Friday, 7 February 2014 01:03
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The Sri Lankan Government has denied claims it committed genocide during the war against the LTTE.
Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Australia, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, said that while there may have been civilian casualties they were never a target of the military.
“The Sri Lankan Government did not, I repeat, did not (and) I speak with authority because I was a military commander at that time commanding the Navy, did not resort to genocide, did not resort to crimes against humanity. Yes we fought a brutal conflict; because civilians were involved there could have been unfortunate, some victims but never, ever they were targeted as a system, so these are absolutely false allegations,” he told World News Australia Radio
The High Commissioner added that there was a disproportionate focus on the final phases of the war.
“Why only the last stage of the conflict? What happened for 30 years? Where were these champions of human rights operating when the innocent children were sliced like a slice of bread while worshipping? Where were (they)? Tell me, how come they kept away from these atrocities?”
Admiral Samarasinghe says a Public Interest Advocacy Centre report released in Australia on Sri Lanka was designed to put pressure on the Sri Lankan Government ahead of next month’s UN Human Rights Council meeting.
(Colombo Gazette)
