Govt presses for local mechanism to investigate HR violations

The government today announced that it will seek the international help when it comes to formulating the local mechanisms that will address the human rights violations and crimes against humanity alleged to have been committed during the civil war, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said. “This is not a hunt against the Srilankan military. They have not pointed fingers at any individuals,they have entrusted us to find out that,” he said. Minister Samaraweera said that the the initial process will be put in place by October and the government has outlined a 18 month time frame to formulated these mechanisms and started to implemented it. “If there had been no action taken during the last six months, the report might be more critical of the country,Whoever is behind theses drastic killings will be dealt by the judiciary, minister Samarweera said. The Government is out rightly rejected the Idea of opening a special office for coordination Colombo and said the the current UN office can be used for that purpose. Describing the UN report on Sri Lanka as “well crafted sober report with good intentions”, minister said he has invited the High Commissioner of Human Rights to visit the country by end of this year.