Sri Lanka leader says international criticism ‘tainted’

UNITED NATIONS, September 24, 2011 (AFP) - Sri Lanka's president on Friday condemned "tainted" international allegations of a military massacre of civilians during an assault to end a Tamil rebellion.







Tamil community members earlier this year filed a lawsuit against Rajapakse when he paid a private visit to the United States.



The Sri Lankan government rejected the lawsuit and said the president enjoys immunity.

President Mahinda Rajapakse appealed for international support as pressure mounted for the UN Human Rights Council to launch a war crimes inquiry into the 2009 campaign in which a UN panel said tens of thousands were killed.

"My country has reason for concern with approaches tainted by an unacceptable selectivity, which we have brought to the notice of the organizations in question in recent weeks," Rajapakse told the UN summit.

He called for solidarity from other developing countries "against these irregular modalities which should be resisted through our collective strength."

Defending the government campaign, Rajapakse said "after three decades of pain and anguish, today Sri Lankans of all ethnicities living in all parts of Sri Lanka are free from LTTE terror and no longer l