“What we find very distressing about the tone and the substance of her statements is a total lack of balance and fairness,”
“She’s looked at Sri Lanka’s situation through jaundiced eyes and we found that very strongly objectionable.”
Officials reportedly highlighted the increasing involvement in Sri Lanka in global companies and said that the country was looking to build links with British businesses.
See here for the Independent’s editorial ‘Island Blues’. Extracts reproduced below:
“Colombo clearly thought it had done everything to ensure a good report card. Instead Dr Pillay lambasted the government of Mahinda Rajapaksa for large-scale abuses of democracy.”
“Sri Lanka has long been adept at observing the forms of democracy while neglecting the principles on which it rests. Too often pluralism, transparency, equal opportunity and the right to dissent have been honoured more in the breach than the observance.”
“In two months, the Commonwealth heads of government descend on Colombo for their annual summit. Canada has threatened to boycott the event because of the Sri Lankan government’s human rights record and the UK Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee has urged David Cameron not to attend for the same reason. This newspaper agrees.”