UNITED NATIONS: Asma Jahangir, the former president of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), has been nominated to a three-member panel to advise UN on alleged human rights violations committed during final stages of armed conflict in Sri Lanka.

Former president of Finland Maarti Ahtassari and former Governor-General and High Court judge of New Zealand Silvia Cartwright are other members of the distinguished panel of experts UN High Commissioner for Human Rights announced on Wednesday.

“I am proud that three such distinguished experts have agreed to assist this important and challenging investigation,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

“Each of them brings not only great experience and expertise, but the highest standards of integrity, independence, impartiality and objectivity to this task,” she added in a press statement.

The Sri Lankan government declared victory over the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009, after a conflict that had raged on and off for nearly three decades and killed thousands of people.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2014