{"id":48025,"date":"2015-09-19T13:19:39","date_gmt":"2015-09-19T20:19:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=48025"},"modified":"2015-09-19T13:19:39","modified_gmt":"2015-09-19T20:19:39","slug":"un-diluted-war-crimes-report-following-mrs-defeat-govt-prez-pm-blame-media-for-false-cepa-reports-govt-sans-mahinda-good-for-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/09\/19\/un-diluted-war-crimes-report-following-mrs-defeat-govt-prez-pm-blame-media-for-false-cepa-reports-govt-sans-mahinda-good-for-country\/","title":{"rendered":"UN diluted \u2018war crimes\u2019 report following MR\u2019s defeat\u2013govt Prez, PM blame media for false \u2018CEPA\u2019 reports \u2018Govt sans Mahinda good for country\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando \u00a0Courtesy Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday claimed the recently released Geneva report that dealt with accountability issues during the conflict would have been a 1,000 times worse than the one the country was confronted with had there been a government under Mahinda Rajapaksa.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0January 8\u00a0revolution prompted the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to dilute the report; President Maithripala Sirisena told a hastily arranged media conference at the President\u2019s House yesterday evening.<\/p>\n

Addressing print and electronic media representatives, President Maithripala Sirisena said that had the Rajapaksas remained in power some persons could have been named in the report. The President asserted that the report released at the on-going 30th sessions of the UNHRC was comparatively a moderate one. The change of Sri Lanka\u2019s approach to foreign relations, constitutional reforms, release of land held by the military, relief to the war affected, measures to alleviate the suffering of Tamil speaking people as well as national reconciliation process under former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga influenced the international community to accommodate Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

The President expressed the opinion that the country couldn\u2019t have survived without forming a government sans Mahinda Rajapaksa. That was the reality, the President said.<\/p>\n

The President repeatedly urged the media to highlight the crisis the country could have faced in case Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected. Accusing the media of conveniently turning a blind eye to reality, thereby undermining stability, President Maithripala Sirisena said that there was a long way to achieve national reconciliation.<\/p>\n

President Maithripala Sirisena appreciated efforts made by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera to shape up Sri Lanka\u2019s foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Responding to strong criticism of the Geneva report, President Maithripala Sirisena said that the government was prepared to meet any eventuality. The President alleged that certain extremist elements would try to cause trouble. The President emphasised the need on the part of both print and electronic media to be more responsible in their reportage of the Geneva issue.<\/p>\n

Strongly defending the government\u2019s handling of the Geneva challenge, Prime Minister Wickremesinghe queried the stand taken by the media on accountability issues. The UNP leader said that due to measures which had been taken by them since the\u00a0January 8\u00a0revolution, no one was named in the report. The Premier maintained that the setting up of the proposed investigative mechanism would be the prerogative of the government of Sri Lanka. Commenting on the proposed formation of a hybrid court to try those who had been allegedly responsible for war time atrocities, the premier said that a decision would be taken after having considered all reports, including the Geneva one as well as those prepared on the instructions of the previous government.<\/p>\n

The Premier rejected the suggestion that the parliament should pass an Indemnity Bill to pardon those who had committed battlefield atrocities. An irate Premier queried whether those who wanted an Indemnity Bill believed in clearing all wrongdoers.<\/p>\n

Restating that no one had been mentioned in the recently released Geneva report, the Premier strongly criticised a section of the media for propagating lies regarding signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement\u00a0(CEPA) during his recent visit to New Delhi.<\/p>\n

President Maithripala Sirisena too, strongly refuted recent media reports pertaining to high level talks between the governments of India and Sri Lanka regarding CEPA. The President insisted that there hadn\u2019t been any movement relating to CEPA since the January presidential poll.<\/p>\n

A visibly agitated Prime Minister said that some print media went to the extent of carrying advertisements regarding CEPA while he was in New Delhi. The Premier said that taxes were being contemplated on advertising.<\/p>\n

Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Western powers would have crippled Sri Lanka if Mahinda Rajapaksa regained power at the January polls. There could have been travel ban imposed on the former leader and other government figures, including military top brass, economic sanctions as well as bilateral restrictions imposed by the US and the EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando \u00a0Courtesy Island President Maithripala Sirisena yesterday claimed the recently released Geneva report that dealt with accountability issues during the conflict would have been a 1,000 times worse than the one the country was confronted with had there been a government under Mahinda Rajapaksa. The\u00a0January 8\u00a0revolution prompted the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}