Were diplomats invited to watch live coverages of Bin Laden being hunted? - Minister Premajayantha

Nadira Gunatilleke

Sri Lanka will keep the international community informed about what happened during the humanitarian operation of May 2009. This country will keep different forums informed about these developments but not respond to the controversial Darusman Report, Petroleum Industries Minister Susil Premajayantha told the Daily News in an interview.

Q: What were the origins of the Darusman Report?

A: Darusman Report was mainly based on a one sided story. It is based on the information provided by the Tamil diaspora, a group that supports the LTTE, some Non-Governmental Organizations which back the LTTE and a few others who were there supporting the LTTE during the humanitarian operation.

This Report is completely biased because no other party had been given a chance to speak. The Report had been compiled after collecting data given by one particular party. It cannot be called a Report.

Q: When and why did Sri Lanka oppose it?

A: The Sri Lankan government very strongly opposed it right from the beginning. The decision to appoint the panel, appointing the panel and its ‘Report’ were opposed. Earlier the panel was an advisory authority, we were told.

Then the UN Secretary General said he does not have the authority to appoint such a panel. Now this panel is illegal. It had been appointed without the approval of the Security Council. The background of the members of this three-member panel has now been revealed to the world.

Q: What will be the next step?

A: The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by the Sri Lankan government a long time back (long before this Report came into the scene), is open to the media, public and anybody who wishes to come forward and give evidence/submit their case. Media publish and telecast LLRC proceedings.

LLRC invited international organizations, such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch etc but none of them turned up. Why is that?

The Sri Lankan government will submit our case, but not reply to the Darusman Report. While presenting the case, Sri Lanka will keep the Darusman Report in mind and submit the case to the relevant authorities. Important factors will be highlighted. At the same time, Sri Lanka will explain to the international community what had happened during the humanitarian operation. The Sri Lankan government showed diplomats the humanitarian operation live. Our case is to be submitted to different forums. All political parties and the Opposition rejected the Darusman Report. Sri Lankan government is the only government in the world which invited diplomats to watch the humanitarian operation live from Colombo.

No other country in the world showed diplomats and the international community an operation launched to eradicate terrorism. Diplomats were not invited to watch the operation carried out to kill Osama bin Laden.

Q: How about facing similar challenges in future?

A: Fortunately the Report failed to destroy communal harmony prevailing in the country and the relationship now developing among ethnicities, as it expected. Only one or two political parties from the North accepted the Report and all the others opposed it. The Report failed to reverse the popularity and public support gained by President Mahinda Rajapaksa. What the International community should do hereafter is support in developing the Northern Province of Sri Lanka and provide a better living standard for the people who suffered 30 years in the custody of the LTTE. Sri Lanka will face all future challenges as one nation, Sri Lankans.

Q: Do you have any message to the Sri Lankan public?

A: The best witnesses of the humanitarian operation is the Sri Lankan public. They watched it right from the beginning to end. They exactly know what happened during that period. Sri Lankan public witnessed how Sri Lankan armed forces sacrificed their lives to save the Tamil community kept underfoot by Prabhakaran and by the LTTE as hostages and used by them as a human shield.

They watched how Sri Lankan armed forces took care of sick, pregnant mothers and elders who tried their level best, escaped from the LTTE and came into the government held areas during the humanitarian operation. LTTE sent suicide bombers with those people and they killed escaping civilians and members of the Sri Lankan armed forces who were feeding and treating displaced people.

It was the Sri Lankan public who fed internally displaced people during the humanitarian operation. Loads of food, clothing and all other essential items were sent to North in lorries without any interruption all 24 hours. Armed forces gave their water bottles to the refugees and worked without water to drink. The armed forces carried sick elders in their arms. They assisted pregnant mothers to deliver babies on ships and aircraft while transporting them to hospitals. Not only food, clothing and medicine, as then Education Minister, I took steps to provide sarees to the teachers who provided uninterrupted education to displaced children. That was in addition to school equipment and stationery. No other country in the world acts like that during similar situations.

It is very strange that no NGO witnessed how the LTTE chased away civilians to a small strip of land, kept them as a human shield and killed them whenever they tried to escape from LTTE custody. There is nothing in the Darusman Report regarding this.