International war crimes probe would bring ‘chaos’ – Weeratunga
January 28, 2014 08:20 am
An
international inquiry into war crimes in Sri Lanka would bring “chaos,” and the
government’s national reconciliation process must be given several more years
to work, a top aide to Sri Lanka’s president said on Monday.
Lalith
Weeratunga, in Washington to lobby against calls for such an inquiry, said Sri
Lanka needed at least five years from the July 2012 date the government regards
as the start of its reconciliation process for the effort to take root.
“After
26 years of conflict ... we want to make it a sustainable peace. It’s a very
delicate, delicate process. Reconciliation is not a task that can be achieved
in a day or two,” said Weeratunga, who is secretary to President Mahinda
Rajapaksa and Sri Lanka’s top civil servant.
The
U.S. Embassy officials in Colombo say Washington plans to introduce a
resolution calling for an international investigation at the March session of
the U.N. Human Rights Council.
British
Prime Minister David Cameron said in November he would push for an
international inquiry if Sri Lanka did not conclude an independent
investigation by March.
U.S.
Embassy officials say the United States will demand that the government
investigate other abuses as well as alleged war crimes, including lack of
progress in reconciliation, abductions of anti-government critics, attacks on
churches and mosques and the media, and alleged restrictions on freedom of association
and labor union activity.
“HUGE
CHAOS”
But
Weeratunga rejected the charges and said an international inquiry would only
reopen old wounds, as it would require investigation of all those involved in
the conflict, including former rebels and Indian peacekeepers as well as the
armed forces.
“There
would be huge chaos in the country ... armed forces that liberated the country
from terrorism would again be put to a judicial test. That is really going to
reduce the morale of the army. These are things that need to be considered very
carefully,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“Why
single out Sri Lanka for an international inquiry when ... other countries that
have gone through more difficult issues are not be investigated?,” he asked.
“If
there is an international investigation, the whole period has to be
investigated - from the 1980s onward - which includes the two-year tenure of
the Indian peacekeeping force, which will upset India, which will upset our
relationship with India.”
Weeratunga
said the government needed more time for its efforts to resolve land disputes,
resettle people displaced by war and improve people’s livelihoods.
He
also said the government was investigating 13,000 cases of missing persons, a
task complicated by the unwillingness of countries like Britain to provide
information on people thought to be living there.
Ten
cases of attacks on churches and mosques were “being dealt with severely,” he
said, but added it took time to probe cases where there was no evidence as to
who carried them out, Reuters reports.