Tale of two govts or Two of the same!
Posted on November 5th, 2015

Gomin Dayasri Courtesy The Daily Mirror

Sadly the government is trying to belittle the Paranagama Report to prevent MR from scoring points… the previous administration’s high officials’ and its few Cabinet Ministers that could read English were lazy to read a lengthy text…. That is the kindest excuse  …

Fortunes of a nation lie on a trunk of a leader. If the heart of Mahinda Rajapaksa were attached to the mind of Ranil Wickremesinghe, the nation could come smelling of roses after the war. Patriotic sentiments blended neatly with worldly wisdom. It was not to be. Becomes a land of a splintered torso.

Who is Boss? Need is for a Boss of Bosses – Capo di Cape.

President Sirisena wisely leaves thorny issues with a foreign component to his better-educated Prime Minister than to the sartorially elegant Foreign Minister. 
President Sirisena falls into the frame, in search of politics. Ceremonially presided over the All Party Conference, a showcase of no value blown to make a President look regal on television. Any equation in modern Sri Lanka is a bare cupboard without Mahinda Rajapaksa [MR] for the good, bad or ugly.

The Prime Minister placed the Udalagama Report in Parliament setting the findings in Muttur, Sencholai and Trincomalee incidents along with 14 others on war crimes. Though presented to MR, never was the Report released to the public.

Suppression gave rise to unnecessary suspicion. MR never read it or possibly had bare conclusions read to him or more likely, had the gist conveyed. Being an able man, he would have placed it in the public domain, as credit was his, only if he had bothered
to study?

Honour the true author of the script of the Udalagama Report posthumously- doughty Douglas Premaratne P.C. (Former Solicitor General). Useful contributions came from Javid Usoof (former Ambassador) and Jezima Ismail (leading educationist).The credit goes to the trio that formed the brains’ trust behind the compilation of the report. Nissanka Udalagama spent his time in office enjoying perks of a Chairman lending his title of being an ex-Supreme Court Judge to the Report.

“We dropped a sitter with the ‘Action Plan’ when lackadaisical Lalith Weeratunga and G.L. Peiris forfeited a way out of international inquiry during the Rajapaksa days and now it’s another dropped chance with the Paranagama Report, where we can wave as a friendly flag to display a credible mechanism is in place and to canvass for a truly domestic inquiry where foreign experts are required to help us with their skills and foreign observers to sit –not as judges, prosecutors, counsel and investigators but to give legitimacy.”


The Udalagama Report contained sufficient substance to merit spreading it to save our good name as culprits were found: some exonerated and still more listed for investigation.

MR is averse and allergic to reading. Sadly, it does not broaden minds. Nothing – repeat – nothing happens thereafter, because high officials don’t read and politicians don’t know the contents in reports. Maxwell Paranagama is much smarter than Udalagama, but the style, turn of phrase and depth in law seen in his Report are beyond the comprehension of a retired judge. Paranagama is above the ordinary, yet the footnotes give way to footprints of extraordinary ability beyond the capacity of its simple authors. Dare say, there was value in engaging foreign experts.

Lalith Weeratunga, was a heartbeat away from the President – slept over the Udalagama and LLRC reports as he did with the ‘Action Plan’ presented to Clinton. Lalith Weeratunga to Rajapaksa was no Wijeyadasa or Paskaralingam to Premadasa. A man of integrity in whose feeble hands much work remained undone, been a failure in the art of delegation. Holding matters close to his kind heart was his style in gaining authority in a closed society.

The Paranagama Report executed by MR invited experts to bolster Paranagama in an effort to thwart the efforts of the West to demonise the war.

None have given sufficient credit to MR for a brilliant manoeuvre since he has gone underground with the surfacing of corruption allegations that surrounds his administration. Ushering peace was his true greatness but to sustain it with proper governance was his weakness.

“Government called the Paranagama Report worse than the UNHRC report to show its ignorance of the Report, which after considering all the options available, as mandated, recommends a local inquiry – comprehensively domestic in character without foreign participation.”

