No softening of stand on Lanka: US

A section of the media reported a change in American stance after Kerry met Rajapaksa in New York

The US has said that there has been no softening of its stand on Sri Lanka with regard to the human rights situation in that country, as being reported in a section of the media.

The news report about such a change in American stance came after recent meeting of Secretary of State John Kerry, with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa in New York on the sidelines of the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.

"The only thing that was right was that the Secretary did speak with the Sri Lankan president on the margins of the UN General Assembly," State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki told reporters denying such reports in this regard.

"He (Kerry) did so with the express purpose of conveying that US policy with regard to Sri Lanka has not changed and it certainly has not softened," she said in response to a question.

"We would, of course, like our relationship with Sri Lanka to achieve its full potential, but that will only happen if Sri Lanka builds enduring peace and prosperity for all of its diverse ethnic and religious communities," she said.

"And that's why the Secretary, in no uncertain terms, made clear to the president that Sri Lanka needed to take meaningful steps to act like a country that is no longer at war and instead is now building a future that includes all of its citizens. So certainly it had the opposite purpose," Psaki said.