Allegations will not damage SL-Aus relations: Envoy in Australia

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia Admiral (Retd) Thisara Samarasinghe claimed allegations he may have committed war crimes will not damage relations between Sri Lanka and Australia.

In an interview with the Queanbeyan Age, Sri Lankan High Commissioner also cast himself as a uniter of the Sinhalese and Tamil communities in Australia, claiming he devoted as much time and attention in his role to the two groups.

The submission before federal police states military superiors hold “a command responsibility” for the actions of subordinates.

“There is no command responsibility in the navy in that sense,” Samarasinghe said.

“You send a ship out with rules of engagement. At sea the commanding officer has to take his own mission to safeguard the men he commands. I was the eastern commander in 2007. When the conflict ended I was northern commander. The final conflict was not in the northern command, it was in the eastern command,” he said.

Samarasinghe said human rights groups and other pro-Tamil campaigners were being manipulated by the Tamil expatriates in Australia, which was a major fund-raiser for Tamil separatists in Sri Lanka.

“For what purpose are they doing this? Are the poor Tamil people in the North getting any benefit from this,” he said.

“I don’t know what the agenda of these people is. These types of activities give oxygen to people who have a vested interest,” he added.