Report, a waste of UN funds - Devananda

Traditional Industries and Small Industries Development Minister Douglas Devananda said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has done the biggest damage to the country by preparing an unauthorized report through Darusman on Sri Lanka and releasing it by abusing the UN funds and facilities to satisfy his “masters” and to win his reappointment.

In an interview with Asian Tribune, the minister said the controversial Darusman Report pandered to the Tigers, provided material support to the Tigers and attempted to blame the victims.

“The international community failed to take action against the Tigers when they repeatedly scuttled the peace talks and resumed hostilities. Had the UN exerted pressure on the LTTE and thousands of innocent lives could have been saved,” the minister said.

The minister added that it was a report prepared by ‘contract writers’, employed by the UN Secretary General to gun down Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.

He added that the UN Secretary General wasted the resources and valuable funds of the UN by employing a three member panel comprising Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia, Yasmin Sooka of South Africa and Steven Ratner of the United States.

“He employed these writers for his personal benefit to satisfy some countries and organizations to win his reappointment, by casting aspersions on the Sri Lankan President and the Army leaders”.

“For 15 years, I was an armed cadre leading the fight against the Sri Lankan forces to win rights for my people. Later I joined mainstream politics of this country, but in case my people had been killed as alleged in the Darusman Report , by now I would have resorted to democratic measures to see justice. But it was not so as alleged in the said Darusman Report,” Devananda said. Minister Devananda said: “I have the right and authority to speak on behalf of the Tamils of Sri Lanka. These are the very Tamils who have elected me as their representatives since 1994. He alleged, that because of the failed politics of Prabhakaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the country has lost thousands and thousands of innocent civilians. In fact, Prabakaran was responsible for the deaths of more than 70,000 innocent Tamil civilians in the last 30 years during their sway in the Northern and Eastern parts.