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Attempts are being made to frame Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa over the human skeletal remains found at Matale, Director of the Media Center for National Security Lakshman Hulugalle said.
Hulugalle said that the sudden interest of opposition political parties in the Matale mass grave is with an ulterior motive.
He said that the Defence Secretary was the coordinating officer in Matale during the time the people were said to have been buried in the mass grave.
Hulugalle said that top military officers in the caliber of Kamal Gunaratne and Shavendra Silva had also served in Matale.
It is for this reason that there is a sudden push by the JVP and UNP to call for an investigation on the grave site.
However he noted that while the JVP and UNP are pointing one finger at the government, the other four fingers point back at them.
He insisted that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was never involved in murdering civilians like the JVP and the UNP.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa has decided to appoint a special commission to investigate the mass grave at Matale.
Over 150 skeletal remains and human bones have been unearthed from the mass grave in Matale.
The Judicial Medical Officer had determined that the remains were of those killed sometime in the late 1980′s and the area has now been marked as a crime scene.
At least 10 skeletal remains were first found from the site near the Matale hospital in November last year by construction workers when land near the hospital was being dug-up to construct a new building.
Following police investigations excavation work began to look for skeletal remains at the site and more remains were found.
The JVP had demanded that the government carry out investigations on the mass grave following fears the remains maybe that of JVP members or supporters killed during a 1987-89 insurgency.
The UNP, which was in power during the 1987-89 period, said it will back an independent investigation into the mass grave.
The UN had also been called to assist in the investigations into the mass grave. (Colombo Gazette)