Sri Lanka ready to face challenge on war probe

The Sri Lankan government Friday said it is ready to face the challenge of addressing the country's human rights concerns within the next six months.

Sri Lanka, earlier this week, won a six-month extension on the submission of a report on alleged war crimes to the UN Human Rights Council, after the council chief praised the government's willingness to open the country up to scrutiny.

The report which was to be submitted to the council in March by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein has now been put off for September.

Deputy Foreign Minister Ajith Perera said that the UN Human Rights Council agreed to delay the report after the government had assured a credible domestic probe into incidents related to the country's civil war that extended from 1983 to 2009, Xinhua news agency reported.

The minister said that the council's decision to grant an extension was the biggest diplomatic victory achieved by the new government and assured that Sri Lanka would do everything possible to conduct a thorough probe into the final stages of the war.