Image: Sri Lanka War zone May 2019.
Addressing the media at the Centre for Society and Religion (CSR), Maradana on April 18 the Collective of Civil Society Organizations urged the government to investigate into war crimes allegations in accordance with Geneva Resolution 30/1 co-sponsored by the government.
One of the speakers was Akalanka Hettiarachchi of Aluth Parapura. He emphasized that all those who had perpetrated crimes during the war and post-conflict should be dealt forthwith.
Referring to international media reports pertaining to allegations directed at Sri Lankan troops deployed in the Caribbean island Haiti, Hettiarachchi emphasized that it was the responsibility of the government to protect Sri Lanka’s image by probing those who had been accused of human rights violations here or during overseas deployment under UN command. Hettiarachchi alleged that some members of the Sri Lankan contingent had been also accused of child abuse during Haiti deployment.
The activist pointed out that media personality Prageeth Ekneligoda had been missing since January 2010. Commenting on a spate of high profile investigations undertaken by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) since the change of government in January 2015, Hettiarachchi underscored that scores of Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) personnel had been arrested, remanded and released on bail.
The Aluth Parapura spokesperson said that the civil society had been demanding proper investigation into war crimes accusations. Hettiarachchi expressed concern over the failure on the part of the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government to address accountability issues, swiftly and decisively.
With the inputs from The Island