In an email interview with the Sunday Observer, Sri Lanka's Special Envoy to Geneva on Human Rights, Mahinda Samarasinghe asserted that the UNHRC and the resolution seemed "to be pursuing other agendas [not human rights] bordering on the political," and went on to forewarn that "we will expose time and again and resist with all our efforts".

Reiterating the efforts made by Sri Lanka to present itself in a positive light, Samarasinghe said, "remnants of the defeated LTTE remain and wield influence in many countries".

He added,

"They are highly motivated, well-funded and are working against any success in reconciliation in Sri Lanka. They do exercise some influence in countries in which they have taken up domicile. They influence the domestic agenda in these countries."

Extracts of the interview are reproduced below. See here for full transcript on the Sri Lankan military's website.

QUESTION: What impact will the Resolution have on Sri Lanka in general, and the country's long-term development plan and the reconciliation process in particular? Will there be any sanctions involved?

SAMARASINGHE: I do not see any major impact as long as we have our plans on track. You spoke of the progress since 2009 and also raised the issues of reconciliation and development. This is what our Government is committed to doing. We have not remained in one place since the end of the battle against terrorism in 2009.

Since then, we have done tremendously well in terms of resettlement, demining, promoting livelihoods in affected areas, ensuring economic development, rehabilitation and reintegration of ex-combatants and in the restoration of social, physical and economic infrastructure.

The Resolution has, at its heart, an agenda other than that of promotion of humanitarian issues or human rights. It seems to be pursuing other agendas bordering on the political. This we will expose time and again and resist with all our efforts.

After all, what we are doing is for the benefit of all our people. We must project this positively to the outside world and ensure that the international community is enabled to take an objective and impartial view of our situation as it evolves.

QUESTION: Why didn't we get the support of the entire Asian bloc? Is it correct to say the strong presence of the LTTE in the African region had an impact on their vote? Are you concerned about this development?

SAMARASINGHE: I adverted earlier to the extreme pressure brought on countries to vote in favour of the Resolution. We opposed it on principled grounds which I set out in my statement to the Council on Thursday (March 21).

There are internal and external dynamics in every region which must be analysed and appropriate remedial measures taken.

I took the opportunity, along with our Ambassador Aryasinha in Geneva, to meet as many delegations as we could and brief them on the reality in Sri Lanka and to inform them as to why the Resolution was unnecessary, unwarranted and ill-conceived.

The remnants of the defeated LTTE remain and wield influence in many countries. They are highly motivated, well-funded and are working against any success in reconciliation in Sri Lanka. They do exercise some influence in countries in which they have taken up domicile. They influence the domestic agenda in these countries.

We have done much to lay out the facts pertaining to the conflict before our friends in the international community. We must, nevertheless, do more to safeguard the image of the country.

Human Rights Watch blamed Australia and India for the final watering down of the UNHRC resolution, thus easing the pressure on the Sri Lankan government, by putting domestic political concerns ahead of human rights, The Weekend Australian reported.

Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth said the original UN resolution had been watered down at the insistence of India, which had been seeking a consensus resolution that would garner Sri Lanka's co-operation. (Sri Lanka anyway rejected outright the weakened resolution.)

Roth added Australia's "belated" support for the weakened resolution - which he attributed to fear that overt criticism would prompt a fresh flood of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers - meant an opportunity was lost to persuade regional fence-sitters to support the vote.

He told The Weekend Australian:

"We know Australia fears any criticism of Sri Lanka that could turn the spigot on boatpeople, but we would hope Australia would press for an end to this impunity for mass murder.

"Frankly, Australia should not allow itself to be blackmailed by Colombo in this way.

"In the end the Australian government did the right thing by supporting the resolution, but it would have been more helpful if that support had been articulated earlier. It might have helped us to more easily overcome some of the reluctance elsewhere in the region."

Human Rights Watch yesterday said:

"[Sri Lanka's] campaign of rampant denial, distortion and intimidation should be sufficient evidence that the Sri Lankan government will never hold its forces accountable and that an independent, international investigation is needed.

"Rather than take the Council's concerns seriously, the Council has failed victims again this year."

A heated exchange took place between visiting Canadian Senator Hugh Segal and External Affairs Minister Prof. G.L Peiris over Sri Lanka’s impeachment of the Chief Justice, the Daily Mirror reported.

Segal was being hosted by Peiris in delivering a guest at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, when in response to a journalist question, he criticised the impeachment.

Pointing to how the Canadian Federal Court and the Supreme Court had given many rulings against the Canadian Government, Segal said: “We [the government] have suffered as a matter from our courts but we didn’t impeach the Chief Justice as a result.”

