Bouquets pour in after CHOGM

By Manjula Fernando

As for British Prime Minster David Cameron, perhaps the most honest and non-political comment he made with regard to Sri Lanka following his much-reported recent visit to the country was in the House of Commons on Monday.

He was giving oral answers to questions by MPs. With many tough questions thrown at him about Sri Lanka's Commonwealth host status, his decision to attend CHOGM, and not mentioning Sri Lanka in the final agreement, he had a negative response.

However, when the alleged LTTE sympathiser Sri Lankan- born Keith Vaz, Labour MP for Leicester East raised a pertinent question based on the Prime Ministers’ opinions expressed thus far, whether Cameron would advice the Home Office to review the decision to deport Sri Lankan asylum seekers, the answer was quite honest and he spoke the bitter truth. According to the transcript of the oral debate, Cameron has said, “ The asylum system should work on the basis of the best and latest information about whether someone genuinely faced a risk of torture and persecution if they return.”

He admitted that Britain did not believe that there was a situation in Sri Lanka that merited asylum status for those arriving from there. Although the British PM was in agreement with the verbal barrage of the line of MPs who attacked the Sri Lankan government on rights abuses, he did not mince his words when the return of asylum seekers was raised by another MP after Vaz. Heidi Alexander Labour MP for Lewisham East asked whether Cameron was aware that the returnees to Sri Lanka from Britain for the past several years had been tortured on arrival. (An allegation that has been cooked up by the LTTE and its sympathizers.). Cameron responded, “Our asylum polices should be based on the latest information and on proper judgement about whether people are likely to be tortured or persecuted on their return. That is not a decision that is made by Prime Ministers, or even by Ministers, but it is right that those decisions are properly taken into account in each case and that is the way it should happen.”

Muttiah Muralitharan

Kenyan Foreign Minister Amina Mohamed

South African President, Jacob Zumat

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong

Australian Premier Tony Abbott

British Prime Minster David Cameron

But, the question of proper judgement did not come into play when he took the liberty to criticise the Sri Lankan Goverment's HR record when questions of persecution were raised without relating it to the British asylum policy.

It was disheartening that he failed to take note of the comments Muttiah Muralitharan, Sri Lanka's cricketing legend who is a Tamil himself, made when he met the British Prime Minister at the CCC and to Channel 4 in a 45-minute interview later.

Murali who has never been a political figure nor known to make political statements referring to the protests that greeted Cameron on his way to Jaffna, said that 200 protesters could not possibly represent the views of all the Northerners and there may have been attempts to mislead the British PM. He emphasised that the North and its people were enjoying thousand times better conditions now than during the conflict.

The sentiment voiced by visiting Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in the run- up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) speaking to journalists who had flooded Colombo from Down Under to cover, PM Tony Abbot and the Commonwealth summit, she said the Foreign Ministers at CHOGM exchanged the view that some war-torn countries, after 20-30 years, had not reached anywhere near what Sri Lanka has achieved today.

The Aussie Minister emphasised that expecting too much from Sri Lanka was unfair, because it has been ‘just four years’ since the country stamped out a dangerous terrorist outfit and the Government deserved credit for getting the world and Sri Lanka in particular, rid of the LTTE.

“The point the Prime Minister was making is absolutely valid,” she said referring to the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbot who said that Sri Lanka should be praised for the efforts it was taking regarding reconciliation. “ We are not here to lecture a country publicly to embarrass them.”

Many, including the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma praised Sri Lanka for taking up the challenge of hosting the Commonwealth's flagship event, thus being in the media spotlight. The best compliment however, came from the Kenyan Foreign Minister (the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Ministry and International Trade) Amina Mohamed.

Hosting a press conference at the briefing room at the CHOGM Media Centre, BMICH on Saturday she said, “This was the best CHOGM she attended after a long time.” She commended the painstaking preparations, the unique opening ceremony and moreover the discussion topics which were relevant to small member states in particular.

With reference to British Prime Minister Cameron's comment giving an ultimatum to the Sri Lankan government for a ‘credible domestic inquiry’ into human rights abuses, she quipped ‘no country can import stability from outside,’ adding that there will be nothing better than homegrown solutions to a country's own problems.

The Kenyan Foreign Minister criticised Cameron's comment saying,”Since we are all sovereign countries, I don't think it's proper for anyone to threaten others.”

The South African President, Jacob Zumat at the CHOGM concluding press conference on Sunday offered assistance to anyone who wished to share their experience of overcoming challenges of reconciliation.

The South African Truth commission is regarded as a role model for reconciliation He said in this context a dialogue has been initiated to find out if South Africa could play a role in Sri Lanka's reconciliation process, something that his country would be happy to take part.

Among those who genuinely backed Sri Lanka's current efforts at sustainable peace, was Australian Premier Tony Abbott. He told President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the international community should not be in too much of a hurry to pass judgement on any country and that it should be a slow process when he met the President on the sidelines of CHOGM while the Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said complex issues remain after a prolonged war and Singapore will not be hasty to take sides.

As for Channel four, their unpopular tactics were exposed by none other than one of world's most celebrated cricketing legends, Muttiah Muralitharan.

Murali said Channel 4 lost its credibility trying to distort what he said about the situation in Sri Lanka by telecasting an edited version of his interview.