A Sri Lankan government commission investigating the last phase of the LTTE war today criticised the decision of some international rights group not to testify before it, saying its performance should not be judged on the basis of "pre-conceived notions".
President Mahinda Rajapaksa on May 2010 appointed the eight-member Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) Commission to report on the lessons to be learnt from the events in the period from 21st February 2002 to 19th May 2009.
The commission is chaired by the former Attorney General Chitta Ranjan de Silva.
"The independence and impartiality of the [Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation] Commission in all fairness must be judged by the performance of the Commission and not on the basis of pre-conceived notions," the Commission said in a letter.
The letter was addressed to the International Crisis Group, the Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
"The commission notes with greater regret, the indirect aspersions you have cast on hundreds of fellow citizens who were the victims of this conflict and several responsible civil society organisations of our country, who have already made representations before the Commission.
This follows the decision of the three bodies to jointly turn down the commission's invitation to them to place evidence before it.
The letter from the Commission said 'despite your ill-founded misgivings about the outcome of the Commission's work, the Commission will strongly safeguard its independence and will continue to work towards fulfilling its mandate."
This, it said will be by addressing important issues raised by witnesses, including matters relating to International Humanitarian Law, reconciliation, governance and other related issues'.
"The commission notes that the invitation it had extended to you in good faith in a spirit of constructive dialogue regarding issues of common concerns coming within the purview of its Mandate, has not been appreciated by your organisations," the letter said.
Describing it as "flawed," three prominent human rights organisations had refused to testify before a Sri Lankan commission investigating the alleged war crimes committed by security forces in the final stages of the war against LTTE.
"Accountability for war crimes in Sri Lanka demands an independent international investigation," said Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch, which along with the International Crisis Group and Amnesty International have refused to participate.
"There is little to be gained by appearing before such a fundamentally flawed commission," Roth had said.