In his closing remarks Peiris lashed out at Mr. Segal, saying:

“I take exception to this remark which was the only unwarranted and inappropriate remark made. Had I not been your host I would have reacted more sharply. I would not have dreamt of making such a remark if I were visiting your country. I am appalled and taken aback by it because there is no nexus in this.”

Minister Peiris’ stance on the impeachment is especially interesting as he is a Professor of constitutional law.

Photograph Tamilwin

Speaking at a press conference in Jaffna on Friday, the leader of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam expressed "grave disappointment" on the UNHRC resolution 22/1, and asserted that the call for a "local investigatory process has to be outright rejected". 

Commenting on the resolution, he went on to say that the TNPF wished to "unreservedly distance" itself from it, citing three reasons: the call to use local mechanisms in order to carry out investigations, the resolution's emphasis on the LLRC, and the inclusion of the government's pledge to hold Northern provincial council elections.

See here for audio clip on TamilNet. Transcribed verbatim below:

"Our party wishes to express our grave disappointment with regards to the resolution that has been passed. And we wish to unreservedly distance ourselves from that.. that resolution. And we say so for three reasons.

Rejecting the UNHRC Resolution 22/1, Mahinda Rajapaksa said,

"This attack would not surprise us at all. These attacks would not subdue us either, nor would they defeat or intimidate us in any way,"

Speaking from military headquarters in Kurunegala, Rajapaksa claimed that he was expecting such attacks from the 'pro-LTTE diaspora' and the 'anti-Sri Lankan elements', and dismissed any allegations as "false accusations with ulterior motives".

Referring to the Norwegian led ceasefire, he added:

"A section of this country before 2009 was identified as an Eelam (Tamil separate state) region. The ceasefire agreement had even acknowledged some recognition to that effect."

"How would it be the situation today unless we managed to annul the international community-engineered ceasefire?"

Defending bilateral ties between India and Sri Lanka, the High Commissioner of Sri Lank to India, Prasad Kariyawasam, said told The Week that the resolution was brought about by "LTTE lobbies from the west".

He added:

“There is no dispute between India and Sri Lanka. Our bilateral ties are not at all affected,”

“The resolution of the United Nations Human Rights Council was uncalled for as it does not take into account all the progress that Sri Lanka has made since the end of the war,” 

“This is becoming an annual ritual to humiliate Sri Lanka and play great games around Lanka and the Indian Ocean,”

“……India’s political leaders, especially from Tamil Nadu, have not visited Sri Lanka in the last four years despite repeated invitation from us. That is why we say they are misinformed,”

“I request India not to open the floodgates of external intervention as it might engulf not just Sri Lanka but the entire South Asia.”

A spokesperson for the Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma has said that Sri Lanka will not be on the agenda at the forthcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group.

Several countries have tried to include Sri Lanka on the agenda, especially due to November’s controversial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, hosted by Colombo.

However, spokesperson Richard Uku told Sri Lanka’s Sunday Leader that Sri Lanka will not feature in discussions next month.

“I can confirm to you that Sri Lanka is not on the agenda for the next scheduled meeting of CMAG on 26 April. A discussion of CHOGM is not on the agenda for the 26 April CMAG meeting either. It was the Commonwealth Heads of Government that made the decision to hold the 2013 meetings in Sri Lanka. Such decisions are made at the Commonwealth Heads of Government level and not by CMAG.

“It is important to understand that the CMAG route is not the first option of action in such circumstances. It is one that is resorted to only when intervention efforts through the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s good offices have been exhausted,

“Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) Report is a pivotal national plan for moving forward, to achieve a multi-ethnic nation at peace with itself. We have urged the report’s expeditious implementation, which the Commonwealth remains committed to supporting,” he said.

After demands by Tamil Nadu students that the IPL bars cricket players from Sri Lanka, reports have emerged that teams of the Indian Premier League have told the Indian cricket board to drop Chennai as a venue for matches.

However, The Hindu reported that the matches may go ahead in Chennai without the Sri Lankan players taking part.

The Chennai Super Kings, former winners of the league, has two Sri Lankan players under contract and Sunrisers Hyderabad, owned by the grand-nephew of DMK head M Karunanidhi, also employs two players from Sri Lanka, including Kumar Sangakkara.

Students had already pledged that IPL matches will be targeted by protests if Sri Lankan players take part in matches.

Commenting on the UNHRC's resolution on Sri Lanka, the US Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) said that “strong international action on Sri Lanka is well overdue”.

USTPAC spokesperson, Dhamy Rajendra said:

“In the nearly four years since the brutal end of the armed conflict, in which estimates cite over 146,000 Tamil civilians killed, the Sri Lankan government has failed to initiate a single credible investigation or prosecution. Given Sri Lanka’s institutionalized and well-entrenched impunity, it is deeply disappointing that Sri Lanka has been given one more year of ‘space and time’ to investigate itself.”

