A government-appointed panel probing the final stages of Sri Lanka’s civil war began work in Colombo yesterday, but rights bodies and lawmakers in the US accused it of lacking credibility.
The eight-member panel will hear testimony from witnesses on five separate days in Colombo and for two days in Vavuniya.
The panel has been asked to report to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse within six months on why a 2002 truce broke down and to suggest ways to ensure the nation will not revert to conflict, an official close to the probe said.
“They have also been asked to ensure restorative justice,” the official said. “We are not looking at punitive justice, but they will recommend compensation for those who have been wronged.”
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the panel was an attempt by Sri Lanka to deflect international calls for an independent investigation into war crimes alleged to have been committed by government troops.
“There had been previous commissions and they have not borne fruit,” HRW’s South Asia director Meenakshi Ganguly said. “We are not convinced of the commitment of the government of Sri Lanka to ensure accountability.”
US lawmakers, in a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, pushed for an independent probe saying the Sri Lankan panel “lacked the needed credibility.”
The 57 members of the House of Representatives said the panel had a narrow scope and no mandate to investigate abuses.
Sri Lanka has repeatedly rejected a separate UN probe into alleged rights abuses.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set up a panel in June to advise him on accountability on alleged abuses, but the government has refused to cooperate with it.
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