebels are accused of atrocities in the civil war that ended in 2009.
