Darusman Report - an inquiry by three witch doctors:

Crackpots have accessed UN -Dr. Amunugama

by Uditha KUMARASINGHE

Senior Minister for International Monetary Cooperation Dr. Sarath Amunugama in rejecting the Darusman Report said that there was no domestic demand for an inquiry or to issue a Report of this nature.

Sri Lanka’s stand is that it does not recognise this Report, because the Government neither asked for it nor cooperated with it while it was being prepared. Since the Government has appointed the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), whatever references made on Sri Lanka, will be looked into by the LLRC and the Government will abide by it, the Minister told the Sunday Observer.

Dr. Amunugama said that if the Panellists appointed by the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) were genuine in their quest to ascertain what happened, they should have waited till the LLRC report was released. Why should the UNSG rush to issue the Darusman report? The Darusman Report had no access to relevant information.

Did it have access to information far superior to those available with the LLRC? The LLRC made a universal appeal to anybody having any information to provide them. Hence why can’t the UNSG wait till the Government releases the LLRC report?, the Minister queried.

Dr. Amunugama described the Darusman Report as an inquiry conducted by three witch doctors who have no knowledge or information about modern trends in Sri Lanka.

The Minister said, “We have no clash with the United Nations. We are members of the UN and subscribe to its ideals. What has happened at present is that all sorts of crackpots such as the diaspora and NGOs who have no constituency have accessed the UN under various ruses such as environmental pretexts and tried to safeguard the rights of minorities. These are all nameboards used by them to cover up the fact that they have no representative strength in any of these countries.”

Dr. Amunugama said the UN should stick to its original Charter. The UN is a representative of member states. The UN must respect the voice of the people in democratic countries such as Sri Lanka which has elected its leaders through the electoral process.

There can’t be all sorts of codgers who supersede the voice of the elected members of a country. We cannot allow the UN to be motivated by all sorts of codgers and fanatics. All political parties in Sri Lanka which represent the wishes of the people claimed that they had nothing to do with the establishment of this expert panel. The conclusion is irresistible that there was a great deal of pressure from Non-Governmental Organisations and the diaspora. Countries with vested interests and some NGOs suggested prolonged discussions and devolution to resolve the ethnic issue. However, it cannot be done with a fanatical and fascist military group such as the LTTE. Even the UNP’s efforts under the leadership of Ranil Wickremesinghe to hold discussions with the LTTE failed. The LTTE boycotted the Tokyo peace talks.

However, Sri Lanka under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa had proposed an alternative to completely defeat the LTTE through military means. This is what countries such as US, UK and France had tried on their own, but failed. The defeat of the LTTE has created a huge dilemma for its support groups who are behind this Report. Else there was no domestic demand for an inquiry or to issue a report of this nature, the Minister said.