{"id":86866,"date":"2019-03-31T15:07:56","date_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:07:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=86866"},"modified":"2019-03-31T15:07:56","modified_gmt":"2019-03-31T22:07:56","slug":"carbon-dating-report-tna-geneva-unable-to-stomach-us-lab-contradicting-false-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/03\/31\/carbon-dating-report-tna-geneva-unable-to-stomach-us-lab-contradicting-false-claims\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon dating report: TNA, Geneva unable to stomach US lab contradicting false claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Udaya Gammanpila <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila, MP, yesterday said that former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswarazn\u2019s rejection of scientific findings of Beta Analytic Institute of Florida, USA, in respect of samples of skeletal remains sent from the Mannar mass grave site, underscored the difficulties in post-war national reconciliation process.
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Attorney-at-law Gammanpila said that he was really shocked by the stand taken up by the retired Supreme Court judge.
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Responding to a query, MP Gammanpila alleged that members of the four-party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) played politics with the Mannar issue. They reacted with shock and dismay over the US laboratory setting the record straight, the lawmaker said,
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pointing out that the Colombo-based German Ambassador Joern Rohde and a British delegation visited the Mannar site in Nov and Dec 2018 as they were convinced of Sri Lanka Army\u2019s accountability.
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MP Gammanpila recalled how such visits received huge media coverage. Answering another query, Colombo District MP said obviously the Mannar project was meant to be used in a big way at the recently concluded Geneva sessions. Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet went to the extent of commenting on Mannar mass grave in her latest report that dealt with the period from Oct 2015 to January 2019, MP Gammanpila said. Had the US lab issued a report to suit their strategy, would they have accepted fresh tests in case the government of Sri Lanka requested, Gammanpila asked.
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The PHU leader said that HRC Bachelet owed Sri Lanka an explanation as to how she arrived at damaging conclusions and whether reassessment could be made in the wake of the US lab report.
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The following is relevant section bearing No 23 from Bachelet\u2019s report: “On May 29, 2018, human skeletal remains were discovered at a construction site in Mannar (Northern Province), Excavations conducted in support of the Office on Missing Persons, revealed a mass grave from which more than 300 skeletons were discovered. It was the second mass grave found in Mannar following the discovery of a site in 2014. Given that other mass graves might be expected to be found in the future, systematic access to grave sites by the Office as an observer is crucial for it to fully discharge its mandate, particularly with regard to the investigation and identification of remains, it is imperative that the proposed reforms on the law relating to inquests, and relevant protocols to operationalize the law be adopted. The capacity of the forensic sector must also be strengthened, including in areas of forensic anthropology, forensic archeology and genetics, and its coordination with the Office of Missing Persons must be ensured.”
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Gammanpila appreciated one-time Attorney General Foreign Minister Tilak Maparana, PC, raising the Mannar issue in his response to Bachelet. The Joint Opposition heavyweight also noted that though Bachelet reacted angrily to Northern Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan comments on her report she remained conveniently mum on Marapana\u2019s criticism of the report.
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MP Gammanpila alleged that those who couldn\u2019t stomach Sri Lanka\u2019s triumph over LTTE terrorism were still pursuing anti-Sri Lanka campaign. The lawmaker pointed out that in addition to the US lab, the disclosure made by wartime US defence attache Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith in June 2011 and Lord Naseby in Oct 2017 strongly countered unsubstantiated allegations directed at the war winning military.
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The TNA, a section of the foreign funded civil society grouping and Western powers continue to turn a blind eye to evidence which contradicted the Panel of Experts\u2019 accusation pertaining indiscriminate killings on the Vanni east front, Gammanpila said.
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The MP said that Minister Marapana referred to the reluctance on their part to take evidence supportive of Sri Lanka into consideration.
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Gammanpila faulted the Foreign Ministry for not using Lord Naseby\u2019s disclosure at much earlier stage for Sri Lanka\u2019s benefit.
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Blaming the government for its failure to protect Sri Lanka\u2019s interests in Geneva on previous occasions, the JO front-liner said the government should now go the whole hog. Raising of Lord Naseby\u2019s disclosure and other related matters received the appreciation of vast majority of people. But that wouldn\u2019t be enough, MP Gammanpila said, the government should press Geneva to review its position. It would be necessary to keep in mind that Geneva Resolution 30\/1 was based on unsubstantiated allegations. Now, the main allegation pertaining to the massacre of 40,000 had been proved quite wrong hence the need to revisit the process, the MP said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The Island Pivithuru Hela Urumaya (PHU) leader Udaya Gammanpila, MP, yesterday said that former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswarazn\u2019s rejection of scientific findings of Beta Analytic Institute of Florida, USA, in respect of samples of skeletal remains sent from the Mannar mass grave site, underscored the difficulties in post-war national […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86866","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=86866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86866\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}