Sri Lanka's Tamil party rejects domestic probe into war allegations

Jan 29,2015

COLOMBO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's main Tamil party on Thursday said it would oppose any domestic inquiry into the alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the country's civil war and reiterated its call for an international probe.

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) spokesperson Suresh Premachandran told reporters that the Tamil minorities in the island nation had no faith or trust in a domestic inquiry, noting that numerous domestic commissions had been futile in the past.

"We categorically oppose any domestic inquiry. Tamil have no faith or trust in a domestic investigation and we reiterate our call for a UN backed international probe," Premachandran said.

He also urged the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to table a report on Sri Lanka as scheduled at the UN Human Rights Council Session in March.

The report on Sri Lanka will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad Zeid Al-Hussein with a comprehensive investigation on Sri Lanka's civil war.

Sri Lanka's senior advisor on foreign affairs Jayantha Dhanapala was in Geneva to discuss the UN Human Rights Council's investigation into alleged violations of human rights by both parties in Sri Lanka with the High Commissioner.

He is also expected to brief the High Commissioner of the government's efforts to conduct its own inquiry into the war allegations.

Sri Lanka's newly elected government led by Maithripala Sirisena said earlier this month that it will conduct its own probe and appoint a domestic independent commission, consisting of professionals, to investigate the final stages of the war against Tamil Tiger rebels which ended in 2009.

Sri Lanka has been under continuous pressure from the UN and human rights watchdogs to have an international probe but the request had been turned down by former President Mahinda Rajapakse 's government.