Sunday, 27 September 2015

Sirisena pledges faster reconciliation

India supports the ‘quest for justice and Sri Lankan sovereignty’.

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena has assured Prime Minister Narendra Modi that with elections over in the island nation, faster movement in reconciliation efforts could be expected.
The leaders reviewed bilateral ties and the reconciliation and reconstruction efforts after the bloody civil war. Mr. Modi complimented Mr. Sirisena for the successful conduct of two elections in recent months.
Even as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and Sri Lanka are engaged in efforts to arrive at a mutually agreeable mechanism to address the question of human rights violations in the country, India said it supported the “quest for justice and Sri Lankan sovereignty”.
Briefing presspersons after the bilateral meeting on Friday, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said: “We will support any mechanism that is acceptable to the Sri Lankan government.”
Sri Lanka is taking a more active part in the UNHRC negotiations, raising hopes that a mechanism could be evolved through consensus. Sri Lanka faces allegations that its military drive that ended the ethnic conflict in 2009 resulted in the death of over 40,000 civilians.
On September 24, the Sri Lankan government joined as a co-sponsor in a UNHRC resolution, which the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, said “represented a landmark shared recognition of the critical importance of truth, justice, reparations, and guarantees of non-recurrence in promoting reconciliation and ensuring an enduring peace and prosperity for all Sri Lankans”.

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