India's Finance Minister has called for Sri Lanka to be 'held accountable' for human rights violations committed during the armed conflict, as he addressed the 2013 South Asian Diaspora Convention on Thursday.
Addressing over 1,000 delegates, Finance Minister P Chidambaram stated,
"I think the Sri Lankan government owes a responsibility and a duty to its own people and the people all over the world to investigate the allegations of human rights violations and punish those who are responsible."
"That's an aspiration or a desire that recognises no national boundaries. It is a human rights issue."
He went on to add that the Sri Lankan government,
“is indeed accountable, they must be held accountable, and they must bring to book those perpetrators to justice".
However, he also called for investment into the country, adding,
“Having said that, it does not mean that Sri Lanka should not grow economically, or that investors should not invest in Sri Lanka. Nobody invests for charity. They invest because they think it is profitable opportunity.”
"I don't think that Sri Lanka's present failure to yet account for what happened at the end of civil war should prevent investment from going into Sri Lanka".
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