Opposition slams Sri Lanka govt on foreign interference

The opposition today blamed the Sri Lankan government for leaving room for the world community to interfere in the country's internal matters over alleged rights violation duirng the war against Tamil Tiger rebels.
A senior leader of the United National Party (UNP) asked Foreign Minister GL Peiris in parliament if the slow nature of implementing the recommendations of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) was the cause for global interference in Sri Lanka.
"We in the opposition do not want to see international interference in the country. Why cannot the LLRC recommendations be fully implemented?" UNP leader Sajith Premadasa asked.

He was referring to US plans to move a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council in March.
Peiris, however, said international focus on Sri Lanka had nothing to do with the LLRC. "The interference is due to reasons completely different. We have implemented 85 per cent of the LLRC's recommendations," he said.
The recommendations will be implemented in "Sri Lanka's own ways" as foreign nations have very little understanding of the matter, Peiris said.

The LLRC appointed in 2010 was meant to learn lessons from the ethnic conflict to prevent a repetition. Sri Lanka has faced criticism for going slow in implementing its recommendations.

The new resolution at the UNHRC will build on two others passed in 2012 and 2013. The previous resolutions, backed by India, sought commitments from Sri Lanka on reconciliation and rights accountability.
Sri Lanka fears that the new resolution may call for an independent international probe into the alleged war crimes during the final phase of the military battle with the LTTE in 2009.