Sri Lanka’s EU Ambassador Ravinatha Aryasinha has urged that the IDPs in Sri Lanka be not used as a political tool, but instead help the Government to overcome the difficulties faced in re-settling them.
The Ambassador made these observations when he addressed a hearing held on Sri Lanka by the Human Rights Sub Committee of the European Parliament, chaired by MEP Heidi Hautala of the Finnish Green Party last Thursday.
Refuting a suggestion that “de-mining has been used as a political tool to confine the IDPs to the camps”, and that they “would be held indefinitely”, the Ambassador showed on a map the main population centres of the Northern Province with adjacent farm land that had been de-mined or ear-marked for de-mining on a priority basis. He said the security concerns were not imagined, but very real, as it was well known that many LTTE cadres had come into the camps mingling with civilians, and GOSL didn’t want them to go back and collect hidden weapons and re-start terrorist acts.
On GSP+, Ambassador Aryasinha said the Government had not accepted the process of GSP+ investigation and a request for experts to visit Sri Lanka as a matter of principle, as it was felt inappropriate and unnecessary with the Government not willing to compromise on its sovereignty.
Responding to comments made on the judgment in the Tissainayagam case, the Ambassador said one cannot on the one hand demand separation of powers and an independent Judiciary, and on the other hand press for the executive to overrule the judicial system.Mr. Andrew Stroelheim of the International Crisis Group, Mr. Sunanda Deshapriya, Mr. Antoine Gerard of the UN/Humanitarian Affairs Office in Belgium, Mr. David Tirr and Mr. Rolf Timmens of the European Commission and several MEPs addressed the two-hour session. |
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