‘All Sides Must Be Investigated For Real Reconciliation To Begin’

Wednesday, April 27, 2011         Father S.J. Emmanual.

 
The Sunday Leader’s Faraz Shauketaly spoke to Head of the Global Tamil Forum, Father Emmanuel, asking him to comment on the UN Advisory Panel Report. Excerpts:
Q:  What is your reaction to the UN Advisory Panel’s report

Father S.J. Emmanual

to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon?
A: We have seen a leaked report. We are at the first stage. It is an opportunity to find out the truth and to start a process of true reconciliation. The Report advises that an enquiry be held to hold both the Sri Lankan Government and the Tigers accountable. There has been a lot of emotional reaction from both sides – the Sri Lanka government and the Tamils. We Tamils of course welcome the report as being an objective one. It is an attempt to find out and bring out the truth so that justice can be done and a true reconciliation process can begin. 
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The United Nations and Divided Sri Lanka

The Wall Street Journal   APRIL 28, 2011

• Focus on fixing the democracy before investigating the past.

  Sri Lanka and human rights activists around the world are in an uproar over a report released by a United Nations panel this week on the final months of the island nation's bloody civil war. The survey may prove illuminating, so far as it goes, in terms of understanding what happened during those violent six months in 2009. The greater risk is that the international response will tip Sri Lanka closer to losing the peace.
  Colombo's final military push through the Northern Province between January and June 2009 displaced hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians. As the fighting neared its ...

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