Backtracking on promises led to UN resolution : Patali

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka had faced the heat at the UN Human Rights Council session due to the failure to implement promises on accountability, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) lawmaker Patali Champika Ranawaka has said. "Mahinda Rajapaksa agreed to this process of accountability in May 2009, after the war," Ranawaka pointed out, a day after a resolution was adopted on Sri Lanka at the 46th UNHRC sessions. He observed that Sri Lanka was able to defeat a resolution against its name in 2009 as it had won India's support by promising to implement the 13th amendment. Ranawaka stressed that the failure to implement these promises and the regressive trends concerning human rights had failed to win support from other nations. "They were lying to the international community, continuously cremating remains (of COVID-19 deceased) up until Imran Khan came here," the SJB MP noted. "Their lies backfired and they were left helpless politically". Ranawaka recalled that certain individuals were politically opressed and assassinated while some media networks were attacked. "The independence of the judiciary, the procedures in pursuit of justice as well as the independence of the State during the course of elections were completely taken away by the 20th Amendment," he added.