Government sources said
that Sri Lanka’s Permanent representative to the UN Office in Geneva had
been directed to withdraw Human Rights Secretary Professor Rajiva
Wijesinhe’s response to a letter sent by Phillip Alston, UN Special
Rapporteur on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions asking for
an explanation regarding a statement attributed to Opposition
presidential election candidate General (Rtd) Sarath Fonseka.
Fonseka alleged that Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa ordered
the then Brigadier Shavendra Silva not to take prisoners of war during
the last stages of the Eelam war IV.
Authoritative foreign ministry sources told The Island that the
government would respond to the UN on the allegations though the Human
Rights Secretary in his earlier response asserted that there was no need
for such a response as Fonseka had retracted his statement.
The request for explanations follows the recent statement made by Gen
(Rtd) Sarath Fonseka, alleging that such killings had taken place, in an
interview with The Sunday Leader of Dec. 13, 2009.
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