India has refused to grant visas to the United Nations team appointed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, to probe the alleged human rights violations during the last seven years of three-decade-long conflict in Sri Lanka, according to a report in Sri Lanka. It is understood that India and four other South Asian countries stand united in expressing their objection to the UN probe mandated by a resolution adopted at UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session in Geneva last March.
Prathiba Mahana-mahewa, commissioner of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission, revealed in Colombo that India had rejected visas to the investigation committee to conduct the probe, Sri Lankan national news agency Lankapuvath reported Tuesday. The investigation team of three members appointed by Pillay to conduct an investigation into the alleged war crimes committed by Sri Lanka’s security forces and the Tamil terrorists comprises 13 members and three experts. The team had sought to conduct the investigations in a country close to Sri Lanka.