[lkdood]

The main opposition UNP has warned that it is the people who will ultimately suffer if the Government fails to act in accordance with the US backed Resolution on Sri Lanka.

Acting External Affairs Minister, D. E. W. Gunasekera, had said in Parliament on Friday that the government did not need external technical assistance in its post-war reconciliation efforts.

When contacted for a response to this statement, UNP MP and former Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, said that the “people will have to pay for the government’s stubbornness.”

“Most people were hoping that the final outcome of the Resolution in Geneva would act as a wake-up call for the Rajapaksa regime, but if they continue to travel on the same old path without co-operating with the UN, I would say that finally it is the Sri Lankan people who will suffer,” he said.

Samaraweera further noted that “because of the manner in which the government has acted over the years, it has no one else to blame but itself for paving the way for this international intervention, and interference, as they call it.

In the present set up, such intervention is inevitable if the government won’t live up to international obligations,” he said. He added that the UNP remained willing to co-operate with the Government, “if the Government is genuine about implementing the proposals of the [LLRC] report.”

The original draft of the US backed Resolution on Sri Lanka called upon the government to accept advice and technical assistance from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The amended Resolution which was adopted on March 22 however stated that advice and technical assistance should be provided “in consultation with, and with the concurrence of, the Government of Sri Lanka.”

SL