The Sri Lankan health minister laughed off a question about investigating war crimes when speaking to media in Jaffna today.
Asked for his thoughts on future war crimes investigations by Tamil journalists, Rajitha Senaratne, said “war crimes? No we don’t agree with war crimes - nobody is there.”
The minister further responded “in that case who will investigate about the LTTE war crimes” before laughing and saying “are there any leaders? We have to ask them.”
Instead of pursuing accountability, the government will focus on a settlement and devolution the minister said.
“We will go for a good settlement for equal status for all the people in this country,” he said “and enough powers to the provincial councils… to have the people of the area to look after the administration and improve the development in these areas.”
The minister also said they would “give all the rights what the Sinhalese have to the Tamils and the Muslims and Burghers.”
According to the minister, the Sri Lankan government will focus on achieving “equal rights to make a Sri Lankan identity” instead of “going through the history, what has happened and all that.”
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Click link to watch video of Rajitha Senaratna |