Colombo, March 12, 2010 (The Hindu) - The Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, has decided in-principle to appoint a ‘committee’ to study the root cause of the ethnic conflict, lessons learnt by the island-nation since sections of Tamils took to militancy in a bid to gain their rights and aspirations, and the challenges faced by the country since the military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last May.
Disclosing this at a news conference here on Friday, the Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe, said the objective behind the move is to understand the causes behind the unrest among the minorities, conditions leading to the birth of the LTTE and how the island-nation can ensure that such a situation does not recur.
"Comprehensive study"
Asked if the proposed Committee would cover the circumstances leading to the deployment of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) as per the 1987 Indo-Lanka Accord and the 1989 Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) second insurgency, the Minister said, “Yes, it would be a comprehensive study covering all aspects”.
The announcement on the intention of the President to constitute a committee has coincided with the controversy over the decision of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint a panel of experts to advise him [Mr. Ban] on Sri Lanka and the vociferous objections raised by Colombo. In the course of a telephone conversation with the UN Secretary General, Mr. Rajapaksa had characterised the move on the experts as uncalled for and unwarranted.
Mr. Samarasinghe pointed out that the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) comprising 124 member-states has condemned the intention of the UN Secretary-General to appoint a panel of experts to advice on accountability issues relating to Sri Lanka.
Since the military defeat of the LTTE in May, the Sri Lanka Government has been countering demands from various quarters on the need for a commission to investigate alleged human rights violations in the 34-month-long Eelam War IV, and had repeatedly pointed out to the resolution by the Human Rights Commission lauding Sri Lanka on the military defeat of the Tigers.
At Friday’s briefing the Minister reiterated the point. Mr. Samarasinghe said that the NAM collective represented almost two-third membership of the UN, which consist 194 member-states. The NAM is the largest inter-regional bloc in the world, the Minister said, and argued that countries that act contrary to their opinions would contradict almost two-third membership of the UN.
NAM condemns selective targeting
The Chair of the Coordinating Bureau of the Non-Aligned Movement, Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Maged A. Abdelaziz, states in his letter, "The Non- Aligned Movement strongly condemns selective targeting of individual countries which it deems contrary to the Founding Principles of the Movement and the United Nations Charter".
"In this Context, the Movement firmly opposes the unilateral evaluation and certification of the conduct of states as a means of exerting pressure on Non- Aligned countries and other developing countries", the Ambassador's letter said.
He also emphasised that "the situation in Sri Lanka is not on the agenda of any of these bodies, and there is nothing in the Charter of the United Nations that authorise intervention in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state, without prejudice of course to the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII".
Minister Samarasinghe also said that before the UN Secretary-General had telephoned President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the President already had the intention of appointing a committee to study the root causes of the conflict in order to avoid such a conflict from occurring again in the future.
Now there is an excellent opportunity for reconciliation and development so that all communities could have equal benefits and live in peace and harmony, the Minister said further.
Resettlement after demining certification
Briefing the media on the situation of the war-displaced Tamil civilians, the Minister said that out of the nearly three-lakh internally displaced persons (IDPs), 93, 823 persons remain to be resettled. As per the Minister, a total of 182,946 have been resettled or released on humanitarian grounds as at March 10.
At present, 61,898 IDPs are at six sites in Vavuniya, while 1,347 IDPs are at 2 sites in Jaffna. Another 1,604 are at hospitals with their families. Accordingly, a total of 64,849 IDPs are in zones. The Minister further stated that 24,032 are out of camps on free movement while another 4,942 have not reported back to the camps on the date indicated by the IDPs. Accordingly, a total of 28,974 are outside the camps.
Resettlement is carried out in Kilinochchi and Mullathivu districts as well after obtaining the UN certification that demining has been completed. Minister Samarasinghe stated that all resettlements take place once the government receives this UN certificate of mine clearance. The Minister further said that those with host families too are being resettled instead of limiting to IDPs in camps.
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