Dr. Dhanapala is going as a special emissary of the Government to discuss the ongoing probe into war crimes allegations by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) as well as to seek the UN backing for a domestic alternative instead of the proposed international probe.

The Commissioner is expected to present to the UNHRC an update on the progress of the probe during the council’s 28th session in March.

Speaking to 'Sunday Times', Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera said the Government supported a domestic mechanism to look into allegations of serious human rights violations and war crimes But he said, “We will certainly cooperate with the UN.”

The minister has also said that the new government is pledged to ensure justice to the aggrieved.

Mr. Samaraweera has further added that the OHCHR team has not made a fresh request to visit Sri Lanka. “Not so far but we have requested the President’s Senior Adviser, Mr Dhanapala, to meet the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva to discuss matters pertaining to this inquiry,” he said. “We hope to take a new approach to it but we will be able to give more concrete details on how we are going to proceed once Mr. Dhanapala comes back from Geneva.”

Mr. Samaraweera said the OHCHR team has not made a fresh request to visit Sri Lanka. “Not so far but we have requested the President’s Senior Adviser, Mr Dhanapala, to meet the UN Human Rights Commissioner in Geneva to discuss matters pertaining to this inquiry,” he said. “We hope to take a new approach to it but we will be able to give more concrete details on how we are going to proceed once Mr. Dhanapala comes back from Geneva.”

“This whole investigation was brought upon the country by the bungling of the previous government,” he added. “If we had handled it carefully and pragmatically, it could have been avoided,”he further said.

The Foreign minister is expected to visit Washington on February to discuss on this regard.

Meanwhile, Minister Mangala Samaraweera left for Brussells last night (26)  for talks over the European Commission’s ban on fish exports from Sri Lanka.

(With excerpts from Sunday Times)