Claims by MR on UNHRC baseless: Ruwan

13 February 2016 08:21 am

State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene refuted claims made by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the UNHRC resolution would make provision to arrest Sri Lankan military forces personnel and that the government was also assisting the UNHRC to achieve this.

“Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, former defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and members of the joint opposition say we are assisting the UNHRC to arrest our armed forces personnel, which is a complete lie. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein also said there won’t be such moves and Sri Lanka has the total responsibility to take action,” the State Minister told the media in Biyagama.

He said both the President and the Prime Minister have pledged to protect armed forces personnel and not to allow National Security to be compromised. “We will keep that promise. We don’t need to create issues for solders and jail them,” he said.

He said the government wanted to ensure the National Security and develop the country. The Minister said the joint opposition has no future and was creating fabrications when it can’t find any fault of the government.

Video by Pradeep Pathirana

 

Pix by Pradeep Pathirana