In going through old files to find material to deal with the allegations of the Darusman Report, I came across a number of documents that surely merit wider publicity at this stage. I found for instance the record of the visit of the Norwegian ambassador  to Kilinochchi in 2006, when he reported with regard to Child Recruitment that  -

• Mr Tamilselvan had insisted that the issue of child recruitment does not fall within the paramilitaries (sic) of the CFA, and should not be part of the agenda at the next round of talks. The LTTE feels that the government is only politicizing the issue.

• Mr Bratskar has pointed out that the CFA does mention of the abduction. Since a child cannot voluntarily join the LTTE military force, all recruitment will have to be treated as abduction. He had also argued that looking at the history of the six rounds of talks, there is an acknowledgement that recruitment should not be continued, and that continued recruitment was extremely damaging to the image of the LTTE at the international level.

I have dealt at some length with the serious allegations made by the Darusman Panel, and my detailed responses have now been collected into a book. This will be available later this week at International Book House, 151 A Dharmapala Mawata Colombo 7. It is entitled ‘See No Good, Hear No Good, Speak No Good: the perversions of the Darusman Panel’. However there still remains much to be said. I have rarely come across such a slipshod and vulgar piece of work. The manner in which all rules of language as well as evidence are traduced to put the Sri Lankan government in the dock is positively disgusting. Though in the end what happens will depend, not on facts or justice, but on the political predilections of more powerful nations, I hope anyone studying this exercise will realize that the Panelists should not be taken seriously. It will be a travesty of academic standards and integrity if they are used again for the lucrative political jobs that the international community throws up with predictable regularity.