'IIGEP move a part of a conspiracy'

The Attorney General yesterday criticised an international advisory panel, saying its resignation from a human rights inquiry appeared part of a conspiracy to force the country to accept UN monitors.

Attorney General C.R. de Silva said the 11 members of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) attended less than 10 per cent of the human rights commission's meetings - sending their assistants instead - and did not have enough firsthand knowledge to criticise it.

He also accused the group of timing its highly critical reports on the commission process to coincide with meetings of the U.N. Human Rights Council and other sensitive events. "It's a strange coincidence. Why was this done ? It leaves room for a lot of inferences," de Silva told reporters.

When asked if the experts were part of a conspiracy against the Government, he said, "That is the only inference that any reasonable man can draw."

With their criticisms, the experts tried to paint Sri Lanka as a nation with crumbling institutions that required international monitoring, de Silva said. The Government has rejected such a mission as an infringement of its sovereignty.

The commission of inquiry was formed in 2006 to investigate 16 cases of human rights abuses, including the killing of 17 local workers for the international aid group Action Against Hunger during fighting in eastern Sri Lanka.

The commission has not resolved any of the cases, and the international panel - appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to advise the commission - complained about the slow pace of the probe.

It said the commission was underfunded and was not getting the cooperation of the government.

Several outgoing panel members said they did not believe the commission was doomed to failure.

They hoped the government would adopt their suggestions and the inquiry would be able to identify the perpetrators of the crimes, they said. AP