Lankan President and Prime Minister have clashing views on approach to 2015 UNHRC resolution

Colombo, March 6 (AFP/newsin.asia): Sri Lanka’s President Maithripala Sirisena went back Wednesday on pledges to the UN Human Right s Council (UNHRC) to investigate war-time atrocities, saying he did not want to “re-open old wounds”.

But the government led by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has struck a different note saying that it will go ahead with the implementation of the co-sponsored UNHRC resolution of 2015 and harshly criticized those who oppose this move.

Sri Lankan government troops were accused of killing at least 40,000 ethnic Tamil civilians in the final months of the island’s 37-year guerrilla war that ended in May 2009.

President Sirisena said he will formally ask the United Nations rights body to reconsider a 2015Lankans through strengthened ownership of the implementation process.”

“The resolution of 2015 and subsequent efforts of Government of Sri Lanka follow as a sequence to the commitments given to the then Secretary General of UN HE Mr. Ban Ki Moon who visited Sri Lanka in 2009 by the Government of the then President Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa.”

“The following is the last paragraph of the Joint Communique issued by the Government of Sri Lanka and the UN at the conclusion of UN Secretary General’s visit to Sri Lanka in 2009.”

‘’Sri Lanka reiterated its strongest commitment to the promotion and protection of human rights, in keeping with international human rights standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations. The Secretary General underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian