The Sri Lankan government has not come out with any categorical response to the latest news report on the use of cluster bombs in the final stages of the civil war.

Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi said he does not wish to comment on the report while the Director General (Government Information) Ranga Kalansooriya said the report is being studied.

The news report published by The Guardian has been based on certain material, including photographic evidence, said to have been provided by those previously involved in demining in parts of North, areas where fighting took place in late 2008 and early 2009.

Controversies over the alleged use of cluster bombs have erupted in the past as well. Groundviews, a citizen journalism website, had carried a couple of reports in 2010 and 2012. A report by the UN Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability of March 2011 referred to the allegations of the use of cluster munitions. The Paranagama Commission had called for further investigation into the matter. However, right from the beginning, the government has been denying suggestions of the use of cluster bombs.

Ananda Chandrasiri, ex-Brigardier in the Sri Lanka Army who is now the director of a non-governmental organisation working on demining in Kilinochchi, Mulliativu and Vavuniya, said his organisation has not encountered any such weapon. However, Vidya Abhayagunawardena, coordinator, Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines, said this presented a golden opportunity to his country to ratify and become state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions. Such a move would also support reconciliation measures, he added.

-The Hindu
-Agencies