Govt to lobby strongly against Darusman Report

*Will respond as one nation

*Report designed to halt country’s progress

*Findings bundle of contradictions

Nadira GUNATILLEKE

“The government will hold talks with all relevant local and foreign actors on the controversial Darusman report which has been rejected outright by Sri Lanka,” Media Minister and Cabinet Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said yesterday.

“The government opposed the entire process, from the appointment of the panel, its functioning and now the report,” the minister told the weekly Cabinet press briefing.

He said the government f will take the report very seriously and act responsibly.

“We will respond to it as one country, one nation as Sri Lankans.”

The minister maintained the Report was biased and blatantly one sided, prepared on unfounded evidence that lacks credibility, adding that the Report seriously undermines the unity efforts that are currently being pursued to bring the communities together and also the country’s development process.

“The TNA accepted the report with glee since it had been supporting the LTTE from the very beginning,” the minister noted. He said, “a TNA MP said that the TNA is the sole representative of the Tamil community but many times it had been proved that they are not the sole representatives of the Tamil community of Sri Lanka.

It was the US, UK and EU which named the LTTE as the world’s most ruthless and dangerous terrorist organization.

Now the representatives of the same countries say the LTTE was very disciplined and the most nationalist of the Tamil militant groups in page eight of the report.

The word ‘ruthless’ means bloodhounds shedding blood and not respecting human. Disciplined means the respect of the human race. This is a very clear contradiction, Minister Rambukwella said.

The report is an effort of one party which wants to stop the progress of Sri Lanka. The report investigated matters concerned with both the LTTE and the Government in order to show that it is unbiased.

The LTTE does not exist now to take action against it. Now the Tamil Diaspora has all financial assets of the LTTE.

Responding to a question posed by a journalist Minister Rambukwella said that the UNP has acted responsibly in connection with ‘Darusman Report’ so far and the report of Bradman Weerakoon should be looked into because he was the head of the Committee which separated the country through the ‘Agreement’ signed with the LTTE. But Wijedasa Rajapaksa did a very scientific analysis with a very good understanding.