The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said today the government should state its stance on the United Nations Internal Review Panel report on why the UN officials had failed to prevent the heavy civilian casualty toll during the last phase of the war in Sri Lanka.

UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told a news conference that on earlier occasions the allegations were levelled only against the Government and the LTTE but this report even blames the United Nations for not doing enough to stop the loss of thousands of innocent civilian lives.

“The government opts to stay silent even when the Committee appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon points fingers at the conduct of UN officials,” he said and added that presidential envoy Mahinda Samarasinghe had told a news conference that the government did not accept this report and the Foreign Ministry Secretary had said there was no need to respond to this because it was meant only for the UN.

“Why did the government not remain silent when the Darusman report released, but instead carried out a protest and thus tarnished Sri Lanka’s image internationally.

“So the government must express its stance either by accepting the charges or rejecting them. If the government keeps silent on this report, it will only indicate that it accepts all the charges mentioned in it,” he added.(Ajith Siriwardana)