President tells Ban Ki-moon:
Substantial progress in SL since end of conflict
* Reminds UN Chief of Darusman Panel
assurance
* Agreement to move forward with
reconciliation
President Mahinda Rajapaksa met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, yesterday. President
briefed the Secretary General on the progress since the end of the
conflict in Sri Lanka including the massive infrastructure development
in the North and the resettlement of the IDPs. President also explained
the measures taken by the government to expedite the reconciliation
process including the continuing talks with the Tamil political parties,
Presidential Spokesman Bandula Jayasekera said in a release from New
York.
The release adds: UN Secretary General expressed satisfaction at
these developments. President Mahinda Rajapaksa reminded the Secretary
General that when the two met in 2010, the Secretary General gave an
assurance that the panel was established only to provide advice to the
Secretary General personally and that it had no investigative role.
The Sri Lankan side read verbatim the minutes kept during the meeting
held in 2010 when they last met. The President also reminded that the
assurances given were not honoured by the panel. President Mahinda
Rajapaksa also brought to the attention of the Secretary General, the
fact that so called Darusman Report had been conveyed to the
Commissioner of Human rights, Navi Pillay without informing the Mission
in New York or the government of Sri Lanka.
President expressed his dissatisfaction at this breach of protocol,
absence of due process and procedure which also undermines credibility
of the UN system.
Secretary General’s team acknowledged that there had been a lapse in
communication and both sides agreed to leave this behind and to move
forward with the essential aspects of reconciliation.
Secretary General also raised the issue of the emergency regulations.
He was advised that emergency regulations had been lifted entirely and
the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was required to be maintained due
to practical necessity such as the need to continue the proscription of
the LTTE.
When the question of the military presence in the north was raised
President Mahinda Rajapaksa said only a relatively small number of
troops continue to stay in the North and they were deployed mainly for
infrastructure development, particularly since there was paucity of
civilian labour in the area.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa was joined by Minister of External
Affairs G L Pieris, MP Sajin Vass Gunewardane, and Secretary to the
President Lalith Weeratunga, Chief of Staff Gamini Senerath, Permanent
Representative Palitha Kohona and Ambassador Jaliya Wickremasuriya.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was joined by Chief of Staff Vijay
Nambiar and Lyn Pascoe, Under Secretary General for Political Affairs. |