The government will carry out investigations and take action against anyone who is found to have committed transgressions during the final stages of the Humanitarian Operation.

Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said that anyone found guilty through investigations would be dealt with appropriately.

Minister De Silva made the statement when he presented the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), to parliament on Friday.

The LLRC report has stated that the civilians in NFZs were not deliberately targeted and military operations were conducted professionally.

However, the Minister observed that if there was evidence of transgressions by individuals, they need to be investigated.

He recalled that the government on its own has taken a series of measures including taking census of the deaths in the Northern Province during the war to "enable firm and verifiable conclusions to be arrived at on issues involving accountability, without any element of conjecture or speculation."

The Minister revealed that the LLRC on the basis of the evidence presented to them has pointed to several specific incidents which, in the Commission's point of view need further investigation.
The Commission has recommended an independent investigation on the video produced by the Britain's Channel 4 TV due to the "troubling technical and forensic questions of a serious nature that cast significant doubts about the authenticity of this video and the credibility of its contents."

"It is a matter of the greatest importance to the government to have the truth relating to each of these matters established in a manner that put controversy to rest for all time," the Minister said in his speech to the parliament.

Minister de Silva said the government firmly believes that these situations require thorough investigation in the first instance and punitive action in terms of the law if wrongdoing is established.

A mechanism of inquiry is needed to commence to gather information and the Attorney General should commence a legal process to take action as well, he said.

Minister De Silva pointed out that the government was committed to addressing the needs of the minority communities and has even proposed a parliamentary select committee for the purpose and has commenced a political dialogue as well.

He denied any intention of changing the ratios of communities living in various parts of the country as alleged by some politicians.

He further said the government security forces will continue to be deployed throughout the island including the Northern and Eastern Provinces to provide security but they will be removed from all aspects of community life.

The Minister said now that the normalcy has returned to the country two years after the government's war with Tamil Tiger terrorists ended "it will be the deliberate policy of the government to ensure the withdrawal of Security Forces from all aspects of community life," and confine their role exclusively to security related matters.

"Security Forces will disengage themselves from civil administration related activities and, in particular, from participation in any decision making in respect of land issues," the Minister said.
He added that over 600 Tamil speaking police officers have been recruited already to deal with the civil administration issues in the majority Tamil provinces.

The government will strengthen the police force with Tamil language capability to strengthen the police to deal with law and order functions.

Units of the Attorney-General's Department will be set up in the Provinces to provide guidance to the police, Minister revealed.

The Minister also emphasized the government's resolution to end the possession of illegal fire arms by individuals in the country.

"No one is more concerned than we are, as a government, with this phenomenon, because of its potential to stultify our central objectives," he said.

The government has a zero tolerance policy regarding illegal fire arms and raids will be conducted to apprehend the violators, the Minister asserted.