United Nations: Terming as "unacceptable"
the unending violence in Syria, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has asked
President Bashar-Al Assad to bring an immediate end to the
killings and accept an international probe into human rights
violations.
"It is a totally unacceptable situation that more than
3,000 people have been killed? That must stop. To enable such
kind of transition, (Assad) must be able to agree and to
engage in dialogue, as he had pledged before," Ban said.
Ban said he has repeatedly asked Assad to take decisive
action and accept the Human Rights Council`s commission of
inquiry into the violence in his country to find out exactly
what happened and to put an end to civilian deaths.
The killings should stop "immediately" and Assad has to
"take decisive action, political reforms, before it is too
late," the UN chief said.
The Human Rights Council ordered a commission of inquiry
last month into the violence after an earlier fact-finding
mission by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human
Rights (OHCHR) outlined a series of abuses committed by Syrian
authorities, ranging from murders, enforced disappearances,
deprivation of liberty and torture since the government began
its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in March.
Ban said that accepting the Council`s commission of
inquiry would be an opportunity for the Syrian government to
make its position clear to the international community and not
isolate itself, particularly since Syrian authorities have
stated that a large number of casualties were members of the
security forces.
"Whatever the case may be, both by civilians or by
national forces, the killing of people is not acceptable," Ban
said.
Last week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi
Pillay also urged the international community to act
immediately to protect lives in the country from the
"indiscriminate use of force" by the government against
protesters.
PTI