See here for full statement.

A piece in The Economist examines the military’s role in Sri Lanka.

See extracts below, for full article click here.

JOSEPH STALIN is unhappy. The boss of a Sri Lankan teachers’ union claims that the country’s schools are losing their independence. Last month, unions say, nearly 4,000 headteachers were invited to interviews at the National Cadet Corps. Successful applicants will get 45 days of training, and then full military titles. The idea, supposedly, is to improve discipline in schools.

The army’s grip is spreading across Sri Lankan society. Activists talk of a general effort to promote military culture among the young, especially among the ethnic Sinhalese majority.

Elsewhere soldiers fix roads and bridges, put up and renovate houses, remodel cities and even grow and sell vegetables. The army has a brand of hotels, Laya. Not to be outdone, in September the navy launched its own resort called Sober Island (rum, or at least alcohol, served). The navy has also taken to dredging canals and running boat services. Meanwhile, the air force offers helicopter tours and even a beauty salon, “Airforce Clippers”, in Colombo, handy for bridal dressing, sari draping and possibly a crew-cut.

Behind all this is the defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who also holds the portfolio of urban development. This month his elder brother, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, officially opened a two-storey banqueting hall on the edge of a lagoon, built by the air force.

Sceptics say all this kind of stuff should be curbed. In the north and east, where the Tamil minority bore the brunt of war, the presence of military men breeds worry. No good reason exists for them to breed crocodiles, run school seminars, conduct whale-watching tours, or operate nurseries.

Yet activists fear that a chief reason for spreading military influence is indoctrination. “Leadership training” for university entrants is now run by the army inside military camps, for example. The other Stalin would have applauded.

A Sri Lankan organisation has said they will attack Indian Tamils who visit Sri Lanka as revenge for attacks on Singhalese in Tamil Nadu.

Leader of the Ravana Balaya, Saddhatissa Thera, said the Indian government was scared of political parties in Tamil Nadu and said unless the safety of Sri Lankans in Tamil Nadu is assured by the Indian High Commission in Colombo, it will “have to think of a system to protect people who visit Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu”.

“It’s enough that we have waited like cowards,” he said.

“If we don’t get any relief, we will be forced to harass businessmen who come to Sri Lanka from Tamil Nadu.

“We will have to suspend films imported from Tamil Nadu. We will definitely implement our programmes…Don’t make us angry.

“Keep this in mind. If you assault our Sri Lankans who visit India, the day is not long that (Tamil Nadu people in Sri Lanka) will be assaulted.”

Tamil groups across the world held protests, hunger strikes and awareness events in solidarity with the demonstrating students in Tamil Nadu earlier this week.

Hundreds of primary school students in Idinthakarai and Kanchipurum marched through the streets of Tamil Nadu wearing masks of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran, who was executed by Sri Lankan Army soldiers.

 Students in York University Canada held a token 24 hour strike, along with students in Australia and Norway.

York University Canada

Protests were also held in London, Toronto, Denmark and France.

Also see statements released by the Global Tamil Youth League here and TYO Canada here.

The UNHRC resolution passed Thursday highlights past and ongoing human rights violations in Sri Lanka, but regrettably fails to establish an independent and international investigation into alleged crimes under international law, Amnesty International said.

Human Rights Watch similarly criticised the UNHRC resolution, saying:

"While the continued inclusion of Sri Lanka on the Council's agenda is an important step, the Council failed to call for an independent, international investigation into war crimes and other serious human rights abuses committed by the LTTE and government forces during the last phase of the war.

"The Council has failed victims again this year, but Human Rights Watch believes that the Council will ultimately reach that same conclusion."

 Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International’s Sri Lanka expert, said:

“This [resolution] is a positive development. UN Member States have sent a clear signal to the Sri Lankan government that crimes of the past cannot simply be ignored, but need to be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.

“The text also crucially highlights the still very worrying human rights situation in Sri Lanka today, and calls for regular UN reporting on the implementation of the resolution, including of ongoing human rights violations.

“However, it is regrettable that the resolution fails to establish an independent and international investigation into the armed conflict, and alleged crimes under international law by both the government and the Tamil Tigers.

“It is clear that the Sri Lankan government is unwilling and unable to investigate these events itself, so an international probe is the only way to obtain the truth and justice necessary for genuine reconciliation.

“Since the conflict ended, we have seen the government crack down on dissenting views in a bid to increase its grip on power. Human rights defenders, journalists and the judiciary are among those that have been targeted through threats, harassment or even violent attacks – this has to stop."