Government wants UNHRC to be united

The Government says it wants the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to be?united on the Sri Lankan issue.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said that the UNHRC is today united on the resolution put before the Council on Sri Lanka and not divided like in previous years.

Speaking to members of the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya, the Prime Minister said that when resolutions on Sri Lanka were submitted to the UNHRC on previous occasions there were countries which backed the resolution while others opposed it.

However, he says now, the new Government has been able to achieve the goal of bringing all countries to one table to support a resolution which Sri Lanka also backs.

The Prime Minister also insisted that the Government did not submit to any pressure in Geneva and instead only did what the people in Sri Lanka wanted them to do.

He noted that some people, including Northern Provincial Council member Ananthi Saseetharan and some Tamil politicians from Sri Lanka and India have opposed the resolution presented to the UNHRC on Sri Lanka which has the support of the Sri Lankan Government.

He said those who are opposing the resolution are those who want the country to be divided but the Government will not allow that.

He said that with the latest developments in Geneva, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera will now look to push the EU to renew the GSP plus facility to Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe said that the Presidential elections held in January helped Sri Lanka establish democracy in the country and also create National unity.

He said that Sri Lanka will now be able to strengthen its economy and sign economic agreements with countries like India.

The Prime Minister said that he will announce the economic policy on the new Government in November, following which Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake will present the budget for 2016.