Addressing the Norwegian Institute for International Affairs in Oslo on Tuesday, Mr Samaraweera said “there’s a certain degree of controversy” when it came to the issue of international involvement in the setting up of a court to try perpetrators accused of committing violations of international humanitarian law.
However, he went on to add,
“That too will be decided after the consultations are over but all I can say now is whatever we decide upon, will and must have the approval, not only ourselves but of the victims those who suffered. This is not an exercise to please ourselves. So the final contours of the architecture of the courts we are hoping to set up will be in discussion. Especially with parties like the TNA and other groups which represent the victims.”In his wide ranging speech, the minister went on to state that his government had “the intention of de militarizing the North and the East immediately after coming into power”.
“We are now in the process of even giving back the land which has been taken over for military purposes over the years,” he said.
He continued to say,
“In fact I know that during the course of this week another 700 acres will also be released. So far nearly 4000 acres but perhaps an equal amount of land remains to be released and that too we have told the military, that all must be released in a timeline going up to the end of 2018.”
In his speech Mr Samaraweera acknowledged that the island’s “earlier Constitutions were basically majoritarian in nature,” noting that “we feel that paved the way for one of the most bitter civil wars Sri Lanka and the world in fact has ever seen”.
The minister also shrugged off suggestions that Sri Lanka’s co-sponsoring of a UN resolution was due to concerted international pressure on the government, stating that instead his government wanted to “commit to a reconciliation process”.
