India omitted any reference to a contentious United Nations (UN)-mandated experts’ panel in the joint press statement issued towards the end of Sri Lankan foreign minister G.L. Peiris’ visit to New Delhi, which should be seen as in keeping with its policy lately of treating Colombo with kid gloves.
The statement merely cited external affairs minister S.M. Krishna as saying, cryptically, about investigations into allegations of human rights violations, but in response to a mention by Mr Peiris of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa had appointed the commission to look into the last months of the civil war.
The advisory report of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s three-member panel of experts on accountability with respect to final stages of the Lankan conflict has accused Colombo of war crimes. The report was submitted to Mr Ban on April 12, and it was made public on April 25 in New York.
Since the report was released, New Delhi has maintained that the issues raised in it needed to be studied carefully. However, Mr Peiris removed any doubt about where India stood on the issue when he said in a media interaction that New Delhi had shown “empathy” and “understanding”, and there existed a “reservoir of goodwill” toward Colombo.
“There is no single path to the summit of mountain,” Mr Peiris further sought to tell a section of the international community, alluding to Colombo’s stand that the LLRC enjoyed the “blessings of the world”, and it should not be dismissed, at least not before it had concluded its work, in favour of the UN’s advisory report.
Mr Peiris’ visit came ahead of the second anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war on 19 May 2009.