Wickremesinghe laid the Paranagama Report on the Parliamentary table – replete with value added insights of the foreign experts –Sir Desmond de Silva Q.C, Professor Geoffrey Nice Q.C (UK) and David N. Crane (USA) inclusive of the brilliant military report of Major General John Holmes. There lies a magic portion- not in the names but in the contents of their report. More authentic than the Darusman report; it examined hard evidence from the local scene along with the material gathered by Darusman from overseas focusing on the charges. Unlike the Darusman’s report it is not an ex-parte hearing. The Paranagama Team shifted and arranged the evidence to arraign it before a more authoritative body for a final conclusion.

Lawyer Darusman, should have declined the assignment if he had an iota of self-respect having previously censured Sri Lanka on human rights. He was unfit to chair a committee to probe human rights having slated Sri Lanka in writing at the time of exiting as an Eminent Person to the Udalagama Commission, which he never attended and operated via a foreign representative in Sri Lanka.

Why did Ban-kin-moon with the whole world before him select biased Darusman disqualified on natural justice as chairman?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by an erudite law professor neglected to disqualify Darusman and cried over the spilt milk after the event. The Experts report headed by Sir Desmond considered the allegations made in the Darusman’s report and Chanel 4 documentaries and other criticisms and tossed it against the live evidence and gave a more balanced appraisal. The cutting edge is in the assessment of the White Flag story, deaths of Balachandran, Isaipriya and Colonel Ramesh – finds the material provided inadequate to reach a conclusion and makes a call for fuller inquiry, since it has a semblance of accuracy – realistic and reasonable, leaving conclusions to a comprehensive inquiry.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by an erudite law professor neglected to disqualify Darusman and cried over the spilt milk after the event.”

Surely, the Paranagama Report would not please the ultra – Sinhala or Tamil opinion -therein lies its true potential. It does not cater for extreme elements.
This Report reinforces our capability of creating transparent domestic tribunals to hear war crimes sans foreign intervention. Government must not bow to the international community and become their servile lap dog. Last government made us live in an island like Robinson Crusoe and this government is taking on a cruise in the western waters in an effort to throw us over board.  The Paranagama Report, with foreign expertise, brings credit to the Rajapaksa regime for selecting and initiating men of repute to assess Sri Lanka dispassionately. This report was in the hands of this government at the relevant time but was not presented to the UNHRC for reasons unknown. If presented UNHRC would have known the flip side to the Darusman edition and our responses to the charges in the Darusman report. Foreign Minister’s failure to bring it to the notice of the UNHRC has led to hybrid tribunals and to an agreement we signed making it bind multi polar.

Where do we go from here? To renegotiate to make it a truly domestic inquiry by carrying the Paranagama Report to display our credentials of capability and capacity for a fair trial.

On Channel 4 the Expert’s Report submits it provides enough material to form a reasonable basis to believe war crimes may have been committed warranting investigation”; on the white flag incident suggests that a judicial inquiry is necessary and believes more should be probed on the deaths of Balachandran (Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old-son) Shoba alias Isaipriya the pretty broadcaster and Colonel Ramesh since material provided by Channel 4 is insufficient proof. These deductions are made after examining the credibility of every source material and reaching a finding of a prima facie case made against the offenders but reaches no conclusions by pinpointing  names, as it requires proof of a higher degree to prove charges. Unlike the Darusman Report, travel is not on a one-way fault street but on a dual carriage moderating and assessing facts against the background of the relevant laws.

Furthermore, on available evidence it dismisses the charge of genocide and does not accept the allegation of 40,000 or fewer deaths caused by the defence services or in the absence of evidence and is in tandem with the UNHRC’s report that states the LTTE caused deaths of unaccounted Tamils civilians during the last phase.

