Sri Lanka to probe alleged wartime rights abuses

Sri Lanka’s government said Thursday it will investigate alleged human rights abuses during the country’s bloody 25-year civil war, and the general who led the army at the war’s end pledged to cooperate fully.

 

 

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will appoint a commission of seven members — Sri Lankans and foreigners — his office said in a statement. The body will also recommend compensation for victims of the bloody conflict that claimed an estimated 80,000-100,000 lives.

 

 

Sri Lanka’s civil war ended in May 2009 after the military crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels in their stronghold in the country’s north. According to U.N documents, more than 7,000 civilians were killed in the last five months of the war.

 

 

The commission will examine ‘the terrorist inspired, maneuvered and created conflict situation in recent years,’ the president’s office said.

 

 

The probe will ‘search for any violations of internationally accepted norms of conduct in such conflict situations, and the circumstances that may have led to such actions, and identify any persons or groups responsible for such acts,’ the statement said.

 

 

It was not immediately clear if the commission could recommend legal action against anyone found responsible for human rights abuses.

 

 

Sarath Fonseka, the general who led the army to victory but is now in military custody, told reporters Thursday he would do anything he could to help any investigations into alleged war crimes.

 

 

‘Nothing has come to me so far. But if any allegation comes, I will go out of the way even to look into those things to get the correct picture.

 

 

‘If there are genuine allegations, I will go out of the way to expose them,’ Fonseka said in Parliament.

 

 

Fonseka was elected as an opposition lawmaker last month though he faces a court-martial for allegedly planning his political career while still in service and purchasing military hardware outside procedure.

^AP