A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
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Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, June 22, 2017
Govt accuses UN of producing false report on Sri Lanka
The government yesterday said UN Special Rapporteur on the independence
of the justice system, Monica Pinto, had produced a false report on Sri
Lanka, distorting facts to undermine the country’s sovereignty.
Making a ministerial statement in Parliament, Justice and Buddha Sasana
Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe said Pinto’s report had made false
statements with a view to substantiating the claims made by some NGOs.
"I am sure that Pinto hasn’t compiled this report. That has been done by
some local NGOs finding fault with government to get dollars. She has
just put her name to the report," the Minister said.
Minister Rajapakshe said Representative Monica Pinto had submitted a
report to the UN Human Rights Committee. She was in the country from
April 29, 2016 to May 07, 2016. She visited Anuradhapura, Kandy and
Jaffna. "She held talks with me, the Foreign Minister, Attorney General
and several other key officials. She released her report on March 23,
2017 ten and a half months after her visit. It is surprising to note her
statements. According to her Sri Lanka’s judiciary and the Attorney
General’s Department are corrupt."
The Minister said that such a report could not be prepared after
visiting the country for three to four days even if she was a genius.
During her visit, she had called on him and he had told her about the
independence of the judiciary. But, nothing he told her had been
mentioned in her report, the minister said. "We register our protest
against this report issued for the benefit of parasite NGOs."
UN Special Rapporteur Pinto had overlooked the positive developments and
achievements the incumbent government had made during the recent past
for the benefit of independence of judiciary. Some of her statements
were baseless and the government couldn’t comprehend on what basis she
had made those statements, the Justice Minister said.
The UN Special Rapporteur has found fault with the government for not
doing away with the Prevention of Terrorism Act. "Now the developed
countries in the West are introducing more draconian laws to prevent
terrorism. Those western nations who found fault with us when we made
use of the PTA to defeat terrorism are now compelled to bring about
draconian laws which undermine human rights in view of emerging
terrorist threats. Five days back, the Japanese parliament passed a new
legislation, the Criminal Conspiracy Law, listing 277 offences which are
considered acts of terrorism. Japan has given special powers to the
police to arrest anyone anytime if there is suspicion of his or her
involvement in those offences. They have also defined Facebook posts
about violence as a crime but also responding to them by liking them as
an offence warranting immediate arrest. It is in this context that Pinto
is suggesting us to relax the laws meant for the protection of human
race."
"She has suggested that we should amend laws enabling a suspect to have
access to a lawyer the moment the he is taken into custody. We would
like to ask how and why she won’t recommend that to Great Britain, which
does not allow a suspect to meet his lawyers within the first 36 hours
after arrest," the minister said.
"I would like to stress that the most powerful international
organisation in the world, the UN, should look into qualifications of
persons when appointments to high posts are made. We continuously
question the lack of encouragement from the UN to end terrorism here
during our 30 year long war against terror. We are happy that former UN
General Secretary Ban Ki-moon admitted at the time of his retirement
that there had been serious mistakes and shortcomings on the part of UN
with regard to Sri Lanka."
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