Rights groups slams promotion of S. Lankan army officer ‎

The promotion of a senior army officer of Sri Lanka credited for the military victory over the island nation’s Tamil rebels casts doubt on the new government's pledges to credibly investigate alleged war crimes, a prominent human rights group said on Sunday.  New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the promotion of Major General Jagath Dias as chief of staff, the second highest ranking position in the Sri Lankan Army.   The appointment, effective May 7, was made public only on May 15.‎  Dias was decorated for the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009 that ended the over three-decade ethnic civil war.  HRW alleged Dias' 57th division was implicated in serious human rights abuses and brings into question the new Sri Lankan government's commitment to credibly probe alleged war crimes during the country's brutal ethnic conflict.

"Sri Lanka's new government has promised genuine accountability for wartime abuses, but naming the general of an abusive unit as the army chief of staff is a slap in the face for victims," said Brad Adams, HRW Asia director.   "Members of the UN Human Rights Council expecting genuine accountability in Sri Lanka need to closely scrutinize the government's actions. The 57th Division took part in the last battles of the war, including the extremely bloody and abusive fighting on a small stretch of beach in Mullaithivu district.

"Human Rights Watch documented the indiscriminate shelling of civilians and hospitals by government forces in the region where the 57th Division was deployed", an HRW release said.  "The government's appointment of General Dias is further proof that Sri Lanka needs an independent justice process with a strong international component that can undertake impartial investigations and prosecutions," Adams said.  "Six years since the end of the brutal conflict, the victims of the war still await justice," he said.  (Source: HRW)