Was it not presented to the UNHRC in being a product of the Mahinda  Rajapaksa administration or did they not study the report as required to learn of its true value? Are we playing politics while the nation bleeds? Opposition is asking for opinions furnished by the experts instead of nudging the report to the UNHRC? Stupidity has reached new heights with the fault lying with Foreign Ministry officials in not briefing the politicians and the public – trained as butlers with servility to murmur Yes, Your Excellency” obligingly.

We dropped a sitter with the ‘Action Plan’ when lackadaisical Lalith Weeratunga and G.L. Peiris forfeited a way out of international inquiry during the Rajapaksa days and now it’s another dropped chance with the Paranagama Report, where we can wave as a friendly flag to display a credible mechanism is in place and to canvass for a truly domestic inquiry where foreign experts are required to help us with their skills and foreign observers to sit –not as judges, prosecutors, counsel and investigators but to give legitimacy.

The Government called the Paranagama Report worse than the UNHRC report to show its ignorance of the Report, which after considering all the options available, as mandated, recommends a local inquiry – comprehensively domestic in character without foreign participation.

The Udalagama Commission had a French judge of eminence and Japanese observer present till near end of the sittings and the foreign eminent persons or their agents were permitted (When present unlike Darusman who was permanently absent) to cross – examine witnesses. Sadly the government is trying to belittle the Paranagama Report to prevent MR from scoring points; just as much as the previous administration kept under its wraps the Udalagama Report – since the previous administration’s high officials’ and its few Cabinet Ministers that can read English was lazy to read a lengthy text. That is the kindest excuse on offer. The TNA opposed the Paranagama Report and our great nationalists fail to play an ace in hand. Instead these good people play the wrong card and do a great disservice to the nation on the pretext of being patriotic by misreading the Paranagama Report, our fast disappearing final frontier. We suffer, as both governments are the same. – See more at: http://www.dailymirror.lk/93905/tale-of-two-govts-or-two-of-the-same#sthash.QwmJxaLl.dpuf

15 Responses to “Tale of two govts or Two of the same!”

  1. LANKAPUTHRA Says:

    Nice thing about GOMIN, is he never reply to my comments. He knows who I am.

    To start with, “SAD THE GOVERNMENT” What is the government you are talking about? Do you know of any country in this world, who has a man called Prime Minister who is above the Law? He can, when he wants, stop a MP from talking about any relevant subject in the parliament? Example: Udaya Gammanpila was stopped and was threned to suspend him from Parliament until he is elected in the next election? Next to the last sentence above the first photograph. “Better Educated Prime Minister” ? What,? PANIL PUNK IS ONLY A attorney-at-Law! (PERAKADORUWA). He never sat for the SL Bar exam! He was in a cage like MR’s son with the Principal of LAW College. So you call educated. MUSLIM OBAMA has a team in Los Angeles, that writes articles for him. OBAMA’s staff headed by Dr. Mendes (who lives in the White House) then coaches RANIL PUNK how to present the speech in the Parliament or at a news conference. Recently RANIL PUNK laughs before he starts the speech! Why! it is an old disinformation tac-tic when the presenter wants to distract the audience from the main topic he she uses it. By the way majority shares of Daily Mirror is owned by RANIL PUNK, which MUSLIM OBAMA created in 2006 and it is cannot be easily found? CIA / FBI account. I will give you an example: As soon as he became the so called Prime Minister, (We have forgotten the 60 days, OBAMA Dis-information department did a super job of this) he gave a speech in the Parliament about GOTHAM Buddha’s family “THE ASTECS”. Gomin, do you think RANIL PUNK has the intelligence read and assimilate Gotham Buddha’s family tree? His speech writers in Australia wrote it using a book published by a criminal who runs a home for children without a homes. He supplies, little girls and boys for top Australian government offices and he is above the LAW, there. I refer to a book this criminal has written and published by: Buddhist Cultural Center 125 Anderson Road, Nadimala, Dhiwala, Sri Lanka, ISBN : 955-8873-41-1. Printed by Ajith Press Boralasgamuwa, SL. His name he does not give as the editor, (May be for Legal reasons) but one name in there is; VAN KIRAMA WIMALAJOTHI (What a name!). MUSILM OBAMA made it so one cannot tract it to the source of reference. Thanks again for bringing the issue to the open, but I do not know how this will end up.

