By The Island News Desk  Courtesy Island

* Resolution favourable to SL
* ‘We would have faced sanctions’
* Prabhakaran waged two wars

There was much more to the resolution to be moved on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC shortly than a probe into war crimes allegations, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe told the media yesterday at Temple Trees. It was also about restoring democracy and bringing about national reconciliation, he stressed.

Addressing newspaper editors and other media representatives, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the resolution was not inimical to Sri Lanka’s interests and it did not intend to prosecute one and all, contrary to claims being made in some quarters to that effect.

“We want to know the truth,” Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said, noting that the proposed Truth Commission was aimed at assisting the country in that endeavour. The Compassionate Council which was part of that mechanism would consist of representatives of religious dignitaries and it had been appreciated by the international community, he said.

If the Rajapaksa government had fulfilled its obligations as spelt out in its agreement with UNSG Ban Ki-moon and its own resolution adopted by the UNHRC in 2009 and implemented the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations, the need for subsequent resolutions on Sri Lanka would not have arisen, said the Prime Minister. The post-Jan. 08 government had presented a set of new proposals to the UNHRC through Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera and they contained, among other things, an office for missing persons, special counsel’s office, a truth commission and a domestic judicial mechanism, the Prime Minister said. But for timely action taken by the new government the country would have faced sanctions, he stressed. The government had no objections to foreign experts providing assistance, he said.

Commenting on why the government had decided to co-sponsor the resolution at issue, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said that since the document mostly contained its own proposals the government did not want anyone else to take the credit. “We have taken it back into our hands,” he said of the resolution.

Cabinet Spokesman Rajitha Senaratne, addressing the media, said the critics of the UNHRC resolution claimed that it was part of a foreign conspiracy against the war heroes. He dismissed as baseless that argument. It was the Rajapaksa government which had involved foreign experts in local investigations into war related matters, he maintained.

Minister Senaratne cited, as an example, the involvement of Sir Desmond De Silva et al in the Paranagama Commission which probed disappearances during the conflict. He said the late Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike had taken action against military officers responsible for the rape and murder of Premawathie Manamperi in Kataragama during the 1971 JVP uprising. “The army saved the country by crushing that uprising, but the errant officers who committed crimes were punished.”

Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the UNHRC resolution sought to probe allegations against the LTTE, which had committed grievous crimes. “The LTTE, in fact, waged two wars, one against Jaffna and the other against Colombo. It destroyed the entire democratic Tamil political leadership.”

Asked whether the resolution to be presented to the UNHRC on Sept. 30 would be the same as the draft released to the media the other day, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe said the operative paragraphs would remain the same and there might be changes in the preambular ones. The new draft would be made available to the public through the media shortly, he said.