Colombo: Sri Lanka on Wednesday rejected the demand
for an independent probe into war crimes during the LTTE
conflict, saying it has no "intention to allow an
international policeman".
In an obvious reference to international calls for
investigation into alleged rights abuses during the final
phase of the conflict, External Affairs Minister G L Peiris
Peiris said local or international investigations cannot be
allowed.
"We are a nation with pride. We will not allow anybody to
interfere here. We have no intention to allow an international
policeman looking at our problems. We do not want an
international policeman. We have the capability and the will
to solve our own problems," he said.
Lanka's rights record has come under international
scrutiny ever since the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon's
special panel advocated an independent inquiry into alleged
rights abuses.
Peiris' parliamentary comments came ahead of today's
seventeenth round of talks between the government and the main
Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA).
"Today we discussed land matters and they will be
continued at the next rounds", Suresh Premachandran, a TNA
participant at the talks said.
The TNA has been pressing for land and police powers to
provincial councils created in 1987 as part of the India-Sri
Lanka accord of that year.
The government aims to look for a solution based on
devolution to the Tamil minority through the parallel
parliamentary select committee process which is yet to get
underway.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, December 14, 2011, 23:29