  2. Lorenzo Says:

    SLs deserve better than BOTH the last govt. and this govt.

  3. Independent Says:

    Yaha Paalana’ minister Fowzie’s secretary in land grabbing
    – Nov 04, 2015

    ‘Yaha Paalana’ minister Fowzie’s secretary in land grabbing

    When appointing secretaries to ministries of the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government, the president had issued a directive to appoint those free of corruption and fraud.

    Notwithstanding that advice, Fowzie too, got a ministry allocated for the SLFP. Appointed as secretary to that ministry was a person by the name Suhail. During the Chandrika Bandaranaike period too, he held a position at an institution, and for a short period of the 100 day government, he was appointed a director of Rupavahini Corporation.

    His house is located at Rosmead Place, and his next door neighbour was an NGO member by the name Jeevantha Raja. Suhail started extending the boundary of his property and built a fence by taking over more than four perches of Jeevantha Raja’s land. Jeevantha Raja lodged a complaint with Cinnamon Garden police.

    Summoned to police, Suhail claimed his political affiliations and influenced the investigation, and warned an immediate stop, as he was having close connections with the president.

    Anyhow, Jeevantha Raja managed to inform president about the injustice done to him, and Suhail came under fire from the president.

    But, not stopping there, Suhail used underworld thugs and has got Jeevantha Raja’s son assaulted. After that, Jeevantha Raja’s wife and son left for England, and he had to live alone at his Rosmead Place home.

    So far, the relevant authorities have not taken any legal action with regard to this land dispute owing to intimidation by Suhail.

    There is a question as to why the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government is retaining such a corrupt person in a key position. There are many corruption accusations against him. Among them is the swindling of Rs. 70 million through the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission to telecast tele dramas. He has also demanded a big sum from Ruwan Wijewardena to grant a private television channel license, and when he refused to agree, Suhail had sent messages to him through Wijaya Newspapers editors that he could give the license, but at a big payment.

    The question here is how come a person who is accused of massive financial fraud and fights over others’ properties has got hold of a position in the ‘Yaha Paalana’ government.

  4. Independent Says:

    Any idiot can read and understand Paranagama report. How could it be worse than Muslim bugger’s report ? This government is insulting public intelligence openly and unashamedly.

    Government has no reason to do so. This nonsense is over any way, as long as this government in power and don’t do stupid things like beating students repeatedly.
    However, if they keep on behaving like previous fools, problem will arise again.

  5. Independent Says:

    Are we to create 10000 AF Lokkas to rescue Rata , Jaathiya , Aagama and expect the world to remain silent ?

  6. Kumari Says:

    I have noticed Gomin Dayasiri writing some irrelevant articles that is not keeping with readers expectations nor his education and experiece. As I am not standing to loose anything I could open my mouth and say that Rajapakse was the best choice Sri Lanka had since independence. Not only did he finish the war and saved thousands of lives, he developed the country at such a pace where no other country has seen anything like that. He did all this when the peace angels of the world were using every trick on the book to frame him. He protected us and the country going into great lengths. He was an example to the world. Leader among leaders.

    The current lot cannot even hold a candle to Rajapakse. So, don’t waste time comparing the two regimes.

  7. LANKAPUTHRA Says:

    GOMIN, you have an excellent statement above, Government Must not bow down to erudite law professor? This government or MR government? Both are law professors? Yes, MR MUST Change with time if not the country will be destroyed by dis-information, paid vandals. Once that cannot read and understand English must get a translation, but will that be enough because a lengthy legal document will take time to absorb, but the reader must be a dedicated person. See how the 18th amendment was passed few could understand it. Charles Perera read it and found out the dictatorial powers bestowed; powers, on to the Prime Minister. Then he published it on the Lankaweb. Your article is an eye opener to every Patriotic Sri Lankan living in SL or aboard. Keep at it. Students, workers at all levels and ordinary people will wake up.

