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Japan urges world not to dictate to post-war Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Gamini Peiris gestures to Japan's special peace envoy to Sri Lanka Yashushi Akashi as they walk out after a press briefing in Colombo, June 16, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer
COLOMBO |
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Japan on Wednesday urged the world not to dictate to Sri Lanka amid post-war reconciliation efforts and renewed calls from the West for a probe into possible war crimes.
Sri Lanka last month celebrated the first anniversary of its victory against Tamil Tiger separatists, ending 25 years of civil war, and rights groups used the occasion to push for an international war crimes investigation.
They blame the government for tens of thousands of civilian deaths. The government denies the charges.
Japanese peace envoy Yashushi Akashi, who is on his 20th trip to Sri Lanka, said the international community should not dwell on the past.
"It is up to the Sri Lankan government to define the precise roll," Akashi told reporters in the capital, Colombo. "It is not for other governments or international organizations to dictate to Sri Lanka as to what it should be doing in this highly complicated and sensitive area."
Japan, one of the top aid donors to Sri Lanka, in March signed agreements for 39 billion yen ($426.4 million) in development assistance for the Indian ocean island nation.
Akashi's comments follow the visit by two White House officials and U.N. political chief Lynn Pascoe, who are pushing for accountability for human rights violations.
Samantha Power, special assistant to Obama on multilateral affairs and human rights, and David Pressman, National Security Council director for war crimes and atrocities, met President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday at the start of a four-day trip.
Colombo says the West is applying double standards by insisting on an investigation while the United States and Britain are not being probed despite thousands of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan.
(Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Follow Sri Lanka’s precedence and new thinking in these too Japan!! War of attrition on Tamil Society is well under way in Sri Lanka by Sinhala Buddhists. Here is another Buddhist nation giving blessing.
The tamil society, lost credibility when they were silent. Perhaps they were scared of the LTTE terrorists. That is possible. But now that they are not there, even belatedly, there should be a voice by the tamil society, who disassociate yourself from the ideologies of the LTTE terrorists.
It was only Mr. Anandasangaree, Mr. Douglus Devananda and Mr. Lakshman Kadiragama, who spoke, and showed the world the true face of the LTTE terrorists.
Now that the LTTE terrorists are not there, what has the tamil society done to help the people in the north and east ? It is sad to say, the tamil society, by and large does not help the people. Getting funds from the tamil society, to be used for social work for the tamils, is like flogging a dead horse.
Actions speak louder than mere words.
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