Group calls for UN panel on civil war

Colombo: A human rights group has asked the United Nations not to abandon seeking accountability for alleged abuses in Sri Lanka's civil war.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement seen yesterday that Sri Lanka's recent appointment of a commission apparently to look into the events of the last stages of the country's quarter-century civil war was only an attempt to deflect international attention.

The New York-based group urged UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon not to abandon his plans to appoint a panel to examine alleged human rights abuses.