Denying a media statement given by Kiriella to ‘The Island’ newspaper yesterday (11), Dr. Jayatilleka today said the undertaking to implement the 13th amendment was “given in Colombo, not Geneva, on May 21st and May 23rd 2009, while the Special Session of the UNHRC in Geneva was on May 26-27th 2009. The commitment to implement 13A was made in Colombo, not Geneva and reached Geneva from Colombo.”
Kiriella, commenting on foreign policy blunders on the part of the Sri Lankan government told ‘The Island’ newspaper “our representative at the UN gave an undertaking that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution would be implemented in full.”
Speaking to ‘Asian Mirror ‘ on Jayatelleka’s denial, Kiriella said one of the allegations against Jayatilleka at that time was that he gave the undertaking at Geneva without consulting Colombo.
“And now, if Jayatilleka claims that he did that as per the instructions from Colombo, that makes the case against Sri Lanka even stronger. This alone shows the contradictory nature of the government when it comes to such crucial matters,” Kiriella said.
Commenting on Kiriella’s statement to ‘The Island’ that “the government entered into an MoU with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon undertaking to conduct an independent and credible domestic inquiry into the allegations of war crimes against the security forces and the LTTE, Jayatilleka, in an article carried in ‘Colombo Telegraph’, said they only undertook to “address the grievances” which Ban Ki Moon “underlined” as “important” with regard to accountability and allegations of human rights violations.
In response, Kiriella told ‘Asian Mirror’ that Ban Ki Moon, when he visited Sri Lanka in May, 2009, was of the view that there had been serious violations of international laws in Sri Lanka during the final phase of war.
“Therefore the government promised to address grievances. How can you address such grievances without holding an inquiry? The fact of the matter is that the government cannot escape from an inquiry,” Kiriella asserted.
