Bold Laugfs Chief criticises UN panel report

Friday, 29 April 2011 02:16 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

In a bold move and perhaps the first openly by a business leader, Laugfs Holdings Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya has criticised the controversial report by the UN’s Expert Panel on Sri Lanka.

Wegapitiya, who is a member of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FCCISL) and Immediate Past President of Chamber of Young Lankan Entrepreneurs, said the so-called Expert Panel appointed by the UNSG clearly stands in the way of national reconciliation and inevitable economic development of the country in the aftermath of the war.

Here is the full statement issued by Wegapitiya:

We, as ordinary citizens, businessmen, workers or students, irrespective of ethnicity, suffered most for 30 years in the hands of the brutally of a ruthless terrorist outfit and it was our heroic forces and political leadership that liberated this country from the scourge of terrorism. The report under the cover of advising the UNSG suggests we pay the price for not heeding calls to stop the final assault against these terrorists.

Over 30 years, a countless number of deliberately targeted civilians of all communities died in the south of terrorist acts of suicide bombing, claymore mine attacks and indiscriminate shooting and no one considered those as war crimes and no calls were made for war crime tribunals. Instead, their usual communiqués were phrased with simple and half-hearted condemnations and advice for negotiated settlement with this terrorist organisation.

It is appropriate to recall the plight of 600 policemen who surrendered to terrorists in the east in the late ’80s, who were subsequently killed mercilessly by them. Was this not a war crime? Also, at the final phase of the war, the so-called advisory panel, which was supposed to have looked into it, conveniently ignored the plight of the thousands of heroic soldiers, who were kept as prisoners of war under appalling conditions. They finally disappeared without a trace when the terrorists were retreating. Are those not war crimes committed in blatant violation of the Geneva Convention?

The so-called expert panel report is full of factual inaccuracies, contradictions, speculation, rumours, hearsay and allegations without substance and it lacks the professionalism of experts. It is more or less like a mediocre report produced by a bunch of junior researchers. The UNSG himself has exposed the expertise of his own panel by rejecting outright its advice and recommendation to appoint a war crime tribunal and these experts who are total outsiders of the UN system demonstrated to the whole world their absolute lack of regard for the UN Charter and Conventions.

In almost 30 years of my life, until our heroic solders defeated the ruthless LTTE terrorists, what we experienced were hopelessness of our future, risk of lives and above all uncertainty of being able to see peace in our country. It is sad to note that many of our Sri Lankans have forgotten the suffering we all went through in the past as a country as a result of the LTTE’s brutality. We should not forget how the international community helped us to resolve this issue. Hence, I state that the report by the so-called expert panel appointed by the UNSG clearly stands in the way of national reconciliation and inevitable economic development of the country in the aftermath of the war.