Geneva 51 session: Wimal questions legitimacy of India’s call for implementation of 13 A

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The National Freedom Front (NFF) has urged the government and the Opposition to resist a move by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to haul up the war winning Sri Lankan military before foreign judges.NFF leader and former Minister Wimal Weerawansa also raised the issue of India reiterating its demand for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, forced upon the country by Delhi in 1987 and now its full implementation at the ongoing 51 regular session of the UNHRC.

Weerawansa questioned the legitimacy in a member state exerting pressure on another to amend its Constitution. He the Indian move was not only contrary to the Vienna Convention but exceeded the mandate of the UNHRC.Strongly condemning the UNHRC move against the Sri Lankan military and India playing politics at Geneva session, MP Weerawansa said that all local stakeholders should condemn these moves in the strongest terms.

Lawmaker Weerawansa said that the government delegation at Geneva hadn’t countered the measures that had been proposed against the Sri Lankan military. Foreign Minister Ali Sabry, PC, leads the delegation. Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakse, PC, and Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative in Geneva C.A. Chandraprema are included in the delegation.

Responding to a query raised by The Island, MP Weerawansa said that Sri Lanka should have asked for an opportunity to counter accusations after having denounced the unsubstantiated allegations.Sri Lanka co-sponsored Geneva Resolution 30/1 in Oct 2015 during Maithripala Sirisena presidency.

The former minister said that successive governments hadn’t properly countered war crimes allegations though over the years authorities received information by way of studies undertaken by the government, Lord Naseby’s disclosures and WikiLeaks revelations.MP Weerawansa asked whether Geneva was only interested in Sri Lanka’s accountability.Having sponsored terrorism here, India was pursuing a strategy inimical to Sri Lanka, the former minister said.