Sri Lanka slams US State Department rights report

COLOMBO - A U.S. State Department annual human rights survey that accuses Sri Lanka of violating citizens’ rights, has been rejected by Colombo as unsubstantiated and based on reports by unnamed sources.

The State Department’s survey says that the Government of Sri Lanka used excessive force and committed abuses against civilians during the 23-year-long civil war against Tamil rebels.

“The document is a conflation of historical background, repetition of statements in earlier reports, unverified assertions of facts and broad generalizations,” said a statement by the Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights.

The ministry said the allegations were based on “reports that are mainly attributed to anonymous NGO’s, international sources, human rights groups, observers and other unnamed sources.” (ANI)