UN rights chief Navi Pillay on Wednesday urged the international community to launch a probe into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka in 2009 and ongoing violations in the country.“An international inquiry is not only warranted, but also possible, and can play a positive role in eliciting new information and establishing the truth where domestic inquiry mechanisms have failed,” Pillay told the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
Pillay faulted the independence of Sri Lanka’s own efforts to shed light on the events of five years ago, when thousands of ethnic Tamils died as the army finally crushed a 37-year Tamil insurgency. She said that it was crucial to recall the “magnitude and gravity” of the violations allegedly committed by both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, who were known for their trademark suicide bombings.The 1972-2009 conflict claimed 100,000 lives, according to a UN estimate. In 2011, UN monitors said that tens of thousands died during the army’s final offensive.
