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Lord Naseby questions British govt. on criteria used to assess reports on final stages of war in Sri Lanka
View(s):British Conservative Party politician Lord Naseby has questioned the British Government in the House of Lords regarding the criteria it used to assess the credibility of evidence reports it received related to the situation in Sri Lanka during the final stages of the war with the LTTE between January and May 2009.
Four questions directed at the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) were tabled by Lord Naseby, PC, who is also the Honorary President of The All Party Parliamentary British-Sri Lanka Group. The answers are due early next month.
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what criteria they used to assess the credibility of evidence reports they have received which related to the situation in Sri Lanka during the civil war in that country between 1 January and 18 May 2009; and whether it has ever been their practice to accept reports from unnamed sources,” one question reads.
A second question asks the FCDO on whether information contained in despatches written by UK defence attachés must be independently verified before submission; if so, whether it is standard practice to ensure that such attachés are briefed to that effect; and if so, what record, if any, they hold of Lieutenant Colonel Gash, being so briefed.
Lt. Col. Anthony Gash was UK’s defense attaché to the British High Commission in Colombo from February 2007 to June 2009 and is said to have sent “secret reports” to Britain.
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what sources they used to inform their assessment of the situation in Sri Lanka during the civil war in that country between 1 January and 18 May 2009,” Lord Naseby’s third question asks.
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the despatches written by Lieutenant Colonel Gash, the former defence attaché of the British High Commission in Sri Lanka about events in that country between 1 January and 18 May 2009 relating to the civil war, whether they consider all reports by UK military attachés and diplomats to be evidence based-assessments,” his fourth question queries.