Human rights violations should be reported without exaggeration, and not confined only to government side, says Vasudeva Nanayakkara, the leader of the opposition of the Colombo Municipal Council.

He told BBC Sandesaya that this is why president has been critical about current representation to Geneva Human Rights commission.

Nanayakkara said that he, himself and current president Mahinda Rajapakse agitated against human rights violations in the country in 1989/90 and even went to Geneva to make the International Human Rights Commission (IHRC) aware of abductions and disappearances at the time.

“We even had influenced representatives of the sub committee of IHRC visit Sri Lanka to monitor the situation”, he said.

Asked why with such a background, the President Rajapakse’s government not take any action against human rights violations taking place in the country now, Nanayakkara said president Rajapakse wants to avoid exaggeration of these incidents.

“President wants media to report abductions and disappearances by other groups without making allegations only to the government”, Nanayakkara said.

However, the government must take steps to avoid impunity and take actions to punish the culprits, says Vasudeva Nanayakkara.

“No one has been prosecuted for any human rights crimes in the past year. This raises concerns and legitimate criticism against the government”, added Nanayakkara.