Prof Peiris returns after successful mission:
West impressed with reconciliation efforts
* Clinton describes programme as 'excellent'
* Nuland says 'comprehensive approach'
External Affairs Minister Prof G L Peiris returned to the island after successful official visits to Washington DC, Russia and Kazakhstan where he gained the confidence of these countries on Sri Lanka's ongoing national reconciliation process and its efforts to find a lasting home-grown solution to the national issue.
External Affairs Ministry Secretary Karunatilleke Amunugama told the Daily News yesterday the Washington think tanks, Senators and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were impressed with the country's post-war reconciliation and development work in the formerly war-torn Northern Province.
After Prof Peiris outlined the mechanism adopted by the Presidential Secretariat to implement the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC). US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had called the programme "excellent."
"The sentiment was later repeated in the State Department press briefings with spokeswoman Victoria Nuland announcing that Prof Peiris presented a very serious and comprehensive approach to the LLRC's implementation," Amunugama said. Prof Peiris told the US Senate that lasting peace, stability and growth can be accomplished only through a domestic solution and at the end of the day, everyone has to have a home-grown element to it.
Foreign Ministry sources said during Peiris' tour of Russia, Russian Federation Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Sri Lanka has forged its own impartial Commission to look into war crimes allegations and that it was wrong on the part of any country to press Sri Lanka to have an international probe. Asked if there was any pressure on the government by any country to reduce troops in the North since it is a recommendation of the LLRC, Amunugama said the LLRC is an independent body, but this is a decision that a government must take.
"Sri Lanka does not go to other countries and call on those countries to remove their troops from one place to another. It is simply not done because it is an internal matter of that country," he said. "The same goes for other countries. They cannot and are not expected to touch upon such matters of a country that touches upon its national security and the protection of the public," Amunugama said.
Asked about the demands made by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) about removing troops from the North, he said: "TNA is a political party just as much as the LLRC is an independent commission. They can make such demands and make recommendations. However, it is the decision of the government how it should place its Security Forces and where. It is matter to be dealt by the state alone," he said.
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