No…no…n…and NO!
By Sumaiya Rizvi and Dianne Silva
The question and Answer session on the issue
at the press conference
with MInister Mahinda Samarasinghe
Q: Gen. Sarath Fonseka has retracted his statement
and he said that Shavendra Silva had been given instructions by the Secretary of Defence
to disregard the white flags and shoot at the LTTE leaders
but he as the commander of the Army decided to ignore it.
In that sense your allegation seems baseless?
A: Sarath Fonseka did not say anything of that sort
but newspapers have been reporting that he had said this (Sarath Fonseka’s retracted statement)
I’m yet to see a categorical statement from him, saying that it was a mistake.
The Sunday Leader editor stands by her story even when my secretary had spoken to the Sunday Leader editor.
She has quotes attributed to him in that article.
Now Brig. Shavendra Silva, Brigadier of the 58th Division had said in an interview
to a weekly English newspaper last weekend, that no such orders were given to him.
What more do you want. He was the man on the ground at that time,
not like Sarath Fonseka who was not even in the country at the time.
This is coming from the horse’s mouth I would say.
Q: What is the response from you for what Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha had said on Monday
to the Daily Mirror that he had responded on behalf of the government to Alston.
His response was that the General Fonseka had retracted his statement
and therefore it was like the general hadn’t said it
-and it was invalid to base his claims on an invalid statement.
A: I can tell you that no such official response had been sent.
No I’m telling you that no such statement had been sent to Prof. Alston,
I’m the Minister of that Ministry you can quote me on that.
We will be sending a consolidated statement
on behalf of the government of Sri Lanka in reply to Prof. Alston in due course.
Q: Secretary of your ministry said that he had responded on behalf of the government
to the query that was sent to him on behalf of the GOSL
by the Sri Lanka’s permanent representative at the UN,
which was also carbon copied to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,
Attorney General Mohan Peiris and the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Romesh Jayasinghe.
A: I’m ultimately responsible for responses that need to be sent.
No such response has been sent. He (Rajiva Wijesinghe) may have contemplated in sending.
No response has been sent to Alston. You can take it from me that that is the official position.
For a response to be sent to Alston it has to be sent to the foreign ministry,
from there to our permanent representative at the UN and our permanent representative
will have to hand it over to Alston. Nothing has been done up to now (yesterday afternoon).
Q: What you’re saying now
and what the Secretary to your Ministry Prof. Wijesinghe had said on Monday are two contradictory statements?
A: Now you don’t go and report and say that I contradicted Prof. Wijesinghe.
I was not doing that. I simply told you that no official response had been sent.
No, I know what is going on in your mind.
So don’t do that. Don’t add salt to the wound.
Q: But the Prof. said that he had already sent the response on behalf of the government?
A: You have to ask him (Wijesinghe) about that but I can tell you that no official statement has been sent from my ministry the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry to which he is the Secretary. The position of the government is in the making. We will send it and ensure we send a copy to you.
By Sumaiya Rizvi and Dianne Silva
The question and Answer session on the issue
at the press conference
with MInister Mahinda Samarasinghe
Q: Gen. Sarath Fonseka has retracted his statement
and he said that Shavendra Silva had been given instructions by the Secretary of Defence
to disregard the white flags and shoot at the LTTE leaders
but he as the commander of the Army decided to ignore it.
In that sense your allegation seems baseless?
A: Sarath Fonseka did not say anything of that sort
but newspapers have been reporting that he had said this (Sarath Fonseka’s retracted statement)
I’m yet to see a categorical statement from him, saying that it was a mistake.
The Sunday Leader editor stands by her story even when my secretary had spoken to the Sunday Leader editor.
She has quotes attributed to him in that article.
Now Brig. Shavendra Silva, Brigadier of the 58th Division had said in an interview
to a weekly English newspaper last weekend, that no such orders were given to him.
What more do you want. He was the man on the ground at that time,
not like Sarath Fonseka who was not even in the country at the time.
This is coming from the horse’s mouth I would say.
Q: What is the response from you for what Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha had said on Monday
to the Daily Mirror that he had responded on behalf of the government to Alston.
His response was that the General Fonseka had retracted his statement
and therefore it was like the general hadn’t said it
-and it was invalid to base his claims on an invalid statement.
A: I can tell you that no such official response had been sent.
No I’m telling you that no such statement had been sent to Prof. Alston,
I’m the Minister of that Ministry you can quote me on that.
We will be sending a consolidated statement
on behalf of the government of Sri Lanka in reply to Prof. Alston in due course.
Q: Secretary of your ministry said that he had responded on behalf of the government
to the query that was sent to him on behalf of the GOSL
by the Sri Lanka’s permanent representative at the UN,
which was also carbon copied to Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa,
Attorney General Mohan Peiris and the Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Romesh Jayasinghe.
A: I’m ultimately responsible for responses that need to be sent.
No such response has been sent. He (Rajiva Wijesinghe) may have contemplated in sending.
No response has been sent to Alston. You can take it from me that that is the official position.
For a response to be sent to Alston it has to be sent to the foreign ministry,
from there to our permanent representative at the UN and our permanent representative
will have to hand it over to Alston. Nothing has been done up to now (yesterday afternoon).
Q: What you’re saying now
and what the Secretary to your Ministry Prof. Wijesinghe had said on Monday are two contradictory statements?
A: Now you don’t go and report and say that I contradicted Prof. Wijesinghe.
I was not doing that. I simply told you that no official response had been sent.
No, I know what is going on in your mind.
So don’t do that. Don’t add salt to the wound.
Q: But the Prof. said that he had already sent the response on behalf of the government?
A: You have to ask him (Wijesinghe) about that but I can tell you that no official statement has been sent from my ministry the Disaster Management and Human Rights Ministry to which he is the Secretary. The position of the government is in the making. We will send it and ensure we send a copy to you.
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