Lanka govt will 'protect' soldiers in rights probe: Sirisena

The Sri Lankan government will "protect" its soldiers in the investigations into the alleged human rights violations during the civil war with the Tamil Tigers, President Maithripala Sirisena vowed today.

"We will face it while protecting the integrity of the nation and the security forces," Sirisena said.

In an apparent criticism of his predecessor Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sirisena said Sri Lanka has been subjected to the UN rights inquiry due to the country's inability to fulfil the "required work" in the post-2009 period when the civil war with the LTTE ended in victory for the government troops.

Addressing a programme on Sri Lanka's 68th Independence Day here, he said it was important to face the human rights inquiry with patience and foresight and added that opponents must not try to make a political capital out of it.

His statement comes amid an uncertainity over the involvement of foreign judges into the probe of alleged atrocities committed during the war with the LTTE.

A UN Human Rights Council resolution adopted in October last year and co-sponsored by Sri Lanka has prescribed an investigating mechanism involving international judges, prosecutors and investigators.

But the Sri Lankan President in a recent interview has ruled out the participation of foreign judges in the inquiry.

The statement also comes ahead of the visit of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad Al Hussein to Sri Lanka on Saturday.

Hussein advocated an international hybrid court while Sri Lanka has opted for a domestic mechanism with international experts assisting the investigation into the alleged abuses.

The unity government of Sirisena and Wickremesinghe faces domestic pressure from Sinhala majority nationalists to not allow foreign judges to try army soldiers.

Nationalists view the military as war heroes for ending the separatist campaign of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 during which nearly 100,000 people were killed.