UN report on war crimes: India to engage with Lanka

Express News Service | Indian Express
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With a UN panel claiming that the killing of people in the final stages of the Sri Lankan Army’s battle with the LTTE led to “war crimes”, India on Tuesday (26) said that the issues raised in the report need to be studied carefully and it intends to engage with the Sri Lankan government on these matters.

“The government has seen the report of the panel of experts appointed by the UN Secretary General to advise him on accountability-related issues in the context of the end of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka in May, 2009. The issues raised in the report need to be studied carefully. As a first step, we intend to engage with the government of Sri Lanka on the issues contained in the report,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement on Tuesday.

Saying that most of the civilians lost their lives during shelling by Sri Lankan troops in the final stages of the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009, the UN panel estimated 40,000 people were killed in the conflict. “Most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by government shelling. The government systematically shelled hospitals on all fronts. The government systematically deprived people in conflict zone of humanitarian aid in the form of food and medical supplies, particularly surgical supplies, adding to their suffering,” said the report which was officially released on Monday in New York.

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