The Human Rights Watch report on Sri Lanka is misleading, rife with
contradictions and could be used by organizations like the LTTE to
disrupt the democratically elected governments like Sri Lanka,
Government's Peace Secretariat Head, Rajiva Wijesinha, said in a
letter to the U.S. based human rights group.
Wijesinha charged Human Rights Watch of being selective in its release
in concentrating criticism on the human rights record of Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "Your report is a repetition of the
unequivocal criticism of the current Sri Lanka government, that is
grist to the mill of not only the LTTE but also others in Sri Lanka
who deplore the results of democratic elections and hope instead that
agencies like yours will help to disrupt the government," Wijesinha
said in a letter to Brad Adams, Director of the Asia Division of Human
Rights Watch.
The assertion that there has been a dramatic increase in abuses by the
government during the past 18 months is designed to imply that the
Rajapaksa government has misbehaved from the time it was elected, but
that assertion is contradicted in other paragraphs in the release
itself as well as in the full report, the Secretary General declared.
Referring to the report's assertion that government authorities have
forced some to return to areas that remain insecure, the SLGP
Secretary General said: "The selectivity of the report is most
depressing and ignores the current situation."
In fact in the report itself, allegations of forced return of people
are attributed to a single interview with a single humanitarian
worker. The report omits the current situation, where UNCHR staff
monitoring the situation reported that the majority of the people are
eager to return home, the returns are voluntary and in line with
international standards, Wijesinha said.
Source: Daily Mirror
contradictions and could be used by organizations like the LTTE to
disrupt the democratically elected governments like Sri Lanka,
Government's Peace Secretariat Head, Rajiva Wijesinha, said in a
letter to the U.S. based human rights group.
Wijesinha charged Human Rights Watch of being selective in its release
in concentrating criticism on the human rights record of Sri Lankan
President Mahinda Rajapaksa. "Your report is a repetition of the
unequivocal criticism of the current Sri Lanka government, that is
grist to the mill of not only the LTTE but also others in Sri Lanka
who deplore the results of democratic elections and hope instead that
agencies like yours will help to disrupt the government," Wijesinha
said in a letter to Brad Adams, Director of the Asia Division of Human
Rights Watch.
The assertion that there has been a dramatic increase in abuses by the
government during the past 18 months is designed to imply that the
Rajapaksa government has misbehaved from the time it was elected, but
that assertion is contradicted in other paragraphs in the release
itself as well as in the full report, the Secretary General declared.
Referring to the report's assertion that government authorities have
forced some to return to areas that remain insecure, the SLGP
Secretary General said: "The selectivity of the report is most
depressing and ignores the current situation."
In fact in the report itself, allegations of forced return of people
are attributed to a single interview with a single humanitarian
worker. The report omits the current situation, where UNCHR staff
monitoring the situation reported that the majority of the people are
eager to return home, the returns are voluntary and in line with
international standards, Wijesinha said.
Source: Daily Mirror
