Petrie report dismissed as ‘unsubstantiated and bias’
(Mirror) - The Government today (Nov. 23) termed the allegations levelled against it in the internal review panel report on UN action in Sri Lanka as “unsubstantiated, erroneous and replete with conjecture and bias.”
“However, some of the issues raised in the report are of grave concern to Sri Lanka, and should not be construed as the accepted position,” the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
The report of the UN Secretary General’s Internal Review Panel on UN action in Sri Lanka is also known as the “Petrie Report.”
While noting that both these Reports are internal advisories to the UN, the ministry stated that it is disconcerting that both the Darusman Report and the Petrie Report came into the public domain initially through a leak.
“………the unacceptable procedure of leaking has been resorted to, establishing a disturbing pattern which brings into question the bona fides of the authorship of the document and its underlying motivation,” the statement said.
The internal inquiry concluded that the UN’s own conduct during the final months of Sri Lanka’s war marked a “grave failure.”
The ministry’s statement said the report seems to seek to “endorse the baseless and discredited allegations in the Darusman Report,” of civilian casualty figures during the last stages of the terrorist conflict, which has not been agreed upon even among the senior UN officials at the time.
“While this Report is an internal review of the UN’s action in Sri Lanka during the terrorist conflict, the Ministry’s attention has been drawn to certain issues with regard to allegations directed at the Government of Sri Lanka, which are regrettably unsubstantiated, erroneous and replete with conjecture and bias,” the ministry said.
It finally said that initial statements emanating from some countries seem to disregard the fact that the basic purpose of the Report was to engage in a critical appraisal of the UN system’s performance.
“Ignoring this vital aspect, they have taken the opportunity to resort to criticism of the GoSL in a manner that reflects patent bias and unwillingness to examine the developments with any degree of objectivity,” it said.
