Colombo, Mar 26: Sri Lanka today made it clear that it will not abide by the UNHRC resolution that censured it over its human rights record and said it would only implement “feasible” recommendations of its own panel that probed the three-decade-long bloody civil war.
“We had taken a decision not to abide by the resolution irrespective of the result”, External Affairs Minister G L Peiris told reporters.
We would treat it as an interference in the sovereignty of the country, he said.
He said the countries that voted for Sri Lanka and abstained at voting had valued the country's principled stand. Peiris said the resolution would not cause economic sanctions on Sri Lanka. “This is no Security Council (UN) decision”.
Answering a question, Peiris said that Sri Lanka felt that no reply is needed to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's recent letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Singh had explained the Indian stance in voting against Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, Irrigation Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva the government was not ready to implement all the recommendations as suggested by US-led anti-Sri Lankan lobby at the UNHRC sessions in Geneva recently.
“We would implement only what we accept and consider feasible,” the Island quoted Silva as saying. He said the government was not bound to reply to India or any other nation in this regard.
He said the government has decided to continue the process of implementing the recommendations made by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) without the participation of the opposition or holding a referendum on it.
The LLRC report had dismissed allegations that Sri Lankan troops deliberately targeted civilians during the last phase of the civil war with the LTTE which ended in 2009.
It also recommended that complaints of isolated, civilian killings by troops be probed. It also said the vanquished LTTE committed serious human rights violations.
The government had promised that it would implement the recommendation of the LLRC.
In the 47-member UN Human Rights Council last week, 24 countries, including India, voted for the US-sponsored resolution and 15 against it, while eight nations abstained.
The resolution called for expeditious implementation of Sri Lanka's own reconciliation commission recommendations.
