Help in reconciliation process, and not meddle otherwise
by K.M.H.C.B. Kulatunga
Navaneethan Pillay |
Mohan Peiris |
It is high time that the international community understands the true
ground situation in Sri Lanka. Instead of lending a helping hand for the
people in the North, who have begun a new lease of life, certain Western
countries and a few Colombo-based diplomats seem to be interested in
digging the past and attempt to pontificate on the course of action Sri
Lanka should take.
If these countries are sincerely interested in the well-being of the
people in the North, they should make a tangible contribution towards
Sri Lanka’s reconciliation process, instead of attempting to meddle on
internal matters of a sovereign State. For example, location of military
camps is entirely a matter of the Ministry of Defence.
On the other hand, the Government’s good gestures to prove its
transparency should be taken in true perspective. Taking diplomats on
fact finding missions in the North and the East does not mean that Sri
Lanka is treating them as arbitrators. We only want to show the world
the sincere and ambitious steps the Government has taken to offer a
better tomorrow for the Northern people who have been liberated from the
clutches of the LTTE terror.
Courageous
Former Attorney General Mohan Peiris should be commended for making
that bold and courageous statement that there is no room for any country
to walk around Sri Lanka as they like and investigate its internal
affairs.
He had said so when asked about the possibility of a UN fact finding
team being sent to Sri Lanka prior to a pre-arranged visit to be made by
United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Navaneetham Pillay.
As the former AG has quite rightly pointed out, the government has
extended an invitation to UN Human Rights Commissioner Navaneethan
Pillay to visit Sri Lanka to observe its post-war development and
reconciliation efforts. The government has done so in good faith to show
its transparency. But the country has not extended any invitation to any
fact finding mission.
Bearing
The Government had extended this invitation to Pillay last year and
it has no bearing whatsoever with the recent USHRC Resolution. Asked if
it was possible for a UNHRC team to pay a visit to Sri Lanka in view of
the Universal Periodic Review of Sri Lanka, which will take place in
November this year, Peiris said that under the Institution-building of
the United Nations Human Rights Council, such action is impossible.
As Peiris had pointed out, nobody can send teams to investigate
affairs of another country for it interferes with that country’s
sovereignty. Furthermore, the three countries in the troika for the
review of Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights’ Universal
Periodic Preview process, are among the very same countries who voted
against Sri Lanka at the 19th sessions of UNHRC and supported the US-led
Resolution requiring the government to implement the recommendation of
the LLRC.
But if Pillay is going to be the judge of Sri Lanka’s human rights
situation, one must not forget that she is also a complainant against
Sri Lanka’s human rights situation. Can a complainant be allowed to be
the judge of the same complaint?
In order to support theories hatched in the West, the BBC made a
disgraceful attempt of distorting facts and show the world that that the
Tamils in the North were threatened by Sinhala settlers. The presenter
of the BBC’s flagship news program, Nick Gowing introduced Charles
Havilland’s interview with Defence
Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa earlier this week, with a preface about
the alleged attempt to change the demography of the North of Sri Lanka.
Clear
Their agenda was crystal clear as Gowing ‘armed’ with his red map of
Sri Lanka and pointing to the North as the ‘traditional home of the
Tamils’, to pave way for Havilland. The entire program was masterminded
to support pro-LTTE Tamils in the UK and elsewhere. Apart from
tarnishing Sri Lanka’s image, they also had another agenda – to prevent
failed Tamil asylum seekers being deported from the UK to Sri Lanka.
Certain Western politicians, who depend on votes of the Tamils for
their survival, too have embarked on a malicious campaign against Sri
Lanka. From where does the US Congressman Danny Davis
(Democratic-Illinois) receive reports that claimed that “tensions exist
between the Sinhalese and Tamils in Sri Lanka” even three years after
terrorism was eradicated?
Confidence
How does he come to the conclusion - with confidence, that “It is
unfortunate that after the hostilities ended in the battlefield they
still seem to exist in many of the same ways that occurred before the
battle actually broke out,”. These are concocted stories to suite the
agendas of the West.
Congressman Davis had made the above observations when he addressed
the recent session of the United States House of Representatives to mark
the third anniversary of the end of the battle in Sri Lanka. How come
this congressman is not fed with correct data and information about the
progress and developments in Sri Lanka?
Perhaps, he had been influenced and fed with false information by the
pro-LTTE Diaspora agents. Anybody touring Sri Lanka would understand
that there is no disparity or conflict among communities living in Sri
Lanka.
If there had been any discrimination whatsoever, there can’t be so
many Tamils and Muslims holding top positions in the country. It is the
West which injected communal ideas before Sri Lanka’s independence.
It is still fresh in our memories the devastation caused by the LTTE
terrorists. Certain countries now talk on terrorists killed in action
and their human rights. Then what about the human rights of hundreds of
thousands of innocent people killed, injured, mained or lost their loved
ones due to three decades of terror unleashed by the LTTE?
Blood-thirsty
It is exactly 25 years ago that the blood-thirsty LTTE terrorists
massacred 31 bhikkus in Aranthalawa and also brutally killed 11 villages
in Kaduwelduwa, Polonnaruwa. This is one of the many barbaric acts of
Tiger terrorists.
Countries in the West must have a close look at all those incidents
and the human rights violations of LTTE.
They must consider the true ground situations and the harmony that
exists among all communities after terrorism was eradicated. People in
the North are not demanding for land or police powers. It’s the
opportunist Tamil politicians, who acted like LTTE’s puppets who demand
those to gain political advantage.
The majority of the people in the North want to lead a peaceful life
in peace and harmony. They are enjoying the deviants of peace and are
inspired by the mega development activities that are taking place.
The Northern and the Eastern Provinces have the highest growth rate
and that is an indication that the people in these two provinces are set
for a better tomorrow.
Opportunist Tamil politicians in the North or the Western countries
which exert pressure on Sri Lanka should at least at this late stage
prove that they are sincerely interested in the well-being of the Tamils
in the North.
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