PM says there is no legal basis for an international investigation within country

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe has asserted that there is no legal basis to conduct an international investigation into the alleged war crimes within the country and any probe on the matter has to be domestic.

In an interview with The Hindu at Temple Trees, a day after he assumed office, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe spoke on a wide range of issues, including the project of working out a new Constitution for Sri Lanka, finding an enduring political solution to the Tamil question, and livelihood, development, and human rights issues.

When asked about the demand for an international investigation, the premier said Sri Lanka has agreed that the probe should be domestic for the simple reason that Sri Lanka did not sign the Statute of Rome.

“We have agreed it is domestic for the simple reason that we did not sign the Statute of Rome,” he said.

He explained that the commitment given by the Rajapaksa administration to the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in 2009 could be interpreted in many ways.

“At one stage they were moving towards international investigation. But we always said, the UNP, that there was no legal basis for international investigation within Sri Lanka; it had to be domestic,” he said.

The PM pointed out that the reason some of the people have been calling for international investigation is the loss of confidence in the judiciary.

“We’ve had this problem before, in the North and in the South. We would like to put forward a domestic mechanism which would be within the four corners of our Constitution but would also be acceptable to all the communities in Sri Lanka plus the international community,” the Prime Minister said.

When asked about time lost after the war with the LTTE ended in 2009 and the prospects of moving towards an enduring political solution now, Mr. Wickremesinghe responded that there have been a lot of administrative barriers, which have to be removed first.

“Secondly, there has been a request by some of the Provincial Councils that as far as the powers exercised jointly, by both the Centre and the Provinces, concurrent powers, are concerned, some of it could be transferred to the Provinces. Those are the main issues and we have to work this out.”

Speaking about a political solution to devolve power, the Prime Minister explained that his government will work to maximize devolution within 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

“Substance is what we have to look at. Actually even today, the devolved powers in Sri Lanka are sometimes more than the powers given in federal Constitutions. So let us look at how we could work this whole system out and go ahead. The formula which was accepted by India also, let’s see how we work it out within the 13th Amendment, maximize it. Let’s build on this,” Wickremasinghe said.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister also expressed hope that a political consensus could be reached within months on a new Constitution for Sri Lanka, especially because the issues that needed to be resolved were fairly narrow.

Speaking of foreign policy, the Premier said he believes the approach taken by former president Rajapaksa antagonizing the West was a mistake and “made lot of people unhappy.”

“Our approach is: we get back to having the close relations we had with the West and with India while maintaining our relationship with China, which has also been a longstanding one. And looking at our own role in the region and what stand we will take on some of the main international issues,” he emphasized.