By Jamila Najmuddin


International human rights watchdog Amnesty International (AI) says they are still discussing Sri Lanka’s invitation fro them to send a representative to Colombo to testify before the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), an official from the organization told Daily Mirror online.

In an email from London, Asia Pacific Press Officer of Amnesty International, Thomas Yocum Daily Mirror online that his organization had received Sri Lanka’s invitation and were still discussing it.

Meanwhile when Daily Mirror online contacted Human Rights Watch (HRW), officials from the organization said they had not received an invitation from Colombo.

“To our knowledge we have not received such an invite,” HRW said when questioned if they would send a representative to testify before the Commission.

Meanwhile, in an interim communication to President Mahinda Rajapakse, the LLRC has suggested immediate administrative measures to ease the lives of the resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and all people living in the former conflict ridden areas.

These measures that require only changes in administrative practices were brought to the attention of the President by members of the LLRC who met him at Temple Trees on Tuesday.

Among the immediate measures suggested are ensuring facilities to members of the public to use their own language in official transactions with government departments, especially the ability to make statements to the police in one’s own language among many other recommendations. (Daily Mirror online)