Sri Lanka’s government on Thursday sought to dismiss war crimes allegations as propaganda from its defeated terrorists, as it came under further pressure ahead of a Commonwealth summit.
A spokesman for Sri Lankan President Mahendra Rajapakse described the heavy focus on the issue in the lead-up to Friday’s gathering of leaders from the 54-nation Commonwealth bloc in the Australian city of Perth as “unfair”.
“This is the well-oiled propaganda machinery of the LTTE rump,” spokesman Bandula Jayasekera told the ABC news network, in reference to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its diaspora overseas.
Rajapakse also repeated at a Commonwealth business forum in Perth on Thursday his government’s insistence that it crushed a “terrorist” organisation when defeating the Tamil Tigers.
“An end to terrorist violence was absolutely essential to move the country forward along the path of economic and social development,” Rajapakse said.
The next CHOGM summit is due to be held in Colombo in 2013, and Amnesty International chief Salil Shetty criticised Commonwealth nations Thursday for allowing Sri Lanka to have hosting rights with the war crimes issue unresolved.
Western propaganda machine at work!!! Salil shetty is a idiot, a western bootlicker. Western/Indian sponsored LTTE terrorists killed thousands of civilians.. then no human right issue, if Sri Lankan army shot a dog then its a human right violation, double standards.