18.03.2012
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.
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