Karu responds the report of Srinath Perera Committee

UNP’s Gampaha District MP Karu Jayasuriya has issued a statement on the report submitted by Srinath Perera Committee which investigated the alleged attack on Siri Kotha in mid-December.

On close scrutiny of the report submitted by the Srinath Perera P.C. Committee appointed to investigate and report on the alleged incidents at Siri Kotha on 19 December 2011, on the day of the election of office bearers, it is obvious that the report is a culmination of a pre-conceived partial course of action. It is apparent that this is an attempt to submit a pre determined set of recommendations in the guise of a report.

It is stated in the report “more than 30 individuals gave evidence”. Additionally, the members of the committee had access to the CDs which recorded the incident on this day. Several photographs were submitted to the Committee.

The report states that “there were about 500 persons gathered outside the Siri Kotha premises.” The report further states that the majority of persons who gathered outside were from the group who supported Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa and Dayasiri Jayasekera. It is stated in the observations that “those groups had come there at the request or they were induced by the persons who provided the leadership to the group. In other words it can be stated that it was an ‘organised group’.

This clearly shows the intention of the Committee. The Committee has forgotten or deliberately ignored the fact that on the day of the election, it was prohibited for any outsiders to remain within Siri Kotha premises other than the members of the working committee and their security personnel. The committee has failed to observe that through the evidence or photographs, that there were a group of persons remaining within the Siri Kotha premises unlawfully on the day of the election. It is not reported, why they did not inquire to find out how these persons entered the Siri Kotha premises prior to elections and how they remained inside the premises carrying iron bars and why no one has taken any action to remove them. It was reported in the media how the unarmed people and ladies were assaulted and chased by these groups who remained within Siri Kotha premises unlawfully. If the Committee remains silent when things happen in this manner, what is the real intention of the Committee? The Committee intends to say that these people were organised and directed by us. That is why we state that the report of the Committee is biased.

We need not say that at the time of the election there were groups loyal to Ranil Wickremesinghe, also there were groups opposed to him. It saddened us to note that the Committee has made a shameless effort to punish politically the group which opposed Wickremesinghe. We wish to inform the Committee that those who gathered outside the Siri Kotha premises did not come there at our behest although they were the supporters of the candidates who contested against Ranil Wickremesinghe, they were not ‘Organised Groups’ as suggested by the Committee.

We would like to remind the Committee that when they point an accusing finger at others there are four fingers pointing at them as well.

Report states that according to the evidence placed before them Mr. Sajith Premadasa and I were informed that those who supported us were behaving in an unruly manner. The Committee states in its report that we should have taken action to control them, since we were holding senior positions. If the Committee is unbiased and has acted impartially without calling evidence only from one side, they could have avoided making such statements. At the very first instance when a stone was thrown at Siri Kotha, I attempted to find out what was happening outside the premises where voting was taking place. But I was prevented by the security personnel and the majority of the Working Committee members. It seems, only the Committee is unaware of this fact.

The Committee which was appointed to report on the attack on Siri Kotha has intentionally acted to prove that the attack has taken place with our knowledge.

We wish to inform the Committee which states, “We have evidence that subsequently Karu Jayasuriya, Sajith Premadasa, Dayasiri Jayasekera and few others had gone near the damaged fence and thanked those who were there for the support extended to them”. Whoever carried out the attack at Siri Kotha, we condemned it at that very moment.

I wish to state categorically that we thanked those who came there voluntarily with the belief that there should be a change in the party to make it a winning party; not those who attacked Siri Kotha. If the Committee called for evidence from us as a measure to prepare an impartial and just report, rather than preparing a pre conceived report, we could have emphasised these facts before them. According to the Committee there had been no provocation by the persons who remained within the Siri Kotha premises. “It is obvious that the few who remained within the premises had dismantled the fence which was erected to demarcate the area where the vehicles of the senior party officials are parked, used them to protect themselves.”

With this statement the Committee indirectly accepts that there were some persons within the Siri Kotha premises. Also the Committee makes an attempt to show the innocence of these persons and get away. We condemned this shameful attempt.

The Committee recommends disciplinary action against us, not withstanding these recommendations, they accuse the very same people those who came forward to defuse the situation for instigating the attack. This is an encouragement to banish party activists, those who fight for an ideological change in the party to convert it into a wining political party and to take it along the same old rail.

We blame the Government for adopting double standards in meeting out justice. The way things are happening, we have to ask ourselves whether similar situation prevail within our party. Finally we wish to stress that we must get away from the policy of attacking selected individuals and strive hard to bring together those who have different views to common policy. If we fail to do so, we will be rejected as a political party by the masses. We wish to emphasize that we will devote ourselves until the last moment to fulfill the hopes and expectations of the larger majority of the people and the members of the UNP and to promote unity within the party.