International

Colombo clarifies on defence panel

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka clarified on Sunday that the announcement it made on Thursday on the constitution of an ‘Indo-Lanka High Level Committee on Defence’ was the result of ‘incorrect interpretation’ of information about the recent visit of an official delegation to New Delhi.

On Friday, a spokesperson of the External Affairs Minister denied knowledge about the establishment of any new Indo-Lanka committee.

A statement by the Sri Lankan President’s Secretariat, quoting diplomatic sources, made the claim on Thursday.

In a statement here, the Secretariat said the three-member delegation from Sri Lanka comprising Secretary to President Lalith Weeratunga, Defence Secretary Gothabhaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa, Senior Adviser to President, visited India for high-level discussions as part of a regular exchange.

It said their discussions covered many aspects of relations, including cooperation in combating terrorism and the search for a solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka through devolution of power.

“The PRIU (Policy Research and Information Unit) is informed that there was no decision among those who participated in these discussions to establish an Indo-Lanka High Level Committee on defence as stated in our report, which was based on an incorrect interpretation of information on this matter. The PRIU regrets this error and apologises to the members of the Sri Lanka delegation and the Indian officials they had discussions with, and to the media, in this regard,” the statement said.

In another development, Office of the LTTE Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson N. Selvy on Saturday appealed to the U.N. Human Rights Council, currently in session, to send a delegation for an on-the-spot assessment of the ground situation.

“On behalf of the Tamil people, who are oppressed by the Sri Lankan State, and the leadership of the LTTE we call upon the international and U.N. representatives who visit Colombo, to also pay a visit to the Tamil homeland and find out first hand the ground situation. We hope Ms. Louise Arbour, U.N. Human Rights Commissioner; Mr. Manfred Novak, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture; and Mr. Walter Kalin, Representative of U.N. Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced People, who are scheduled to visit Sri Lanka in October, November and December, will not sideline the Tamil areas under our administration,” the appeal said.

The military said security forces had made all arrangements to provide facilities for air travel and to relax curfew to facilitate devotees to participate in the annual Lord Murugan festival at the Sri Kandasamy Hindu Kovil, Nallur, in Jaffna.

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