  8. Independent Says:

    Lakputha,
    I am one of the rare ones here to declare that “ONLY Sri Lankan leader who openly said (in a different way) “India is our Enemy”.
    MR said “India is our Friend”, big LIE. How can it be ?, obviously they created LTTE to kill us. Even Ranil punk did not say “India is our friend and relative”. He said he will shoot the encroachers.
    I respect JR for his honest open direct speech. He was very clear.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZncOQfvtVcU

    He said “they want to capture the whole of Sri Lanka, not just North”. How true.
    But I don’t love him. He wasted the golden opportunity he got in 1977. He had the opportunity but failed.

    But what you said is completely false. ” So they went to US state department. Jawaharlal was readily available.”. How can it be ? Those days Indians were on Soviet Union’s side. They cannot go to US state department.

  9. Dilrook Says:

    A hard-hitting account by Gomin, an expert on the subject. The present government is known and publicly anti-Sri Lankan.

    Please allow me to differ on some matters of crucial importance.

    My only concern is the continuation of Sri Lanka as a unitary state and protection of war heroes who made so many sacrifices for a safe nation.

    Paranagama lost credibility among Sri Lankans with the LLRC report. The LLRC report omitted many submissions that benefit the Sinhala community. It picked only those submissions that benefit Tamils. I have first hand account of this.

    The only difference in useless Darusman report and Paranagama report (with inserts from Sir Desmond’s report) is the allegation of war crimes culpability of events before May 17, 2009. The former blames the military and political leadership for war crimes while the latter denies all war crimes. This is nothing to celebrate. Even the US state department report of 2015 said this.

    However, the dangerous similarity of Darusman report and Paranagama report is both allege possible war crimes on and after May 17, 2009. To quote the article, “The cutting edge is in the assessment of the White Flag story, deaths of Balachandran, Isaipriya and Colonel Ramesh – finds the material provided inadequate to reach a conclusion and makes a call for fuller inquiry, since it has a semblance of accuracy – realistic and reasonable, leaving conclusions to a comprehensive inquiry.”

    In plain English, killing terrorist leaders including Prabakaran and the next level of terrorists may constitute a war crime and Channel 4 and other “evidence” provided in that regard have a “semblance of accuracy – realistic and reasonable”. This is outrageous. It is an attempt to implicate war heroes for ending the war and preventing Elam War 5 while saving politicians by breaking the chain of command.

    This is not a good approach because if army soldiers and officers are subject to a “comprehensive inquiry” as Paranagama report demands, it will become a witch-hunt. No soldier will take blame and will pass it upwards. No officer will take blame and pass it upward. For certainty, Fonseka will not take blame and pass it upward! Ultimately, the very people the commissions tries to save will be implicated along with a large number of soldiers and officers. This is why the Paranagama report is suicidal.

    Instead, the Paranagama report should have rejected all “semblance of accuracy” on the White Flag story, deaths of Balachandran, Isaipriya and Colonel Ramesh. In that case, I would support it. Not otherwise.

    As Gomin says, Udalagama, Paranagama and Sir Desmond’s reports must be translated to Sinhala so that parliamentarians, ordinary people and soldiers can understand. This affects the lives of soldiers very badly and they need to know what the government appointed commissions say about their action. Now you will know why these reports were not translated to Sinhala. Both the previous and the current governments are trying to fool non-English speaking soldiers.

    I reject the claim that those who oppose Paranagama report are Sinhala (and Tamil) extremists. It is irrelevant.

  10. Independent Says:

    What a mess ? Udalagam, LLRC, Paranagama and Desmond.

    Golden opportunity in May 2009 completely destroyed by now. Who is responsible ?

