No agreement, only joint statement - FM

UDITHA KUMARASINGHE and IRANGIKA RANGE

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama yesterday told Parliament that there was no agreement entered into between Government and UN during the recent visit of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as speculated by the Opposition.

Speaking at the debate on the extention of Emergency Regulations by one month, the Minister said it was the joint statement entered by the Government and the UN at the conclusion of the UN Secretary - General’s visit to Sri Lanka last month.

Accordingly, the Secretary-General was underlined the importance of an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law while the Government stated its intention to take measures to address those grievances within the legal framework of Sri Lanka.

The Minister further said Sri Lanka has a long and well established tradition of a robust, independent judiciary.

“Our legal system is endowed with full powers to adjudicate upon any complaints brought to its attention by aggrieved parties and dispense effective remedies,” he noted. The priority and greatest challenge that confronts the Government right now is to address the humanitarian needs of 300,000 IDPs accommodated in welfare villages and IDP centres and to expeditiously resettle them in their places of origin.

The Minister said this process of reconciliation will culminate in their political empowerment, whereby they would be able to freely elect their own political representatives, after being denied this democratic freedom for almost three decades due to LTTE terrorism.