IIGEP has overstepped bounds in going to the media - Govt. Defence Spokesman

Rafik Jalaldeen

COLOMBO: Government Defence Affairs Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday slammed the International Independence Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) for making comments to the media on the investigative process of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into alleged Human Rights Violations, without prior approval of the Commission.

Addressing the media at the Weekly Defence Affairs news briefing at the MCNS, Minister Rambukwella referring to accounts in the media on the arrival of Chairman of the IIGEP P. N. Bhagwathi to conclude the process said President Mahinda Rajapaksa had appointed the IIGEP comprising local and international personalities as observers to the Commission of Inquiry to investigate 16 issues related to killings and abductions.

Minister Rambukwella said: "The IIGEP has a mandate and procedure to act and carry out its responsibilities.

"The IIGEP came at the invitation of the President to oversee the work of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry. They were to function as a fact finding body along with the Government and other parties and submit a comprehensive report to the President on the inquiry of the Commission whether investigations were carried out in accordance with International norms and standards."

He emphasised that in accordance with the mandate, the IIGEP had no right to make comments to the media on the investigation process without the approval of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry.

"The Attorney General's Department is advising the Government and if any Government official acts in contravention of the country's law, the Attorney General can take legal action and prosecute such a person.

Since the IIGEP was appointed by the President, the Attorney General has the power to prosecute anyone breaching the law. This is well within the legal system of Sri Lanka," he remarked.

Referring to a statement made by Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kalaham (MDMK) Y. Kobalaswamy at a conference currently being held in Oslo on the Ethnic Conflict, LTTE sympathiser Vaiko had categorically said Muslims will not be allowed to resettle in Jaffna.

Minister Rambukwella said that the LTTE banished thousands of Muslims within 48 hours of warning in 1990 and most of them are still residing at the IDP centres. The LTTE is showing its true face at international conferences, the minister said.

"The Government's intention is to liberate the Northern peninsula and resettle all communities without any ethnic divisions. The LTTE's great sympathiser Vaiko had showed the Tigers true face at an international conference," he added.