By Madura Ranwala
The army is ready to resume any investigation at any moment, even in the future, if any victim or any party provides guaranteed evidence to prove that its men violated international law in defeating the LTTE during the final stage of the humanitarian operation in 2009.
Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, after opening a multifunctional recreation complex in Kurunegala on Thursday, told the media, when asked about the allegations of human rights violations leveled against the army, by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, now in progress and in the wake of the second US resolution against Sri Lanka, due to come up soon, which experts say is the same as earlier.
The Commander, who studied the Court of Inquiry findings, based on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations, to conduct a fair inquiry into alleged shelling of civilians, said that even the LLRC had failed to provide concrete evidence to say that the army killed civilians by deliberately targeting them.
The Commander stressed that those finding fault with the army, regarding human rights violations during the final stage of the humanitarian operation in 2009, had failed to prove anything factually and it had been a usual occurrence when the Geneva sessions were in progress, where some sections of the international community find ways and means of harming the integrity of the motherland. But, the army would wait patiently until substantial allegations come their way to take action against those allegedly responsible despite being army personnel, he insisted.
He said that the army completed its task by finishing the court of inquiry in advance as recommended by the LLRC and that itself was a classic example of transparency in handling sensitive issues such as conducting investigations against its own men despite accusations of being hesitant to do so.
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