First-hand experience will inspire C'wealth leaders

Some international nosey-parkers are poking their snouts in Sri Lanka's internal affairs in the guise of their countries' participating in the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013 in Colombo next month.

It is unbecoming of certain Commonwealth countries in the West to meddle with Sri Lanka's internal matters in view of their participation in CHOGM 2013. A few member countries of the Commonwealth have expressed concern over Sri Lanka's internal matters under the guise of expressing their views on CHOGM 2013.

The representatives of these countries should bear in mind that the Commonwealth is a voluntary Association of 53 sovereign states. Hence, no member country has the right to pass judgement on others. None of the Commonwealth member countries has any right whatsoever to ostensibly use the Commonwealth summit to exert undue pressure on the host nation, making baseless allegations on human rights or the so-called war crimes.

Colombo-based diplomats should desist from poking their fingers in unwarranted domestic matters and pontificate to the Government on the country's human rights record and good governance.

The Government has taken every possible step to protect human rights and the masses have reposed implicit faith in President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Government at successive elections.

Over half a million people liberated from the clutches of LTTE terror have been given a new lease of life after they were resettled in next to no time under the direction of the President. It is needless to state that the Government is making a concerted effort in national reconciliation.

Moreover, the democratic rights of the people in the North, which had been repressed by the LTTE through the bullet, were restored after 23 years with the election for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) recently. Having conducted the NPC elections in a free and fair manner, the Government gave people in the North an opportunity to elect their own representatives to run the provincial administration.

Hence, certain Colombo-based High Commissioners need not glibly talk about their countries' plans to send messages on human rights violations, reconciliation and people in the North. It is up to the Heads of State to make any observations when they arrive in the country and gain first-hand information, rather than making sweeping statements from Colombo even prior to the arrival of the Heads of State.

Is it proper for Colombo-based High Commissioners to tell the Government what it ought to do? It has been proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the controversial Channel 4 videos had been craftily doctored. Therefore, diplomats should not go by these concocted stories and tell Sri Lanka to take action on a tendentious film produced with ulterior motives.

It is deplorable that a handful of Colombo-based senior most diplomats are conducting themselves in the most unbecoming manner by dragging unwarranted issues on the pretext of their governments participating in CHOGM 2013.

However, it is not surprising that certain international organisations with vested interests and the LTTE cohorts are doing their damnedest to use the international fora to sully Sri Lanka's image. They intensified their malicious campaigns from the day the Security Forces vanquished the LTTE leadership in May 2009.

Certain Western politicians have taken it upon themselves to become the mouthpiece for the LTTE rump which is working overtime to besmirch Sri Lanka's reputation in the eyes of the international community. This too, perhaps, is understandable as some Western politicians are obliged to the LTTE cohorts as their vote means much for their political survival. In this context, LTTE cohorts literally go to town and exert undue pressure on Western politicians in their adopted countries.

The manner in which some Western countries are making a big hue and cry over Sri Lanka is evident from the number of LTTE cohorts who had been granted political asylum. These politicians depend heavily on the vote of these LTTE cohorts.

Having supported these Western politicians at elections, the LTTE cohorts expect them to dance to their whims and fancies. These Western politicians have little or no choice, but to ignore the true picture on Sri Lanka and become the mouthpiece of the LTTE rump.

This high-handed act should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The Government's milestone achievements in resettlement, development and reconciliation are conveniently ignored as these Western politicians, who thrive on the vote of the LTTE cohorts, continue to target Sri Lanka. The LTTE rump manipulates these Western politicians at international fora to force a change of attitude on the international community towards Sri Lanka.

The international community should make its own evaluation before arriving at any decisions on Sri Lanka. The international community should not be carried away by the statements of a few Western politicians who are being supported by the LTTE rump at elections.

In this scenario, next month's CHOGM 2013 provides an ideal platform for Sri Lanka to showcase its achievements, having eradicated terrorism. The first-hand experience gained by the Commonwealth Heads of Government visiting Sri Lanka would enable them to get a true and accurate picture of Sri Lanka. Many of them had earlier been fed only on information trotted out by the Western media such as the notorious Channel 4 which had an axe to grind and those echoed by the LTTE rump.

The Commonwealth leaders would now realise that what had been projected around the world by international bodies with a hidden agenda is furthest from the truth. Sri Lanka has nothing to conceal, but tell the world about its success story of eradicating terrorism and strengthening national reconciliation.

The LTTE had projected a dismal picture to the international community that Tamils in Sri Lanka are being discriminated and subjected to harassment by the majority Sinhalese. The LTTE had maintained that the Sinhalese treat Tamils as their arch rivals and that the two communities clash on each and every occasion.

But the truth is the opposite from what was projected to the West. Regrettably, none of the LTTE sympathisers said that the Sinhalese and the Tamils live in perfect harmony in all parts of the country and that Sri Lanka is the only country where the majority community remains a minority in the capital city.

If the decision-making and influential leaders in the international community were to visit Sri Lanka and gain first-hand experience on the ethnic harmony that prevails among all communities in the country, they would fully endorse the action taken by Sri Lanka during the battle against terrorism, and thereafter.

Sri Lanka has done its best to bring this to the notice of the international community, but its efforts had been thwarted.

This is because the LTTE rump has been engaged in a well-orchestrated campaign to woo the support of the international community by projecting a dismal picture against Sri Lanka. The LTTE rump continues to dish out concocted stories against Sri Lanka and most Western politicians seem to believe that the Tamils are a discriminated minority in Sri Lanka.

Hence, CHOGM 2013 will be a good eye-opener and Sri Lanka could prove to the world the actual situation in the country. The stories by the LTTE rump could be shot down overnight if Sri Lanka tells its true story to the visiting Heads of the Commonwealth and their delegations.

It is the duty of one and all to unite to show the world the ethnic harmony that now prevails in the country. There is no discrimination whatsoever due to one's ethnicity or religious affiliations.

There is no ethnic problem in the country, apart from a logistical problem for the people in the North and the East due to their geographical location.

The mega development projects in the North and the East since 2007 have opened new vistas for people in those areas. Infrastructure facilities in the North and the East have helped record an unprecedented economic growth - over 27 percent, in these two provinces compared to the country's overall growth of over seven percent.

This alone proves that the Government has given preferential treatment for the Northern and the Eastern Provinces, bypassing the other seven provinces in the country. This demolishes the propaganda of the LTTE rump on the so-called discrimination against the minority community.