Indian Union External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid has said he had seen the pictures and the report on the alleged killing of LTTE chief V. Prabakaran son but could not vouch for their authenticity.

Mr. Khurshid was asked about the government’s response to the op-ed in The Hindu’s Tuesday edition based on a British documentary featuring the pictures of the killing of Prabakaran’s 12-year-old son, Balachandran. Sri Lanka has dismissed the report as “lies, half-truths and numerous forms of speculation” and suggested such reports make a comeback around this time of the year when Sri Lanka’s human rights situation comes up for appraisal before a United Nation’s committee.

The External Affairs Minister said Sri Lanka was an important neighbour and friend with which India has been intensifying ties in all fields. At the same time India has voiced concern over the human rights situation and voted against Sri Lanka last March at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).

The documentary titled ‘No War Zone-The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka’ is to be aired in Geneva at the next session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in March.

“This is not the first time such unsubstantiated allegations have been levelled against the Sri Lankan forces,” military spokesman Brigadier Ruwan Wanigasooriya said.

“Interestingly, these come up as we near a UNHRC meeting and die down thereafter. No substantive evidence has been presented for us to launch an investigation. Unfortunately, it appears that the parties who float such baseless allegations never want these to be investigated or solved. They want to keep them as mysteries in order to tarnish the country’s good image as and when it suits their agendas.”

Mr. Wanigasooriya said that if the Channel 4 was interested in having them investigated, it should cooperate with credible evidence and the Army would institute a probe, the Hindu reports.