A key ally of the Sri Lankan government has criticised recommendations of a civil society panel appointed by the prime minister which endorsed the UNHRC's call for including international judges to probe war crimes allegations against the Lankan troops and the LTTE.
"The report does not make any reference to the plight of the Sinhala majority and the issues faced by the Muslim minority," said Champika Ranawaka, Heritage Party or the JHU's senior leader and the Minister of City Development.
He asserted that the report, released last week, had only dealt with the issues faced by the Tamils.
The report has been released by Consultation Task Force on Reconciliation Mechanisms, a civil society group appointed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last year to seek public views and comments on the proposed mechanisms for transitional justice and reconciliation in terms of the UN Human Rights Council resolution on Sri Lanka in October, 2015.
The task force report recommends the setting up of a special court and office of special counsel, the court shall ensure that there will be a majority of national judges and at least one international judge on every bench.
The government opposes a mechanism with international judges and maintains that the Sri Lankan judiciary system had the capacity to try those responsible for war crimes.
The UNHRC resolution had accused both the army troops and the Tamil Tigers for warcrimes during the final battles.
The Lankan troops in 2009 defeated the LTTE which was fighting for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils.
According to a 2011 report by the UN, about 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final weeks of the civil war.
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