Sri Lankan army baffled by allegations in Geneva

The Sri Lankan army on Friday said that it is baffled by the allegations raised in Geneva against the military, and said that the troops would be on alert to the "malicious propaganda network" against the army. Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya said since the culmination of the civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels, various interested parties have been making a barrage of criticism against the troops, based on a rash of unfounded allegations, malice and ulterior motives. "The vigorous unilateral allegations against the army, now made in Geneva, baffle all of us who decisively waged the humanitarian operations in Wanni at that stage when I was the Wanni commander because neither myself, nor any Security Force Commander or for that matter, any Division or Brigade Commander, to say the least, in the province, received a single complaint against the army from any of those quarters, now screaming elsewhere," Jayasuriya said in a strongly worded statement. "All these manifestations appear every year around the same time when the UN Human Rights Council gathers for their sessions in Geneva. It will be the practice, next year, too because the Tamil Tiger rump does not want to see a promising and prosperous Sri Lanka and they want to thrive on those allegations until they re-emerge," he said. Sri Lankan troops who defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels after a 30-year civil conflict in May 2009 have faced continuous criticism by the international community calling for a war crimes probe in the island nation. The Sri Lankan government has however continuously denied that its forces committed any war crimes and has strongly opposed any international investigation.