Opinion:
US and its allies should attempt to work
with Sri Lanka:
Diplomacy locks horns with human rights in Geneva
Perhaps, the most interesting point to emerge from the United Nations
Human Rights Council (UNHRC) deliberations in Geneva recently over the
United States sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka (with Uncle Sam pulling
out all the stops to try and push it through resoundingly) was that the
Philippines - unarguably its most steadfast ally in the Asia-Pacific
region - voted against it.
There is much significance in the dissenting vote cast by the
Philippines. With a long running secessionist conflict on its own
southern doorstep, and fully cognizant of the painful realities thrown
up by the fog of war, the Philippines obviously reasoned that a
free-wheeling resolution (which brushed precariously on sovereign
issues, among other things) such as the US and its cohorts on the
47-member UNHRC were thrusting on Sri Lanka over its alleged conduct in
bringing the bloody three-decade long reign of terror inflicted on
practically the whole island by the Tamil Tigers to a final, albeit,
bloody conclusion could set a dangerous precedent for other countries
cursed to confront similar terrorism issues.
As the formidable Sri Lankan Defence Secretary (and ex-military
Colonel) Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who is credited with having masterminded
the final phase of the war that saw the globally vilified and feared
Tamils Tigers crushed to submission, pointed out to The Manila Times:
"We are talking of a murderous and merciless terror outfit which
pioneered the suicide vest and other lethal tactics, many of which have
since been copied to deadly effect by outfits such as Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban and all the other global terror cells that they in turn have
spawned."
In the end, the resolution was not the shoo-in that the US desired,
and lobbied so hard for - with 25 for (boosted by the 11 votes of the
European Union members even though, according to our sources, at least
three EU countries had privately expressed serious reservations on the
resolution to their Sri Lankan counterparts but had no choice but to go
along with the collegial EU decision), 21 against or abstaining and one
no show.
While trying to put a brave face to this fact, a US Government
spokesperson seemed to suggest that the US was merely fronting a "cross
regional group committed to working with the Government of Sri Lankan to
promote peace and stability."
But as Rajapaksa forcibly countered: "If that really is the case then
the US and its allies should attempt to work with us rather than try to
antagonize and demonize Sri Lanka on the international stage, thereby
trying to cause instability rather than the stability they claim they
want to promote. We will never fall prey to the US policy system of
attempting to impose human rights on selected countries through UN
resolutions."
He went on: "This resolution blatantly ignored the horrific situation
Sri Lanka was in before the dawn of peace less than four years ago.
People residing in the north of the country which was controlled by the
Tamil Tigers lived in constant fear of their lives. And elsewhere in the
country people never knew when their lives might be shattered by an
indiscriminate bomb explosion.
"Having lost the war, Tamil Tiger sympathisers scattered among the
Tamil diaspora living in Western capitals are now undertaking an
extremely effective propaganda war to undermine the Sri Lankan
Government which emerged victorious and influence Western countries to
be critical of our success on the war front. And the irony is that many
of these newly emerging sympathisers are the very same Tamil people who
were driven out of Sri Lanka by the Tamil Tiger terror campaign.
"The US sponsored resolution had a clause seeking 'unfettered access'
to investigate alleged human rights violations. But the point is with
peace prevailing all over the island, US and UN representatives based in
Sri Lanka already have unfettered access to any part to look into
anything they want. They didn't need to seek a resolution for that".
Interestingly, India, seeking to placate its neighbour Sri Lanka
which has been a close ally while at the same time trying not to
antagonize its powerful Tamil Nadu coalition partner from down south
which has seen political mileage to be garnered by jumping on board the
anti-Sri Lankan government/Tamil homeland bandwagon-managed to get the
"unfettered access" clause removed.
Though there is the possibility that India (which in the end bowed to
domestic political exigencies and voted for the resolution) made this
move more as an act of self-preservation to ensure the very same clause
does not come back to haunt it with regard to its own separatist
problems in Kashmir.
Back in Colombo much ire is reserved for UN Human Rights Chief (and
former South African jurist) Navi Pillay who is seen as the villain of
the entire piece.
"It's all very well for Pillay to sit in her cozy office in the cool
climes of Geneva and pontificate about alleged human rights abuses in
Sri Lanka," fumed Rajapaksa.
"But every time we have invited her to come here and see the
situation at ground level and visit wherever she wants and talk to
whomever she pleases she always makes excuses as to why she can't come."
Sri Lankans at all levels we talked to take a more cynical view of
Pillay, the consensus being that she seems to focus an inordinate amount
of her time and energy showcasing alleged human rights violations in
Asia while turning a seemingly blind eye to the well-chronicled
atrocities on the human rights front being committed in her own backyard
of Africa.
The best yardstick that peace and integration is gathering speed in
Sri Lanka can be had by visiting the Tamil heartland of Jaffna.
Freed from the terrifying shackles of the Tamil Tigers, the
resourceful residents of this now bustling and cheerful metropolis are
back doing what they always did best-creating business opportunities and
making money. In fact Jaffna, which once echoed to the rattle of gun
fire, is now alive to the sound of cash registers.
As Rajapaksa states: "Peace reigns all over Sri Lanka, and that is an
undeniable fact. It is, therefore, something which those factions of the
international community who-at the behest of a vocal minority in the
Tamil diaspora are always trying to put Sri Lanka in the dock need to
recognize, and then move on."
Courtesy: The Manila Times
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