COLOMBO: President Ma­­hi­n­da Rajapaksa has annou­n­ced the appointment of Ahmer Bilal Soofi of Pakis­tan and Avdash Kaushal of India to the panel of advisers to the Commis­sion on Missing Per­sons and War Crimes set up by the Sri Lankan government.

The government has repo­r­tedly made the appointments to counter a UN panel on war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Mr Soofi is a well-known lawyer from Pakistan and Mr Kaushal a human rights activist from Uttarakhand in India.

Asked how he would react to possible allegations that advisers appointed by him might be biased in favour of his government, Mr Rajapaksa said that each step taken by him was likely to be criticised.

“There are so many allegations against the advisers on the UN investigation panel too,” he told journalists on Tuesday morning. He said the Sri Lankan commission requested the ap­­pointment of advisers bec­a­u­se it lacked expertise in certain areas of international law.

Criticising the UN panel, the president said he would not allow its members to visit his country because he did not think the world body had jurisdiction over Sri Lanka.

The UN Human Rights Commissioner had said it was not necessary to come to Sri Lanka to collect evidence.

“I am committed to finding the truth. I want to have the allegations of forced disappearances investigated,” he added.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014