US State Department hails Sri Lanka decision to probe war crime report allegations

The news that Sri Lanka has taken an official decision to appoint a commission to probe in to the US allegation of war atrocities was hailed by the US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly at the daily press briefing Monday, 26 October in Washington saying “this is exactly what we would expect Sri Lanka would do would be to look into these very serious allegations of human rights abuses.

So I think that we would welcome these reports that they’re planning to set up this kind of investigative commission.”

Getting the attention and focus on what the State Department report noted on the alleged war crimes, atrocities and human rights abuses by Sri Lankan armed forces was the primary objective the United States government wanted to achieve, and spokesman Kelly’s almost jubilant statement in Washington has taken the issue to another level possibly what the activists of the pro-Tamil Tigers lobby in the U.S. expected.

Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in a press briefing in Colombo on Monday, 26 October said that the US State Department report of Sri Lanka’s human rights abuses and atrocities during the final months of the battle between the military and the Tamil Tiger fighting cadre declaring “the Report of the US State Department was based on some sources such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and imbalanced and haphazard private sources and communiqués.”

Minister Samarasinghe further said that the third paragraph of the report itself highlights that the facts included in the report are without any legal value and cannot be proved. “They are not in a position to prove the allegation contained in the report” he said.

Having said so Samarasinghe reported to the press, and to American Ambassador Patricia Butenis, that “President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to appoint an expert committee within one week to verify the facts behind the allegations against the Sri Lanka Government in the report.”

Sri Lanka’s human rights minister Samarasinghe who continued to say that “certain international elements were once again trying to fuel the flames of secession and undo the concerted efforts of the Government and the people of Sri Lanka for rehabilitation and national reconciliation.”

And then he declared to the gathered media personnel “The report does not speak of any war crimes at all.”

In fact, as spokesman for his nation’s president Minister Samarasinghe dismissed the State Department report as ambiguous, conflicting and misleading.

The Asian Tribune scrutinizing the State Department report expressing the same opinion questioned as to why the State Department took all the pain to write this report when the report itself has declared that their finding were inconclusive, could not be verified and, in fact ‘cannot confirm whether the incident actually occurred.”

The same question needs to be posed to the Government of Sri Lanka on what basis it needs to appoint commissions and committees to probe into the allegations, which the report itself says are ambiguous, that Mr. Samarasinghe on behalf of his government declares to the media that the State Department report is a cut-and-paste job with no solid proofs.

The incidents the State Department report highlight have no solid basis for any further probe. Mr. Samarasinghe admits that and the report itself admits that.

What the still active pro-Tamil Tiger professionals in the Sri Lankan Diaspora in the U.S. want is to take the State Department report to another level for the international community to intervene for a serious investigation.

The question is whether the Sri Lanka government’s decision to appoint a committee has legitimized the State Department report to energize international rights groups such as Human Rights Watch which has provided some of the unverified data and reports to ask for a UN level probe.

Undoubtedly Ambassador Patricia Butenis and assistant secretary Robert Blake will be satisfied that at least the Government of Sri Lanka has accepted the contents of the report in announcing the formation of a committee to probe the allegations which the report itself admitted conflicting, unverified and that there were no evidence whether the incident in fact occurred.

- Asian Tribune -