Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa today denied that the OHCHR Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) report has been watered down due to the change in the government in January.

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Releasing a statement, Rajapaksa called upon the government to reject the OISL report released on September 16 in Geneva by UNHRC Chief Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussain. He said that many of the recommendations of the report give causes for concern.

"In my view, establishing a hybrid special court to try war crimes integrating foreign judges, lawyers and investigators, and prosecutors is not feasible," he said, adding that any allegation should be tried in "under the existing Sri Lankan law, under our present courts system and by our judges and our Attorney-General’s department."

He also commented on the claims that the OISL report has been watered down. "Some speculate that this report may have been watered down because a new government has been elected to power. If that is true, then the Pakistani Ambassador HE Akram would have been right in telling the UNHRC on 27 March 2014, that this resolution is “All about politics and not about human rights” " Rajapaksa said.