Sri Lanka lashes out at UN rights chief

Sri Lanka on Saturday accused the United Nations human rights chief of using "intemperate language" to vilify a member state when he said the island nation was attacking the integrity of the world body's investigation into alleged wartime abuses.  In a letter to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, Sri Lanka's permanent United Nations representative, Ravinatha Aryasinha, also said double standards were being applied against Sri Lanka.  Aryasinha's letter followed a statement by Hussein on Friday accusing Sri Lanka of carrying out a distortion and disinformation campaign against the U.N. investigation and of attempting to prevent witnesses from submitting evidence.  "It is a matter of deep concern to note that you, as a high official of the U.N. system, have resorted to the use of intemperate language to attack and vilify a sovereign member of the United Nations. Further, you have chosen to cast aspersions and denigrate a democratically elected government,'' Aryasinha wrote.

The U.N. human rights body is investigating alleged abuses committed during the final phase of Sri Lanka's 25-year civil war, which ended in 2009 when government troops defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels.  Sri Lanka has rejected the investigation and refused to allow investigators into the country. Hussein said in his statement that the government's refusal to participate in the investigation raised concerns about its integrity, questioning why a government with nothing to hide would be uncooperative.