Army reiterates stance over Dr. D. Nesiah

COLOMBO: Gomin Dayasri, Counsel for the Army Commander at the proceedings of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights, has written to President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the matter of Dr D. Nesiah functioning as a Commissioner while remaining a member of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a "party" to the Commission.

Dayasri said this was tantamount to a conflict of interest and hence Dr. Nesiah should not sit as a Commissioner in proceedings where the CPA was involved a party.

"We consider any delay as fatal to the purity of the proceedings of the Commission.

Dr Nesiah continues to sit and influence others by his presence, the process is suspect and can make a reasonable man look at the Commission as being tilted in favour of the CPA.

Not only must justice be done it must appear to so. The subject matter of the Commission is Human Rights in terms of the Mandate; and the attitude of the CPA on human rights is well known," Dayasri wrote.

He said the objection is against Dr. Nesiah from continuing to function as a Commissioner into the inquiry of the death of 17 aid workers in Muttur, from the time that the CPA was made a party to the Commission under section 16 of the Commission of Inquiry Act.

"There was no objection to Dr. Nesiah prior to CPA acquiring a status under section 16 of the said Act. The position of the Sri Lanka Army is that Dr. Nesiah cannot sit, hear, report, reach a finding and make recommendations at an inquiry where CPA is a party as Dr. N is a member of the CPA and/or is an office bearer of CPA and/or has represented and continues to represent CPA," he noted.

It must be emphasized that the application for the present is that Dr. Nesiah must not hear this case; and not that he should be removed as a Commissioner from other inquiries where CPA is not a party.

This is not an application for the removal of Dr. Nesiah as a Commissioner but that he should abstain from hearing this case as he is associated with and represents a party to the inquiry namely the CPA, on which material has been placed on record, he added.