No separate National Day as mooted LLRC ACTION PLAN: What,shy of ‘investigations?’

By Namini Wijedasa- Sunday 29 July 2012 

The government made it clear last week that there will be no separate event on National Day to express solidarity and empathy will all victims of the war, as recommended by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
What would be observed instead is the present practice of continuing to “express solidarity as one nation and one people,” said the National Plan of Action to Implement the Recommendations of the LLRC.
The plan contains a range of commitments along with time frames for implementation. It was approved by cabinet last week and released to the public after a press conference in Colombo by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris and Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga.
The government also pointedly avoided committing itself to the enactment of legislation to ensure the right to information. While the action plan said cabinet would decide a suitable time frame for drafting such a law, it stopped short of specifying a time frame for this step; it said this would be “TBC,” or “to be considered.”
This was the only recommendation in the action plan for which no time frame was set in the relevant column. Apart from the proposal for a separate commemorative event on National Day (which was rejected outright), the others had time frames ranging from two years to 12, six and three months. The implementation of some proposals is “ongoing” while several were listed as “completed.”
Interestingly, the section pertaining to alleged war crimes carefully avoids the use of the word “investigation.”  The recommendation made by the LLRC was to “ascertain more fully the circumstances under which specific instances of death or injury to civilians could have occurred, and if such investigations disclose wrongful conduct, prosecute and punish the wrongdoers.”
The action plan seems to rule out any new investigations in the specific instances that the LLRC report contains. There will also be no inquiry external of the military. The commission itself referred to less than five such cases. The action plan undertakes the completion of “ongoing disciplinary process being conducted in terms of Armed Forces statutes.” Upon conclusion, there will be “follow up action to prosecute, where relevant.” The existing system as provided for in the Criminal Procedure Code will be used to originate a complaint and the mechanism will be given sufficient publicity.
Disciplinary inquiries are to be concluded within 12 months, while time frames of 24 months have been given for offenders to be prosecuted and the cases to be filed in Court. Where the LLRC recommends full investigations into allegations of disappearances after surrender or arrest, the same steps – completion of ongoing disciplinary process – will be followed to the same time frames.

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