Robert O. Blake, Assistant Secretary, South and Central Asian Affairs has informed Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to Washington Jaliya Wickremasuriya that a report on the conduct of government forces during the war against the LTTE would be submitted to the US Congress on Monday (September 21).

Ministerial and Defence sources told The Island that this was expected as part of their strategy to pressure Sri Lanka on the human rights front. Sources pointed out that the US move preceded UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs B. Lynn Pascoe’s visit to Colombo to discuss what the UN Office in Colombo called critical issues related to the aftermath of the conflict.

According to the UN, talks would cover resettlement of internally displaced persons, political reconciliation and the establishment of a mechanism of accountability for alleged human rights violations.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa yesterday said that Sri Lanka was targeted by a section of the international community for being successful in her war against the LTTE, a group proscribed by India, US, UK and EU.

In a brief interview with The Island, the veteran soldier said that a section of the international community and their local agents had conveniently forgotten the death and destruction caused by the LTTE.

Referring to a spate of recent statements attributed to Opposition politicians, INGO/NGO activists and UN officials, he said that all this was part of a major propaganda campaign directed at the Sri Lankan government. Responding to our queries, he said that this threat was as serious as the one posed by the LTTE a year ago. A section of the media, too, had contributed to this strategy, he said urging the international community not to adopt double standards in dealing with the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan, where US-led allied forces were fighting terrorists and Sri Lanka’s war. "Our successful war should be considered as part the global campaign against terror," he said.

He emphasised the importance of investigating the LTTE international arms procurement network now that it had been militarily defeated.

Government sources told The Island that in the run up to the last presidential election, an attempt had been to move a resolution in the US Senate to undermine the then Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa’s campaign. Sources said that the ongoing campaign on diplomatic and economic fronts was to destabilise the government ahead of the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.