British House of Lords debate reveals SL fought “cleaner” war

By Skandha Gunasekara

The information made public by Lord Naseby in the British House of Lords revealed that the Sri Lankan armed forces fought a much cleaner war than often alleged in the international media, State Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wasantha Senanayake, told Parliament yesterday. 

Joint Opposition(JO) Parliamentary group leader MP Dinesh Gunawardana yesterday moved an adjournment motion in the House demanding to know the Government’s next move with regard to the revelations made by Lord Naseby during a debate, which took place in the British House of Lords, on Sri Lanka’s conflict.

MP Sisira Jayakody from the JO, seconding the motion, criticised the Government, charging that its leaders lacked the backbone to reject the allegations levelled against the country.  

“The mother-in-law of Navy intelligence officer Sumith Ranasinghe committed suicide while leaving a letter behind which said that her son-in-law who fought valiantly for the country had been incarcerated for more than seven months and that she committed suicide as she could not bear the injustice. That suicide indicates the injustices meted out to the war heroes who liberated the country from terrorists,” he said.

MP Gunawardena thereafter stated that Minister Harsha De Silva, while in Geneva, had made a statement against Lord Naseby’s revelations and inquired whether the Government agreed with Minister De Silva’s remarks. 

Minister Senanayake, responding for the Government, said that he thanked Lord Naseby for his invaluable work on behalf of Sri Lanka. 

“I’m not sure whether Minister De Silva made such a statement, although it is attributed to him. Without knowing what he meant I cannot comment on his position. I wish to assure the members of the House that, I, as the state minister, with the concurrence and approval of the president, commended Lord Naseby’s good work. I appreciated his valuable work to Sri Lanka and thanked Lord Naseby for his invaluable work on behalf of Sri Lanka. In my letter of thanks I said that the information made public by Lord Naseby ‘makes it clear that the Sri Lankan armed forces fought a much cleaner war than is often alleged in the international arena’. We got an opportunity which should not be missed. We all should write a letter thanking Lord Naseby for taking the initiative to help the Lankan security forces clear their names of crimes they never committed,” the Minister said. 

The motion moved by MP Gunawardena stated: “Since Lord Naseby, addressing Britain’s House of Lords, drew attention to the fact that the casualty figures for the last period of the civil conflict in Sri Lanka, which ended in May 2009, cited in the United Nations’ Darusman Report, were brought into question by the figures quoted by former UN spokesman Gordon Weiss, by former US Ambassador Blake, in the report by the UK’s Major General Holmes, and finally, by the heavily-redacted communications from the UK’s Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash released to him by the British Government; and since he further stated that “the UK must recognise that this was a war against terrorism, so the rules of engagement are based on international humanitarian law, not the European Convention on Human Rights.” 

“The West, and in particular the US and UK, must remove the threat of war crimes and foreign judges that overhangs and overshadows all Sri Lankans, especially their leaders,” it added. 

“The Sri Lankan Government should take action to pursue this matter with Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and with the UN Human Rights Commission to change their unjust positions in regard to Sri Lanka and thereby remove the threat to this country, to its defence forces and to its leaders, and that the Government should also report back to Parliament on this matter.”