JO to move adjournment on House of Lords debate

By Skandha Gunasekara

The Joint Opposition is listed to move an adjournment debate in Parliament today regarding the debate which took place in the British House of Lords over alleged war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the final stages of the civil war. 

The motion, to be moved by Joint Opposition parliamentary group leader Dinesh Gunawardena, had stated that the Sri Lankan Government should deliberate over the issues raised in the House of Lords by Lord Naseby. 

The motion states:“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’ and that ‘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’, the Government of Sri Lanka 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 defense forces, and to its leaders, and that the Government should also report back to Parliament on this matter.”

The motion has already been handed over to the Speaker’s Office while copies of the motion have been sent to the Secretary General of Parliament.