Monday, November 18, 2013

UNP opposes any international investigation; says CHOGM agreement suspicious

Tissa-atta

The United National Party (UNP) today raised suspicion on the agreement signed by Sri Lanka together with other Commonwealth leaders at the end of the Commonwealth summit.
UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake said that the agreement would see Sri Lanka agree to a possible international investigation on human rights.He said that the agreement involves 98 points most of which refers to economic and development issues.


However he noted that from point number 33 the agreement refers to human rights and an international human rights system.

Attanayake said that by signing the agreement Sri Lanka has virtually agreed to be scrutinized by an international human rights mechanism.

“This is a serious situation,” he said.

The UNP, he said, had always opposed an international investigation and felt that fully implementing the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) is sufficient.

He also said that the full agreement has not been released to the media. Attanayake said that the human rights issue in Sri Lanka has now been internationalized further through the Commonwealth summit.

Attanayake also said that the government has spent heavily for the summit yet the country gained very little from it. (Colombo Gazette)