Time opportune for new approach to deal with US, EU politicians

When terrorism is encountered in the US, anyone who is even remotely suspected of being associated, is termed a terrorist, and dealt with in an extreme manner. The suspects are humiliated, urinated on, tortured, mutilated, killed and their bodies disposed of without trace. But, in the case of countries, which are not subservient to the US, the US takes an entirely different attitude. Then, the terrorists become rebels and are nurtured, armed, funded and protected. This type of US double standards is now obvious to the entire world.

It is now no secret that, after Sri Lanka crushed terrorism, it earned US’s wrath. Since then, the US has been trying its utmost to destabilise Sri Lanka and sow discord among the Sinhala and Tamil people.

The US’s newest ally in the Sri Lanka bashing effort is India. As is well known, the Indian Central Government is facing a threat from the regional Tamil Nadu (TN) parties who have made Sri Lanka their biggest election issue. Anyone who has been to TN, knows about the massive poverty and squalor that surrounds the living conditions of the majority of the TN people. However, the Sri Lankan Tamil issue helps to cloud that vital issue and that is a convenient distraction which is cleverly used by all TN politicians. As a result, the Central Government of India is regularly pushed by TN to act against Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka must understand this situation. After all, everyone knows that India steadfastly supported the elimination and defeat of Prabhakaran and his band of terrorists. India also suffered at the brutal hands of Prabhakaran and lost over 1,000 of its soldiers, as well as its Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the husband of the present Congress leader.

India exports almost US$ 5 billion worth of goods to Sri Lanka. Also, even though TN extremists scream about Sri Lankan cricketers participating in the IPL and assault Sri Lankan Buddhist priests, they do not utter a word about stopping the export of Indian cars and potatoes to Sri Lanka. So, when it comes to their national interests, India knows what’s good for it. Further, India knows that the only country in the entire SAARC Region with which India has near-normal relations is Sri Lanka.

In these circumstances, Sri Lanka must not over-react to the incursion of its sovereignty through the recent US sponsored UNHRC resolution, and make the mistake of criticising India too much. While of course the resolution must be condemned in suitable language, Sri Lanka must continue with its own successful rehabilitation and reconciliation programme at its own rapid pace, without getting distracted by this malicious endeavour of the global bully, US.

Recommendations of any Commission anywhere in the world have to be implemented over a practical time frame. It must also be remembered that there are many instances, where even learned people have made impractical and ill-conceived recommendations. Therefore, a Commission report anywhere in the world cannot ever be implemented in full, or instantaneously.

The Sri Lanka LLRC report is no different. However, since Sri Lanka has already implemented a substantial number of the LLRC recommendations and many other recommendations are in the process of being implemented, the Sri Lankan authorities must now publish a Report Card of what has been done so far, so that people of this country and overseas are made aware of what is taking place. Such a report with facts and figures would also be useful to economic and political planners who could then use such information to explain the state of the country’s economy and political environment to investors, and thereby counter any fall-out from this obnoxious UNHRC resolution.

Fortunately, in every cloud, there is a silver lining. In that sense, a favourable outcome in this UNHRC exercise is that 21 countries showed that they would not meekly submit to the orders of Uncle Sam, even if they were to experience the rage of the US. Sri Lanka must remember all those countries which voted against the US and who abstained, with gratitude.

Sri Lanka must also understand that of the 25 countries that voted for the US resolution, the African countries did so, not because they were convinced of any HR violation by Sri Lanka, but because they were brow beaten by the US. At the same time, the South American countries were perhaps pushed to support the US because they hardly have any connections with Sri Lanka, and were taking the path of least resistance. Even the countries in the EU, other than Germany and Switzerland, would have done so because they were compelled to toe the line of the big EU powers, and not for any other reason.

From the events that are unfolding now, it is clear that the countries that are against Sri Lanka are the US, UK, Canada, Germany, France and Switzerland. The common feature in all these countries is that these countries are being pushed into taking such an anti-Sri Lankan stand by the former LTTE activists who are providing large amounts of funds to support the political programmes and election campaigns of selected leaders from a wide cross section of political parties in those countries.

In this background, Sri Lanka must realise that the above countries’ foreign policies are therefore determined, not by human rights, and fair play, but by the large amounts of dollars and Euros that feed selected politicians. Money talks!In that background, it is time for the Government of Sri Lanka to understand that Sri Lanka too may have to play a similar game if the country’s counter campaign to overcome this threat is to succeed.

Based on such an understanding, it is now time for a pro-Sri Lankan campaign to be launched worldwide. To do so, as a first step, it would be necessary to create a special team to take the required action, together with a special fund of which a part could be used to support the campaigns of selected politicians in the above mentioned six nations. Only an effort of that nature will be able to effectively counter the LTTE Tamil diaspora misinformation lobby which is openly disbursing huge sums of money, according to former LTTE leaders and current LTTE activists.

The terrorist war was won by the Sri Lankan forces by resorting to innovative tactics and implementing practical strategies that crippled the innermost strengths of the terrorist leaders. It was only by doing so that the forces were able to defeat the world’s most ruthless terrorist group.

The current political war that is being fought in the international diplomatic arena and the global media also needs an innovative and practical approach. If such a counter campaign that is designed to destabilise, demoralise and counter the international terrorism sympathizers and activists is launched soon, Sri Lanka will win this war too. Because the actual facts and the global goodwill is on the side of Sri Lanka.