The main opposition United National Party (UNP) said today the manner in which the Government acted and reacted to the international community before and during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) had pushed the country closer to a division.
 
UNP parliamentarian Lakshman Kiriella told that it was the Government, which in its May 26, 2009 joint statement with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, gave an undertaking to hold an internal inquiry into human rights violations in keeping with international HR standards and Sri Lanka’s international obligations.

He said in the joint statement, the Government had also agreed to an accountability process for addressing violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

However, Mr. Kiriella said the Government had failed to keep this promise to date and that it was this failure which paved the way for the British Prime Minister David Cameron to call for an international inquiry on HR violations in Sri Lanka if the government failed to carry out an impartial internal investigation by March next year.

Mr. Kiriella warned that that an international investigation in March would be a first step towards a call for a division of the country if the Government failed to carry out a proper internal investigation.

He recalled that it was such investigations which led to the division of Sudan and East Timor not so long ago. (Yohan Perera and Lahiru Pothmulla)