The Sri Lanka government has come under renewed pressure for an open inquiry into continuing disappearances since the end of its long-running civil war in 2009. The government has dismissed, as interference in the country’s affairs, recent documentary films and human rights reports, as well as a US resolution before the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) urging new government investigations.
In support of the UNHRC resolution, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, said that “accountability and reconciliation” would be in Sri Lanka’s best interests if it is to avoid new violence. He commented that, while new roads and infrastructure had been built in the north since the end of the war, many Tamils felt they remained under “military occupation.”
An Amnesty International report issued on 14 March claimed that dozens of people had been abducted and tortured by the security forces since 2009, and that hundreds were being held in illegal detention.
The head of Sri Lanka’s army, Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya, said that a documentary film was being made to give the government’s side of the story. It would shed light on the final battle with the Tamil Tigers in 2009, he said, and would include testimony from frontline troops.
