The leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), Rauf Hakeem, has spoken out against any international accountability mechanism for mass atrocities and instead advocated for a wholly domestic Sri Lankan process.
The call for an international mechanism has been a key demand from Tamil survivors, including civil society organisations, political parties and families of the disappeared. Despite 13 years since the massacres of 2009, in which tens of thousands of Tamils were slaughtered by Sri Lankan forces, no one has been held accountable for the killings. Instead, Sri Lanka has pushed back against any form of war crimes tribunals.
Speaking to The Morning, Hakeen claimed that any international involvement “would allow the influence of radical elements”.
“They will come and try to spoil the whole process,” he claimed, without naming precisely the elements in question.
‘There are no honest brokers in this whole problem; everybody comes with an agenda. For practical purposes, there can be some people assisting the process, but there cannot be mediators. They can be facilitating parties, but they must strictly limit themselves. They must not come and attempt to pass judgement. The whole idea of a truth-seeking mechanism is mostly voluntary. When it is voluntary, nothing can be imposed on anybody.”
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In the past, Hakeem and the SLMC have allied themselves with both the UNP and SLFP, having held the post of Minister of Posts and Telecommunication in 2007 under Mahinda Rajapaksa.
