Chair of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security retired Vice Admiral Sarath Weerasekera has said an external mechanism is in place to prepare the ground for a war crimes probe against the Sri Lankan military and those who provided political leadership for the country’s war on terror.

Addressing the last SOC held in the Parliamentary complex, Weerasekera said that a recent report by the external mechanism established in Geneva to collect evidence against military personnel and political leaders falsely accused of war crimes in Sri Lanka stating that there was a significant amount of evidence against them.

Weerasekara has stated that an external mechanism has been established in Geneva to collect evidence related to war crimes against those heroes and political leaders who brought about the most unlikely victory against the LTTE terrorists.

In a report recently published by the said mechanism, it has been stated that they have a significant amount of evidence against the military leaders of this country, he said.

It was further emphasized that several countries are currently working together to file cases in their jurisdictions and international courts under the universal jurisdiction against the military leaders of Sri Lanka who have been found to have committed war crimes. Although this external mechanism has been rejected by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka, they are continuously collecting evidence against the military leaders of Sri Lanka and the dangerous situation here is that the military officers of Sri Lanka can be arrested in any country of the world and prosecuted in the International Court of Justice, Weerasekera pointed out.

It was also discussed that this external mechanism has the ability to describe the war in this country as a war against the Tamils and not against the LTTE. It was emphasized that this activity is a threat to the self-esteem of the Sri Lankan war heroes, as well as the national security, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should immediately take measures to stop the accusations of war crimes by other countries of the world against the Sri Lankan military personnel and the prosecution of cases in the International Military Tribunals. Here, the Committee asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the strategies they have to reject the external mechanism brought by the Geneva Human Rights Organizations and their readiness to take action against them if they are prosecuted in the International Military Tribunal.

Commenting on this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the Ministry has taken steps to inform the countries that are acting impartially in this regard by expressing a strong protest against the reports of the Geneva Human Rights Commission.

Attorney-at-Law Darshana Weerasekera, who was called before the Committee to express further comments in this regard, stated that Sri Lanka should have a strong domestic mechanism that can break the external mechanism with evidence. He also said that for this purpose, a strong local data file should be prepared by incorporating the facts of the LLRC report and the Paranagama report.

Chair of the Committee Weerasekera stated that the proposed Commission for Truth, Unity and Reconciliation will further support the external forces that are against this country.

The Anti-Terrorism Bill was also considered in the Committee and the Committee approved all the amendments made by the Attorney General’s Department, as indicated by the Supreme Court.

In addition, it was discussed in the Committee that the term ‘terrorism’ has not been defined to suit this country, and since the terrorist is born as a result of much training, there is no method to catch the terrorist during  training, Parliament sources said.