Geneva cover-up using LG polls
Dec 20, 2015
The Sri Lankan government is further delaying the implementation of the recommendations made by the UNHRC in relation to human rights violations in the country. US representative Samantha Power expressed concern over this during her recent visit here.
The main UN request is the speeding up of investigations into the killings of Raviraj, Thajudeen, Lasantha, Ekneligoda, Muttur relief workers and 11 students.
Police department sources say that had the government shown at least five per cent of the interest it had shown over the Avant Garde incident, all these murder investigations would have been completed by now. The delay in the investigations is due to minimal government support to the FCID and the CID.
A report is to be submitted at the UNHRC session in March next year on actions taken by Sri Lanka, but none of the steps needed in that regard are taken yet. In this context, Sri Lanka will have to face international sanctions or criticism.
Therefore, the Sri Lankan government is trying to call the local government polls by March or April and get the deadline to submit the report extended until September, say government sources.
Implementation of the Geneva report recommendations could be controversial and the government could face defeat at elections held under such a scenario, and that means the recommendations will never be implemented, the government intends to convince Geneva authorities.
Implementation of the Geneva report recommendations could be controversial and the government could face defeat at elections held under such a scenario, and that means the recommendations will never be implemented, the government intends to convince Geneva authorities.
Political analysts point out that president Maithripala Sirisena and prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will try to pardon the military officers accused of war crimes. Therefore, the government will try to further delay the report to Geneva, they say.
North governor C. Vigneswaran said recently that under the present administration, the people of his province were not even getting the attention they had received when Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power. It is under such circumstances that US assistant secretary for South and Central Asian affairs Nisha Desai Biswal arrived in the island early today (20) with a special message from her president.
