The Sri Lankan government has reiterated their rejection of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay’s March 2014 deadline for the government to credibly investigate and prosecute those guilty of human rights abuses.

Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilaka Amunugama however stated,

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Kurshid met at the UN in New York and discussed developments in several countries in India’s periphery, including Sri Lanka and Burma.

Ban Ki-moon is reported to have stressed India’s regional role and the importance of dialogue, inclusiveness and reconciliation, reported the Colombo Gazette.

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The Sri Lankan Army has announced that it will send a high-profile team to Haiti to investigate allegations of rape committed by a Sri Lankan peacekeeping soldier.

Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister J Jayalalitha has urged India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take firm action against Sri Lanka and force it to stop attacks on Tamil fishermen.

"The government of India has virtually abandoned its poor and defenceless fishermen to face an uncertain future caused by the risk of daily attacks and abduction at the hands of the Sri Lankan Navy,” she said in a letter to Singh.

Commenting on the recent judgment that outlined that land powers would remain with the central government the leader of the TNA reiterated that land powers, which were meant to be with the provinces under the 13 amendment,  had been a key cause for ethnic conflict.

Interview with Al Jazeera - "this is all propaganda"



Asked about Navi Pillay's criticisms of Sri Lanka following her visit, Rajapaksa said:

"This is what I can't understand. For last five years we've had about 19 elections. Provincial council election, then the parliamentary election. Every four years - my term is 6 years - but last year I went for election at 4 years. And it is up to the people to decide on governments."

Apparently perplexed by Navi Pillay's assertion that critical voices are often attacked or permanantly silenced, Rajapaksa said:

"No I reject all that. I mean this is what I can't understand when a person come here. We have an opposition. You must remember in a democratic country - it's not like, a dictatorial country, where a dictator is there - so there are other views. So the opposition is always trying to defeat the government, whether it is with the international community, or inside the country."

Asked about the harassment and intimidation of people who spoke to Navi Pillay during her visit, Rajapaksa said:

"No. I asked, she never told us this. Otherwise I would have enquired into it. She never mentioned that to me, 'til she came out in public. When she met me she could have told me. If that happened, I don't know why she said this, because we will never do that. We would have stopped her coming, but we allowed her to go anywhere, allowed her to meet anybody she wants."

Commenting on the TNA's victory at the Northern Provincial Council election, he said:

"We knew, it will happen, I knew, I told this... I told even the TNA leader that we are going to give you the election. You will win. We know our results, but we want to have it. we want you to take on the responsibility. Anybody can criticise, let them deliver now."

Election monitors in Sri Lanka say that incidents of violence following the end of the provincial council elections have risen.

The Campaign for a Free and Fair Election (CaFFE) outlined in their statement that the “ frequency and gravity” of post-election violence had increased in the last few days.

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Amnesty International, called on the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG), to break their silence on Sri Lanka’s human rights record today.

The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, made up of foreign ministers and headed by Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma, is gathered to address violations of the Commonwealth’s fundamental values, including human rights, in New York today.

Slamming the Commonwealth’s endorsement of Sri Lanka and holding of the Commonwealth heads of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, Amnesty International’s deputy Asia-Pacific Director, Polly Truscott, said,