Colombo: With a US-backed resolution on Sri Lanka`s rights record expected to be moved at the UNHRC meet next week, the country`s Army Chief has claimed that the motive behind the move was to frame President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the powerful Defence Secretary. Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya, addressing troops in the island nation`s north yesterday, said the resolution was a challenge that Sri Lanka had to face. "My personal view is that Western nations did not like us ending terrorism. The President did not cave in to pressures from the West to halt the war. He went ahead finishing it," he said.
"It is clear that they are holding the President and Defence Secretary responsible. Their aim is clear", Jayasuriya said.
The proposed resolution seeks to bind Sri Lanka to implement the recommendations of its own reconciliation commission. It presses for wider accountability over alleged rights abuses during the final phase of the military conflict with the LTTE in May 2009.
Jayasuriya said the army was willing to investigate specific accusations against any of its troops.
"The army is disciplined, they did not abuse human rights during the war," Jayasuriya, who took over the command of the Sri Lanka army after the war came to its end, said.
Sri Lankan government has organised mass demonstrations of public support against the planned action by the West which, it claimed, was aimed at undermining Sri Lanka at the behest of the pro-LTTE Diaspora.
PTI