From The Daily News
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe stressed that there is
no need to be concerned over the sovereignty of Sri Lanka, if the country
carries out a proper accountability process for war related human rights
violations.
He added that the final decision regarding the participation
of foreign judges in the accountability process will be determined by the
Supreme Court.
“Although there are no provisions in the constitution which
decides on the composition of the Supreme Court it does not preclude
commonwealth judges from participating in the process,” he said adding that
foreign judges have participated in similar cases in the past as well.
“How many people are going to participate, one or 10 or 100,
that is a matter of opinion, nothing for anyone to get excited.
If we are going to judge that by the standards of all the
human rights organisation all I can say is yes, your intention is good, but
remember that the path to hell is also paved with good intentions. So you must
allow us to do the work to ensure that we uphold our rights to have
reconciliation and accountability in Sri Lanka,” the Prime Minister said. The
Premier said there is no cause for concern over speeches made in the recent
past.
Defending the stance taken by President Maithripala Sirisena
to the BBC Sinhala Service, Wickremesinghe said the President only commented on
the mechanism.
“The President was asked some blunt questions and all he
said was that we are not giving up our jurisdiction. And in his view he felt
there was no need for that many foreign judges to participate, but as he said
if you feel there should be more then we can decide.”
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