Colombo: Japan on Wednesday said it want Sri Lanka
to make public a report on war crimes allegedly committed
during the final phase of war against the Tamil rebels and
emphasised the need to improve human rights situation in the
country.
"Japan hopes that the Sri Lankan government will make the
report public in due course and takes steps to implement
recommendations by the commission," Tokyo`s special envoy to
Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, who was on a four-day visit to the
country.
He also called for reconciliation between ethnic
communities in Sri Lanka at the end of nearly four-decades of
ethnic strife.
"I reiterated the importance of national reconciliation
in order to achieve a lasting peace," Akashi told reporters
after talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse and other
leaders.
"Accountability could be included in the whole
reconciliation process. The objective should be
genuine reconciliation," he said.
Akashi, said there was a "perception of insecurity"
despite the end of conflict.
"I emphasized the vital need to improve the human rights
situation in this country," Akashi said.
Akashi said many Sri Lankans still spoke of
"disappearances" in Tamil areas, military occupation of
private property and heavy presence of soldiers in the
country`s northeast.
"We have no means to verify if these statements are true,
but I must say that there is a certain degree of common thread
running through these comments," he said.
He said Sri Lanka must do more to change the perceptions
of people and address accountability issues.
On calls for international investigations into Sri
Lanka`s rights record during the last phase of the war in May
2009, Akashi hinted that he would support a Sri Lankan
investigation than an international probe and said Colombo
could have its own investigative mechanism but such probe
should meet international standards.
He said asked Sri Lankan Government to make public the
report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission
(LLRC) which was handed over to Rajapaksa last week.
During his visit, Akashi met government ministers,
representatives of opposition political parties and civil
society.
PTI
