The price and value of advice
and acceptance by the world body, would add the necessary independent touch.
The persons appointed to the foreign panel are Desmond de Silva, a Sri Lankan born barrister-at law, Sir Geoffrey Nice and Prof. D. Crane -- people who are deemed to be beyond reproach. Their vast experience in the conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Gaza would provide the legitimacy that the Government so desperately seeks to redeem itself of its anti-UN probe stance. A less well known Indian Human rights activist is also to be appointed to the committee as are two others still unnamed, bringing the total number of international experts to six. It should also be borne in mind that the three new mem- bers should also possess impeccable records. If not and the others already appointed resign in protest, then it will be egg on the government's face, something the government can well do without.
The United National Party chief Ranil Wickremesinghe raised the pertinent question in Parliament earlier this month as to how much the exercise will cost the Lankan public. After all, good expert advice does not come cheap and the people have the right to know how much will be paid in the form of fees and other expenses to the six panelists. The government is still to answer his question.
The money and the effort in putting into place a credible committee of inquiry to rival the OCHR war crimes probe and to dislodge it from its monopolistic pedestal will run down the drain if the Government decides to pre determine the weight it would attach to the value of international expert opinion forwarded. And in order to maintain the credibility of the report, the government should guard itself from making that cardinal error.
However, a few days after the relevant gazette notification was published expanding the Missing Persons Committee with the setting up of the International Advisory Panel, the Government spokesman and Information Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said the three foreign experts will only act as "advisors" and will not have a direct role in the investigations.
"They will be in an advisory capacity,"