( War zone, May 2009, Sri Lanka)
Minister of Regional Development, Field Marshall Sarath Fonseka has said that he welcomes for international involvement on war crimes allegations during the final stages of the conflict, provided they come in on an advisory level.
Fonseka speaking to Nation has said that having international advisers as supervisors would help Sri Lanka to justify the manner in which investigations were carried out since these allegations were mainly levelled by the international community and organizations. “In addition, I personally want to clear my name as well,” Fonseka told the Nation.
“There are allegations, and there are people who want to point the finger at the military. I was responsible for conducting the operations. I don’t like unwarranted allegations levelled against the military. So I would prefer to clear and restore the name of the military by clearing all these allegations,” Fonseka had said.
“There should be some international representations by way of advisors and supervisors. The mechanism should be local, and the judges also should be local. So in order for the world to understand that the investigations are done in a transparent manner, we should allow room for foreign advisors and supervisors,” he has opined.