United approach essential to face Darusman Report

By Manjula FERNANDO

A senior solicitor who is an authority on international law and who work closely with UN bodies in Geneva and New York to safeguard the interests of Sri Lanka said we as a nation have never encountered an international threat of enormous magnitude in the post independence era, referring to the report of the UN Secretary General's advisory panel.

He said it was important to appreciate and respond to this report professionally and according to international norms without giving into anger and the urge for irrational reaction. "It is important to engage the best possible human resources, which the country has in abundance, to counter the report."

He said a concerted effort also backed by the Opposition is the need of the hour. There are certain political reconciliatory and strategic moves which nobody other than the President of the country can do to get all the people behind him - to get all people who are severely polarized these days, united under the flag of Sri Lanka.

There had been times in Geneva when India came under very serious criticism over events in Kashmir. On some of those occasions, the Indian delegation was led by none other than the then leader of the Opposition of the Indian Lok Sabha. That gesture signalled to the world that entire India is together behind the State. In such a situation it will not be easy to intrude on the sovereignty of a country.

"I think we too have to move towards a similar culture because this is a threat of a very serious nature. This is not only a threat to the President. This is a threat to the entire country including members of the National Security Council and our field commanders of the three Forces."

"We have to necessarily forget about our petty political divisions, various other socio-political factions that polarize our people. This can be done more importantly by the State extending various reconciliatory measures and getting the people and its leaders to unite behind it."

He noted that the setting up of the panel was totally outside the mandate of the Secretary General. "He had absolutely no business. He had acted in an unprecedented manner. All this is clear. This was an utter witch hunt. But the truth is that he is not doing it by himself. This has nothing to do with Ban ki-moon. It has so much to do with these other powerful countries."

"There will never be a panel of Experts appointed to analyze whether there was a violation of international humanitarian law and intrusion into the sovereignty of Pakistan covering the Osama bin Laden operation," he expressed.

"International affairs and international law are totally different. International Affairs are arbitrary, it is contrary to international law, it is lopsided. All this is because we are weak, we are poor and dependent. That is the ground reality of International Affairs."

He said unless we have a two thirds majority at the Security Council who will attack this move by Ban Ki-moon, we may not win this battle. We need the support of veto wielding members. We have to be conscious of the fact that challenging it only on the legality is not sufficient. There are these huge powers who are behind Moon.

He said technically speaking Sri Lankan leaders could be taken before The Hague if that has the blessings of the Security Council. This is where the help of close allies like China and Russia becomes crucial.

"Moon has welcomed the killing of Osama bin Laden. We too welcome that. But as the UN Secretary General he cannot do that without considering the legality of the process."

The Secretary General has to treat even a terrorist equally. Terrorists have protection guaranteed by international human rights and humanitarian law.

"We are very unfairly placed, there is no doubt about it. But a sizable portion of the international community envies us for having got rid of the LTTE. And they are frightened that we will not give what is 'due to the Tamil people'."

The senior solicitor said this whole exercise, in his opinion, was to coerce Sri Lanka.

He said blocking panellists from visiting Sri Lanka was strategically a wise decision despite comments expressed to the contrary. The Government was on the footing that the establishment of the panel was totally outside the mandate of the SG. "I don't think we should even have had a limited dialogue in New York. Why do you want to engage with a group of people who have clearly had preconceived notions about Sri Lanka and who had been appointed unlawfully ?"

Referring to the killing of Osama bin Laden by US he said the impact of his killing will be short lived.

We could be able to embarrass the US for a limited period by drawing parallels, but US is too powerful to be embarrassed by Sri Lanka. We have to come to terms with the reality that international affairs are so lopsided.

The international response coming from the US, UK and rest of Western Europe is hardly in favour of Sri Lanka. It is likely that Latin American countries will also opt to camp with the Western and European block. We have to win over the South Asian countries, Russia, the Organization of African States and the Organization of Islamic States.

In world affairs, countries don't take individual stands, except for rare exceptions by the veto wielding super powers. Countries take regional positions. We need to activate the Islamic countries, the African countries, the South Asian countries and the Non Aligned Movement (NAM).

He said under the prevailing circumstances the West would greatly depend on what India has to say about Sri Lanka. Therefore it would be beneficial to review our post May 2009 relations and dialogue with India.

"We cannot move into a denial state with regard to that. We know since June 2009, India has been waiting until the Government of Sri Lanka presented the framework for devolved executive and legislative functions."

"I think the war crimes report is actually a tool by the West and Europe to coerce the Government of Sri Lanka to come out with a devolution package.

I don't think they intend to take us before the International Criminal Court. But, particularly in the absence of the LTTE from the theatre, they are going on the footing that we are no longer ready to address 'the genuine and sincere aspirations of the Tamil people'."

They go by the footing that whatever we have already given, even the 13th Amendment, was due to the fear of the LTTE.

Now that the LTTE is no more, they believe that nothing will be forthcoming. Therefore this interested faction of the international community will make use of this report to barter and get a political solution.

They obviously don't have the expertise nor can they read the pulse of the Tamil people. Thus they will make use of India to give the expert opinion as to whether the constitutional framework which we are going to offer is sufficient or not.

If something on the line of the Expert Panel Report headed by Prof. Tissa Vitharana is put on the table, I think India is likely to tell the West don't muddle this process, Colombo is now ready to give what the Tamil people need. Until then the war crimes report will haunt us. We have to come out of the denial state and be ready to look at things from a realistic perspective, I think that is the path."