Govt. insists no softening of stance on alleged war crimes

Friday, 2 December 2011 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Uditha Jayasinghe

The Government has denied any softening of its stance on alleged war crimes despite comments to try individual soldiers if evidence is found, a minister said yesterday.

Government spokesman and Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella talking to reporters dismissed speculation that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s regime was softening its stance on denying any allegations of war crimes.

Instead he insisted that recent comments made by Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to try individual soldiers on crimes if evidence is provided are purely part of its reconciliation process.

The government appointed a Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) to probe the reasons for the three decade conflict that ended in 2009 along with possible war crimes committed during the last phase of the war.

“We appointed the LLRC to find out the truth behind these allegations. It was a reconciliation measure for the benefit of this country. There is no change in the stance that the government never sanctioned killing of civilians at any point in the war,” he said.

The report, which was handed over to the President less than a fortnight ago, has not yet been made publically available but leaked news reports in the local media indicate that it has urged the government to hold investigations into war crimes allegations.

However the report has not identified specific incidents or proposed how the investigations should be carried out.

The report is expected to be presented to parliament at some point this month, a fact that was confirmed by Rambukwella but he did not name a date.