Reiterating that Sri Lanka would conduct a domestic probe in response to the release of the UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities, Mr Wickremesinghe added that an independent judiciary under Maithripala Sirisena meant that an international judicial process would not be needed.

Speaking to the Sunday Leader, Mr Wickremesinghe said,

“I have saved Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair and ICC (International Criminal Court) since we have not signed Rome Statute. He should always be grateful to me for that. No one can take our soldiers to ICC. But wherever a soldier commits a crime and an issue pertaining to the reputation of our armed forces, it is an offence punishable both under our domestic common law system as well as the military law. Therefore we don’t need ICC or any international probe. We have firmly stood by the premise that no international probe can be initiated since we are not a signatory to the Rome Statute and so we will have our own domestic mechanism instead.”

The ITJP will release a report that expands on a previous study entitled “An Unfinished War:Torture and Sexual Violence in Sri Lank

The right to autonomy will not be granted in Sri Lanka, said a senior government minister when responding to questions regarding claims by the Tamil National Alliance that a United National Front (UNF) government would grant Tamils self-rule.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) election manifesto, released today, called for constitutional changes that accept the Tamil people's entitlement to their right to self-determination under the United Nations International Covenants on Civil political rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR).

TNA launches manifesto in Jaffna     Photograph:Tamil Guardian

Noting that any political solution should accept the Tamil people’s right to self-determination and that Sri Lanka had ratified the international treaty, the TNA election manifesto, said:

“The Tamil People are entitled to the right to self-determination in keeping with the United Nations International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, both of which Sri Lanka has accepted and acceded to.”