US backtracking on human rights in Lanka, alleges US filmmaker

Certain elements of the US Government, which earlier supported human rights in Sri Lanka, "are now backtracking", after the coming into power of the new government in Colombo which is more aligned to the West rather than China, a leading documentary film-maker alleged today.
"This (Maithripala Sirisena) government -- unlike previous one (Mahinda Rajapaksa), which looked towards China not for ideological reasons but for financial reasons - looks towards the west and is very closely aligned to the west," the award-winning filmmaker Callum MaCrae told reporters at a news conference.
"I am concerned that there has been significant change in the climate of America. There are certain elements which in my opinion supported human rights before are now backtracking," he added.

Hosted by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) at the National Press Club, MaCrae screened an exclusive 30 minute video of the war crime victims and the human rights violations in Sri Lanka during the end of civil war in 2009, resulting in the defeat of the LTTE.
During the news conference, MaCrae alleged that the key figures of the Sirisena Government including the President himself held high positions in the then Sri Lankan government when the crime against innocent Tamilians were perpetrated by the country's armed forces.
"There are whole series of measures which are clearly designed to demonstrate that there would be no change in governance. What the Sri Lankan government tells to the rest of the world is totally different from what he (Sirisena) tells domestically," MaCrae said.

By supporting the Sirisena Government, it is now clear that there is a "fundamental change in US policy" on Sri Lanka, he said.

Sri Lanka's refusal to accept anything other than a domestic inquiry has led to fears that the Council itself might be asked to endorse a domestic process (with some technical assistance from the UN), he said.
"Such a proposal would run directly counter to the wishes of the victims," MaCrae said.
Jay Kansara of the HAF said that all perpetrators of war crime must be tried in an impartial inquiry.
Rights groups claim that the Sri Lankan military killed 40,000 civilians in the final months of the three decade-long brutal ethnic conflict with the LTTE that ended in 2009.