Ban Ki Moon gets ‘counter report’

Saturday, 23 February 2013 00:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ambassador to the UN in New York Palitha Kohona and the permanent representatives of four other member states yesterday handed a report on Sri Lanka over to global body’s Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.

The submission, which Inner City Press says is believed to be a ‘contrary’ report was handed over to the UN Secretary General by Ambassador Kohona and Japan’s Permanent Representative Tsuneo Nishida, and Permanent Representatives Abulkalam Abdul Momen of Bangladesh and Simona Mirela Miculescu of Romania and Usman Sarka, Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria.

Nishida told Secretary General Ban Ki Moon that “Sri Lanka is an important country” and “this morning we would like to present our report,” the New York based Inner City Press reported.

It said that the meeting was closed to the media thereafter.

A brief video showed the Permanent Representatives posing for photographs and sitting down for discussions about the report.

It is not immediately clear whether the report is a response to the UN Panel of Experts Report that the Sri Lankan Government has dubbed the ‘Darusman Report’ or whether it is a counter report to what UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay will table at the UNHRC Session in Geneva that opens on Monday (25) or a separate report altogether.

However Sri Lankan envoys in capitals around the world have been instructed to submit reports on Sri Lanka to host Governments, it is learnt.