Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said he had seen the pictures and the report on the alleged coldblooded killing of LTTE chief V. Prabakaran’s minor son by the Sri Lankan Army but could not vouch for their authenticity.

Mr. Khurshid was asked about the government’s response to the op-ed in The Hindu’s Tuesday edition based on a British documentary featuring the pictures of the killing of Prabakaran’s 12-year-old son, Balachandran. Sri Lanka has dismissed the report as “lies, half-truths and numerous forms of speculation” and suggested such reports make a comeback around this time of the year when Sri Lanka’s human rights situation comes up for appraisal before a United Nation’s committee.

The External Affairs Minister said Sri Lanka was an important neighbour and friend with which India has been intensifying ties in all fields. At the same time India has voiced concern over the human rights situation and voted against Sri Lanka last March at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

Of the three pictures, two show Prabakaran’s son sitting in a sandbagged bunker. The third, said to be taken by the same camera, show him lying dead with five bullet wounds in his upper torso.

The makers of the Channel 4 documentary titled “No War Zone — the killing fields of Sri Lanka,” have promised to air it at the next session of the UNHRC in March. (The Hindu)