The island’s senior Minister Rishath Bathiudeen told Arab News yesterday that the Sri Lankan government under the able leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa had always stood for the cause of Arabs and Muslims in the region. Rajapaksa has been the president of the Lanka-Palestinian Friendship Association in Colombo from its inception.

“A time has come for friendly countries to help us against the wrongful propaganda targeting Sri Lanka, the only nation in the recent history, which successfully wiped out terror from the country.” The minister spoke to Arab News soon after Friday prayers in Colombo yesterday.

Around 2,000 mosques spread throughout the island, conducted special prayers for the peace and prosperity in the island. The congregation also requested the concerned nations to drop the UN resolution which has been maliciously framed to defame the honor brought by the valiant soldiers who successfully fought terror in the country.

On Thursday, there was a mass demonstration by the Muslims in the capital city of Colombo to show their solidarity toward President Rajapaksa.

The United States is to bring a resolution before the UN rights council, currently meeting in Geneva, urging Sri Lanka’s government to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and to seek reconciliation.

Bathiudeen said that his country comprising Muslims, Tamils and majority Sinhalese, were living in fear because of the terror unleashed by a group of rebels ,who were totally wiped out in May 2009. “ Innocent people including all sections of the Sri Lankan community, women, children and pregnant mothers, were mercilessly massacred in several parts of the island. Even the country’s soldiers became victims of terror,” the minister said, recalling that Muslim civilian worshippers were shot dead while praying in a mosque in a Muslim town of Kattankudy by the Tamil rebels, which was subsequently followed by the killing of innocent Muslim villagers in the eastern parts of the kingdom.

“ Everyone is aware of the fact that terrorism which existed for over 30 years ended on May 19, 2009 by defeating the LTTE. It is strange and beyond the comprehension of any sane person as to what criteria was adopted to level human rights and war crime allegations against the leaders of Sri Lanka by the Human Rights Council in Geneva,” he said, adding that within the 30 years of this conflict, there has been far worse situations than the final stage that would deserve attention by the Geneva based Human Rights Council.

Noting the release of a new video by the Channel Four based on the alleged HR violations during the final stages of the humanitarian movement the country went through with the LTTE terrorist group, the minister categorically rejected the above video as baseless and unacceptable.

According to an official from the island’s External Affairs Ministry, when the first such defamatory video released by the same source, the Sri Lankan government proved beyond doubt that the footage featured was definitely technically engineered, all media groups which were ready to support channel four did not respond. Channel four itself was unable to prove the authenticity of the first video once the Sri Lankan Government publicized the actual footage which was a part of the documentary done in 2010-2011 by the ministry of Defense for public awareness both local and international.

He pointed out that the Channel four has come up with the second and similar video aiming at defaming Sri Lanka at the current UN summit for Human Rights held in Geneva. “ The Ministry of Defense rejects all allegations of human rights violation stating that it is able to prove with valid evidence that it was the LTTE that committed gross violation of human rights over the past three decades,” he added.