Thu, May 30, 2013, 07:22 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.![]()
May 30, Colombo: Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda has said that the allegations leveled against him in the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 - Sri Lanka by the United States State Department were unsubstantiated and false.
In a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, Devananda has reportedly questioned the reliability of information presented in the report, especially as the report had several errors.
Quoting from the report, Minister Devananda has said the report had even listed his ministry wrong, and the consistency of the subordinates who had prepared the report was unreliable.
According to Country Report on Human Rights Practices, though the number of killings associated with pro-government paramilitary groups had declined, "there were persistent reports that the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda, engaged in intimidation, extortion, corruption, and violence against civilians in Jaffna. For example, on 4 March, EPDP member, Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran, sexually abused and killed 13-year-old Jesudasan Lakshini."
Devananda has denied that the EPDP was involved in any act of violence and intimidation and has also claimed that Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran was not a member of the EPDP, as neither he nor the law enforcement authorities had identified him as a member of the party.
"For the last few years, your State Department as well as other various U.S. authorities were giving false and unsubstantiated information or allegations, totally discrediting the image of the party, EPDP, and me, in spite of the fact that I have been continuously and democratically elected to Parliament and function as a responsible Minister in Sri Lanka. Based on these false allegations leveled against my party and my activities, most of your officers and diplomats have been persuaded to form a biased and adverse opinion regarding the EPDP and my political activities," Devananda had said in his letter to Secretary Kerry.
May 30, Colombo: Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda has said that the allegations leveled against him in the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012 - Sri Lanka by the United States State Department were unsubstantiated and false.
In a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, Devananda has reportedly questioned the reliability of information presented in the report, especially as the report had several errors.
Quoting from the report, Minister Devananda has said the report had even listed his ministry wrong, and the consistency of the subordinates who had prepared the report was unreliable.
According to Country Report on Human Rights Practices, though the number of killings associated with pro-government paramilitary groups had declined, "there were persistent reports that the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), led by Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare, Douglas Devananda, engaged in intimidation, extortion, corruption, and violence against civilians in Jaffna. For example, on 4 March, EPDP member, Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran, sexually abused and killed 13-year-old Jesudasan Lakshini."
Devananda has denied that the EPDP was involved in any act of violence and intimidation and has also claimed that Kanthasuwamy Jagadeswaran was not a member of the EPDP, as neither he nor the law enforcement authorities had identified him as a member of the party.
"For the last few years, your State Department as well as other various U.S. authorities were giving false and unsubstantiated information or allegations, totally discrediting the image of the party, EPDP, and me, in spite of the fact that I have been continuously and democratically elected to Parliament and function as a responsible Minister in Sri Lanka. Based on these false allegations leveled against my party and my activities, most of your officers and diplomats have been persuaded to form a biased and adverse opinion regarding the EPDP and my political activities," Devananda had said in his letter to Secretary Kerry.