Placed on the table as they took their seats at the conference room of ‘Temple Trees’ was the English text of the US backed resolution on Sri Lanka together with a translated Sinhala text. Army officers of two-star rank or Majors General and above were there. So were the equivalent counterparts, Rear Admirals of the Sri Lanka Navy and Air Vice Marshals of the Sri Lanka Air Force. From the Police there were those above the rank of Deputy Inspectors General.
Even before the resolution was adopted without a vote at the 30th sessions of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday, the Government has initiated a dialogue to reach out to the armed forces and the Police. Those among their ranks are ones who will become the subject of investigations over alleged war crimes. The others are the remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Army officials say over 3,000 LTTE cadres are still at large and did not surrender and submit themselves to “a process of rehabilitation.”
Those who surrendered and were subject to “rehabilitation” were 12,383 guerrilla cadres. Of them, 12,105, according to the office of the Commissioner General for Rehabilitation, were rehabilitated. The number remaining, they said, was sixty. Some 26 cadres had deserted, 13 had died due to natural causes and 179 had been handed over to Police over on-going investigations, they said.
Unlike probes against troops and Police, where allegations against them were recorded from reported victims by the OISL, the charges of war crimes by Tiger guerrillas have only been documented mostly in general terms. An example is how they prevented civilians from leaving areas where they were cornered by security forces advance or expressly targeted them. Such instances may require further investigation like all others. A bigger question would be finding the alleged perpetrators.
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe spoke to the senior officers of the armed forces and the Police for forty minutes and took their questions thereafter. He gave them an overview of the events that led to the investigation by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). He said the copies of the resolution before them gave an idea and declared that a “domestic investigative process” would get under way. The Premier pointed out that the previous Government had not acted on the reports before it. Hence the pressure had now begun to mount on the present Government. He referred to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) report and the recommendations therein.
Commission reports to be tabled
He said the report of the Special Presidential Commission of Inquiry into Complaints regarding Missing Persons (PCICMP) (headed by retired High Court Judge Maxwell Paranagama) would be tabled in Parliament soon. It was appointed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa to probe complaints regarding missing persons, resident in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. It covers the period from June 10, 1990 to May 19, 2009. Premier Wickremesinghe said he had learnt that the report of this Commission had named some Army officers but he could not say who they were. Commenting on this commission, during the debate on the resolution on Wednesday in Geneva Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein said there were “widespread concerns raised about its credibility and effectiveness. We believe this Commission should be disbanded and its pending cases transferred to a credible and independent institution established in consultation with families of the disappeared.”
President Maithripala Sirisena makes a statement at a news conference at Presidents House in Colombo on Friday which was also televised after returning from the United Nations General Assembly sessions in New York. Also present was Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
Also to be tabled in Parliament soon, the Premier said, would be the report of the Commission of Inquiry headed by Nissanka Udalagama, a former Supreme Court Judge. This Commission concluded probes into seven cases by 2009. This included inquiries into the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the killing of 17 aid workers of the French INGO Action Contre Le Faim in Mutur, the killing of five youths in Trincomalee and the disappearance of Rev. Fr. Nihal Jim Brown of Philip Neri’s Church at Allaipidi on August 28, 2006.
Associated with Premier Wickremesinghe were Megapolis and Western Development Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka, Acting Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva and Acting Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene. Earlier, ahead of his departure to attend the 70th sessions of the UN General Assembly, President Sirisena and Premier Wickremesinghe discussed with armed forces commanders and the Police Chief the contents of the OISL report. Upon his return to Colombo on Friday evening, Sirisena made a statement at a news conference but did not take any questions. He said the “domestic mechanism” the Government would establish to investigate alleged war crimes was in accordance with the Constitution.
He would soon call an All Party Conference of registered political parties to seek their views. The views of religious leaders and intellectuals would also be sought, he said. The President declared that the Government was able to “turn international opinion” in its favour with the outcome of the January 8 presidential election. Sirisena had planned to address the nation on Friday night. However, he was not quite happy with the text of the speech that had been prepared for delivery. Hence, he decided he would make a statement at a news conference.
Champika, Ruwan vow to protect Army
An even more important meeting came when Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka addressed top Army officers who were involved in the “humanitarian” operation or the final stages of the May 2009 offensive to militarily defeat Tiger guerrillas. The officers raised questions whether they would face punishment in the event an investigation determined that they were at fault.
Ranawaka who said that the meeting was informal urged those present to speak out frankly. He said that the Army was a national institution and it was the responsibility of the Government to protect it. The Army had engaged in anti-terrorist operations which was a legitimate exercise the world over. As made clear, the responsibility of finding out who was responsible for certain alleged acts had fallen on the Government. Thus, the idea was to identify only wrong doers who acted on illegal orders. There was no cause for worry since there would be no witch hunt.
When one of the officers who attended Premier Wickremesinghe’s briefing said some of his remarks were inaudible to him since he sat a distance away, acting Foreign Minister Harsha de Silva gave the highlights of what had been said. Acting Defence Minister Ruwan Wijewardene declared that nowhere in the OISL report was it said that the Sri Lanka Army as a whole was responsible for committing alleged war crimes. He said it was the full responsibility of this Government to protect the Army and the good reputation it had maintained. Defence sources said senior officers would soon speak to groups of other ranks to explain issues.
The resolution on Sri Lanka came up for debate in Geneva on Wednesday and was adopted without a vote on Thursday. The six page-document was co-sponsored by 13 countries – Albania, Australia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Sri Lanka, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Most significant among the 23 preambular paragraphs is one which said: “Recognizing that the investigation into alleged serious violations and abuses of human rights and related crimes in Sri Lanka requested in Human Rights Resolution 25/1 was necessitated by the absence of a credible national process of accountability.”
This was complemented by one of the 20 operative paragraphs which form the crux of the resolution. It said: “Welcomes the Government’s recognition that accountability is essential to uphold the rule of law and build confidence in the people of all communities of Sri Lanka in the justice system, takes note with appreciation of the Government of Sri Lanka’s proposal to establish a Judicial Mechanism with Special Counsel to investigate allegations of violations and abuses of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law, as applicable; and affirms that a credible justice process should include independent judicial and prosecutorial institutions led by individuals known for integrity and impartiality; and further affirms in this regard the importance of participation in a Sri Lankan judicial mechanism, including the Special Counsel’s office, of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers, and authorized prosecutors and investigators.”
It has been agreed that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights would present an oral update to the Council at its 32nd session (in June next year) and a comprehensive report at the 34th session in March 2017. These are over how the provisions of the resolution are being implemented.
Courtesy:Sunday Times