    LLRC was a complete failure. It is biased against the Sinhalaya and it became a burden to the nation than a credible mechanism for a new start.

    Dilrook’s passing up the blame is hypothetical. Here we are talking about isolated incidents, including white flag drama. White flag drama did not happen. So the problem ends there.

    It is not possible to save individual soldiers who have committed isolated offences, even Gammanpila recently openly said they should be punished.

    Pranagama report is designed the way Dilrook said. It is purposely mad to send individual soldiers to gallows and Air-Con bosses to escape. This is called Sinhala Buddhist gratefulness.

  11. Lorenzo Says:

    JR gets my respect for that BOLD stand but LOSES it for 13 amendment.

    People rejected ENDIAN RELATIVES at the election but SUPPORTED ENDIAN pawns. Remember SALMAN KHAN and JAQILNE F. election drama during the last election? How intelligent!!

    That was a SURE GIVE AWAY that someone was losing the election. Hiring BOLLYWOOD crooks to win popularity. I think that made him more unpopular.

  12. LANKAPUTHRA Says:

    Independent and Lorenzo, Let me explain Independent’s observation. On the surface India was with the Soviet Block as you state. NO India was with Marshal TITO. Tito was against the Soviet Block. But not exactly with US. US gave Tito manufacture US agricultural Tractors etc., Now how did the nuclear technology get to India? FROM USA. Original Head of Nuclear Bomb development under Jawaharlal was MITTI BABA, a Muslim. He died in an air liner crash in Switzerland. Then Jawaharlal died and INDRA took over she used another Muslim, the last president of India as the chief scientist. To cover up the operation, India used Jimmy Carter’s Mother and Mother Theresa. Now how Pakistan got the Bomb is also difficult to explain to the Naked eye. I.Q. Khan was working in India and did some basic research on the subject. As soon as he got all the material he crossed via Khyber to Pakistan. This why USA was acting as a double agent. Only person who could have handled this was JRJ, but he had domestic problem at that time the Hinnawa Pramadase. He has threatened JRJ many times including two cabinet ministers. India was channeling US aid to military projects since the time of Jawaharlal. So Lorenzo, JRJ loosing on 13th is not a self motivated effort to prolong his presidency. For any body’s information, Ranil Punk withdrew his statement and apologized. Then and then only he got a visa to go to India. Remember Ranil Punk was deported from India during MR’s time.

  13. NAK Says:

    I am bewildered why Gomin,who is with a better education and greater wisdom than I am,never see the reality that this whole human rights and war crimes saga which was started by the then US Ambassador Robert o’ Blake who was determined to drag MR and GR to the ICC in the Hague for disobeying him by destroying the LTTE high command which he wanted to save.
    If the complaints were about any violations by indvidual military personnel,this could have been resovled easily in a very short period. But the LTTE diaspora egged by the western governments made sure that the issue was kept alive for a regime change and what ever the MR administration did was not acceptable to them.
    If MR managed to retain power he would have submitted both the Udalagama and Paranagama reports along with annexations of sir desmond de Silva and other prominent personnel appointed to advice those commissions to the last Geneva meetings of the commission and annul all the alligations against SL.

  14. Fran Diaz Says:

    Cold Wars are the bane of life in Sri Lanka, It is a killer of innocent people of Lanka. Lanka is not allowed to be Non-Aligned and free of other peoples’ wars.

    Robert Blake wanted SL Army to fight in Afghanistan – a sure death spot. MR said ‘no’. Ranil said some weeks ago that ‘the Army must be prepared to fight cross borders’. What did he mean ?

    I think Ranil is still in Cold War mode. The actual Cold War finished in 1991 and Russia is a part of the NATO. Hello, Ranil, wake up !

  15. LANKAPUTHRA Says:

    Ranil Punk was deported by Mon Mohan Singh then Prime Minister. Under the advice of MR. He then went to UK and met Tony Blair. What happened after that I cannot remember.

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