“Insulting” to call for international probe - Chandrika

Former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge has said the whole country does not want an international probe into the alleged war crimes committed during the 26-year long war with the Tamil Tiger terrorists.

Kumaratunge, who served as president of Sri Lanka from 1994-2005, has said that both the Sri Lankan people and its politicians found the calls for a UN-led international investigation “insulting” by implying that the country could not carry out its own. Speaking to British media on at the International Conference on Education in Dubai, Kumaratunge said that Sri Lanka is united against an international investigation into alleged war crimes. “The whole country doesn’t want (an international inquiry) because it is the feeling that it is insulting to the government that we cannot carry out our own investigation in a transparent manner,” she said.Echoing Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, the former President has said Sri Lanka would ask the UN to provide technical support but the probe would be a domestic one.