LANKA-RAJAPAKSA 2 LST

Rajapaksa said he regretted that organisations such as
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and international
Crisis Group that had been invited to give evidence before the
Commission had refused to do so.
The Commission was open to all including the United
Nations, he said, "emphasising that reconciliation in Sri
Lanka needed a home grown solution, and not one that is
transported from elsewhere, even from Northern Ireland."
"It must be based on our own experience, while we are
ready to learn from the experience of others," the Sri Lankan
President said.
Rajapaksa also said Sri Lanka had clearly made the
fastest progress in the rehabilitation of child soldiers
and youth, "who had been made the victims of armed conflict."
On devolution, he said whatever solution arrived at must
be one that is acceptable to the people.
"Rajapaksa was emphatic in stating that what the LTTE
wanted could not be given," the statement said.
He, however, said that any reasonable aspects of
devolution, for which all parties have consensual agreement,
can be granted by Parliament.
The President said he would encourage all parties to come
to a settlement and that Parliament must finally decide, as
there was the need for a two-third majority for any
Constitutional change. PTI TVS
RET


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