PSC will work on political solution

President Mahinda Rajapaksa said a Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) will be entrusted with the task of working out a political solution to the Tamil question and propose suitable constitutional amendments to give effect to the process.

In a wide ranging interview with The Hindu, the President said: “I have asked my party and others to propose a Parliamentary Select Committee to look into a political solution, any amendments to the Constitution. Whatever the Parliamentary Committee recommends to me, I will accept – and ultimately it has to go to Parliament.” President Rajapaksa reiterated his long-held view that police powers and land “were not subjects for the Provincial Council”. He added that he had seen “what has happened in India, in the recent Mumbai bomb attacks.

How slow it (the police and security response) was, you know, with all the restrictions, going to the Centre and coming back with orders from there. So security matters (must be) with the government (of Sri Lanka). Referring to the allegations of human rights violations, and especially about Channel 4’s Killing Fields. President Rajapaksa responded: “It’s a film.” Referring to the footage showing close-range executions of naked men with their hands tied behind their backs, he asserted that “it has been filmed in Tamil” and that if the footage was true,” it was not the LTTE cadres, it must be the army boys” who were shot.

“The man who is shooting,” he explained, “his belt is not the army belt, it is the LTTE belt. If it is true, the LTTE cadres is shooting an army man. If it is not true, it’s a film. It’s not a true document. We are looking into the matter.” He said allegations supported by evidence would be inquired into. “The LLRC has already requested the original of this (footage). We said if anybody had any evidence against any police officer or army officer, at any time, we are ready to look into it. This can be from top to bottom.”