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COLOMBO – Sri Lanka flatly denied the need for an international investigation into its controversial human rights record here on Saturday that was proposed by British Prime Minister David Cameron if issues are not addressed by March 2014. Sri Lanka’s head of Parliament Nimal Siripala de Silva emphasized Sri Lanka is a sovereign country and therefore will resist attempts for an international investigation.
He was responding to Cameron’s stance that Britain will push for an international probe by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) if Sri
Lanka does not address its human rights issues that include deaths of civilians during the last phase of the war by March 2014.
Pointing out that “this is not a new threat by Britain,” de Silva, also minister of irrigation and water resources, insisted that the Sri Lankan government would appeal to other members of the UNHRC to stave off an external interference into the human rights issues of Sri Lanka.
“The Commonwealth will not be used as another global policeman,” he said vehemently.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is the chair of the Commonwealth till 2015.
Sri Lanka is also hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is the most important meeting of the 53-member bloc.
The island country, recovering from three decades of war that ended in 2009, has come under severe international pressure for its human rights record with prime ministers from Canada, India and Mauritius boycotting the event.
The Commonwealth should be a platform for the member states to interact with each other to reach consensus, and nobody has the right to pass judgment on the other’s issues, he said.
“Every country in the Commonwealth enjoys equal status. We should respect each other and not interfere in other’s issues,” de Silva told a Press conference on the sidelines of the CHOGM in Colombo.
Referring to the alleged human rights violation in northern Sri Lanka, he said that most people in the north have been looked after, and allegations that the country has violated human rights are unfounded. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter