Group urges international action on Sri Lanka

February 22, 2013 - An international think tank says Sri Lanka is becoming an autocracy where the rule of law and post-war reconciliation are under threat, calling for global action. Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report on Wednesday the ``politically motivated'' impeachment of Sri Lanka's chief justice last month dismantled the last institutional check on the president and military. The group also said the lack of power sharing and safeguarding of minority rights in the island nation could feed ethnic tensions. The group urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to adopt a resolution when it meets this month calling for the government to investigate alleged war crimes during the country's long civil war, which ended in 2009. Presidential spokesman Mohan Samaranayake said he wouldn't comment on the report until the government sees it.