A model for Third World countries:

‘Sri Lanka can hold its own’

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Western Province Agriculture, Agrarian Development, Minor Irrigation Industries and Environment Minister Udaya Gammanpila said when many countries betray their allies and their own to be in the good books of powerful Western nations, Sri Lanka is one of the few principled and bold nations which had the courage to defeat terrorism.

Hence, Sri Lanka is now becoming a model for third world countries to follow.

That is why President Mahinda Rajapaksa receives a warm welcome from other third world countries, the Minister told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

What is the crime committed by Sri Lanka to be punished at the UNHRC sessions in March? We were bold enough to defy the orders of the West to declare a ceasefire at the tail end of the war against LTTE terrorism.

The simple reason was that they didn’t want Sri Lanka to secure victory against the most powerful terrorist outfit in the world, the LTTE when the USA was at the receiving end of a war against the less powerful Taliban in Afghanistan, the Minister said.

“The world would have scoffed at the USA because a tiny nation such as Sri Lanka defeated terrorism without much resources.

Having an alliance of 39 powerful countries, the USA failed to defeat the Taliban and terrorism in Iraq.

This is why they forced us to declare a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Since we defied to do so, they are trying to punish us, he said.

Minister Gammanpila said that the Opposition says that we are facing the resolution against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC because of our foreign policy. We can win over the West easily had we accepted that our soldiers had committed war crimes, they would have been happy. Are we ready to betray our heroic soldiers to be in the good books of the West. The UNP and the JVP may be willing to do so. But as a responsible Government, we are not ready to betray our war heroes at any time.

Therefore, these international problem have not been due to our foreign policy but because we stood by our principles.

The biggest human rights violators are the USA and the EU. These are the self-same countries who point an accusing finger at us.

The US’s war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq are well known. Today might is right has become the slogan in the international fora instead of right is might.

The West can survive without consequences after committing any grave war crimes. Being a small country, we highlighted this, the Minister said.