The Sri Lankan government plans to mobilise tens of thousands of people ahead of a key human rights meet in Geneva which is expected to discuss alleged abuses in the country during a three-decade ethnic conflict.
The protest called the ‘people’s fortress to protect the nation’ are planned in 150 major towns coinciding with the 19th session of the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions underway from tomorrow.
The government has described the move to discuss human rights abuses in Sri Lanka as an international conspiracy hatched in Geneva against president Mahinda Rajapaksa.
"This is clearly international revenge on the president for his action to end a 30 year curse of terrorism," Dilan Perera, a senior minister told reporters.
"Forgetting all differences people must rally to protect the president and the nation," Dallas Alahapperuma, another senior minister said.
"Please do not interfere in our internal affairs, let us solve our own problems, that is our message to international forces," Alahapperuma underlined.
The session would review the country’s human rights accountability during the last phase of the war with the LTTE.
The US government is the prime mover of a resolution which calls for the implementation of Sri Lanka’s own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) recommendations which had recommended local investigations into alleged military excesses and prescribed a negotiated political solution to the political aspirations of Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority comminity.
The resolution seeks to bind Sri Lanka for action to implement recommendations of LLRC and obtain assistance of the UN Human Rights Commissioner for the purpose.
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