Burt asks Lanka to listen instead of offering ‘knee-jerk’ defensive responses
Friday, 22 November 2013 02:58
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A British parliamentarian yesterday asked Sri Lanka to listen to the calls from the international community to address the accountability for the allegations of war crimes, instead of denying those that occurred during the three decades of war.
Alistair Burt, Conservative Party MP for North East Bedfordshire and the former Foreign Office Minister, defended the decision taken by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague to attend the 22nd Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Colombo, saying that it was difficult but right.
Burt said in a statement that the decision was justified by the media coverage of Cameron’s visit to the island’s North, a first by a foreign leader since 1948, and his determination to speak the truth to the power that is the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s family.
The MP said Cameron’s visit and giving the Sri Lankan President a deadline to conduct a credible, transparent and independent inquiry into the alleged human right violations were the easy measures and that the hard work is yet to begin.
“Though it may be surprising to say so, this has been the easy bit. It will get harder,” he said.
He said what is more important is to work with Sri Lanka’s friends to demonstrate why a positive response from the country, driving forward the recommendations of its own Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission and tackling the issue of accountability for the past, does not denigrate ending the appalling terrorism of the Tamil Tigers, but lays the base for the only serious chance of reconciliation in the future.
“It would help if Sri Lanka and its representatives actually listened to what was being said by so many, rather than offer knee-jerk defensive responses,” Burt said.
