It is unbecoming of Minister Solheim to attribute blame on alleged atrocities, contained in an unsubstantiated video footage, without any recourse to an exchange of views and total disregard to the position of the Government of Sri Lanka on the issues in question.

This is stated by the Foreign Ministry on the comments made by the Minister of Environment & International Development of the Norwegian Government, Erik Solheim, published in the 'Aftenposten' newspaper website of 28 August 2009.

The criticism by him of a democratically elected Head of State, who is carrying out a vibrant agenda to safeguard the rights of the people of Sri Lanka, while having eliminated the scourge of terrorism, is unacceptable. It would be recalled that Norway continued its facilitator role in the then peace process, even after the election of the President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The utterances of Minister Solheim have led the Government of Sri Lanka to reflect on his possible partisanship in the facilitator role.

The Government of Sri Lanka hopes that a formal response would be received from the Norwegian Government with regard to the attributed comments by a Minister of that Government.

“This suggestion is disingenuous. The reference can only be to the government as the other side (LTTE) does not exist any more. It is worth reminding Solheim that a winning side has never been subjected to such an inquiry, including after the WW II. It is ridiculous to suggest an inquiry on the basis of speculative allegations, largely gleaned from the Tamil Net,” said outgoing Foreign Secretary Dr. Palitha Kohona.

He noted that in a domestic legal system, for example, a murder inquiry is not launched on the basis of an “unfounded suggestion” that a murder may have been committed..

“Solheim's eagerness to have the government investigated sounds ludicrous as he had always carefully avoided criticizing even the worst excesses of the LTTE like the bombing of the Temple of the Tooth, the massacre of 70 civilians at Kebilithigollawa or the bombing of a procession commemorating Profet Mohamed's birthday," he further said.

It is unacceptable that Solheim, the peace facilitator, has made this one sided comment now after having studiously avoided criticizing the LTTE in the past because he saw himself as an impartial facilitator. He has also not condemned possible Human Rights violations elsewhere with the same vehemence,” Dr. Kohona said.