Features
What we must say at the UNHRC in Geneva
by JAYANTHA GUNASEKERA, PC
Under the Presidency of Donald Trump the USA quit UNHRC alleging that the Council is biased and unreliable. It was the USA that sponsored Resolution 30/1 against Sri Lanka. With the USA leaving the UNHRC this Resolution necessarily lapses as there is no sponsor now, and it is therefore not valid.
We must, at any cost, withdraw from the co-sponsorship of this Resolution of March 2019 which was done without the approval of the Cabinet and of the then President. According to our Constitution, no foreign judges or foreign prosecutors are permissible in the judicial mechanism. Though not strictly relevant, we should also apprise the delegates of the reasons why General Shavendra Silva is being hounded and prohibited from entering the United States 11 years after the war. He did his duty by his country. As a result, 21 million people today live without fear of terrorist attacks.
It is necessary that we should go back to the period where the whole UNHRC exercise originated after the war ended in may 2009. One of the people who started the inimical exercise was the then Head of the UNHRC – Navaneethan (Navi) Pillay of Tamil descent.
We must apprise the delegates in Geneva that the US, UK and European Union politicians are making a desperate attempt to destabilize Sri Lanka not for human rights violations but because Sri Lanka refused to obey their dictates to save the life of Prabhakaran, their erstwhile friend, who not only bought stacks of their sophisticated weapons but also paid them millions of dollars in filthy lucre. These western politicians, in order to prevent their illegal sources of income completely drying up, continue to cater to the dictates of the LTTE Diaspora, who provide them fabricated and blatantly false information. The LTTE has billions of dollars stashed away, part of which is spent bribing westerners. The LTTE Diaspora lead an opulent life style in the West and continue to mount pressure on Tamils worldwide to collect millions of dollars, just as they did when Prabhakaran was alive.
Had our delegation in March 2019 consulted professionals we would not have been in this plight today. Most Lankans feel that the same old faces, the same old brains, the same old approach, the same docile manner in putting things across may bring the same old results as in 2012/2013.
Rather than depend on paid advisers only, many lawyers, diplomats, and those who have done an in-depth study should be consulted before our strategy is decided. I am confident that they will give of their best for the country ‘pro deo’. We must realize that there are good brains among the self employed that can be harnessed with no cost to the government.
We must, in Geneva, make a case against LTTE cohorts who have supplied weapons and given every possible ‘material support’ so that they could be brought before an International War Crimes Tribunal. The US, Britain, Norway and other western countries will oppose this tooth and nail as they will not want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg. The LTTE Diaspora are bribing western politicians and delivering them votes at elections to remain in office and enjoy the consequent perks.
If these matters are intelligently and convincingly placed before the delegates in Geneva, not many will vote with Britain, US. the European Union, and Canada. We may have to change our tactics now and be on the offensive. In 2012/2013 it was a fiasco. A case in point is that a few years ago, Palestine defended herself very successfully, and all the countries in the UNHRC voted with Palestine. Only the USA backed Israel.
If we are to continue to remain a sovereign nation it is mandatory that new laws will have to be enacted to make any attempt of separation either in word or in deed high treason punishable with loss of civic rights, confiscation of property and death. The State must act swiftly. The present laws to curb traitors is totally inadequate.
We should move a counter resolution backed by some friendly countries against the glaring human rights violations by the US, UK and other western countries. Even if this fails, it will dawn attention of delegates that the US and UK who are against us are themselves violators of human rights; and they should be the last to use the human right stick to beat other countries.
In October 2009, five months after the war ended, the Western Powers at the behest of the LTTE Diaspora made a desperate attempt to punish Sri Lanka before the HRC in Geneva. There was ample time for the LTTE Diaspora and the Western Powers to make out a strong case. There was no Channel 4 then so they started making fictitious films to bluff unintelligent westerners. In the absence of cogent and compelling material, UNHRC exonerated Sri Lanka. Any lawyer knows that contemporaneous evidence has to be adduced to prove any allegation. Belated evidence is valueless and considered to amount to an afterthought. Also, once exonerated the country remains exonerated on the principle ‘Autrefoi acquit’ (an accused not being tried a second time for the same crime on the same facts). Then the LTTE Diaspora machinery started working, heavily bribing the Westerners and re-canvassing the same issue on evidence thereafter fabricated which was non existent in October 2009. Now we ourselves seem to have forgotten that we have already been exonerated.
It has to be forcefully and convincingly urged that our forces saved 300,000 Tamils from the clutches of the marauding LTTE killers. This is not disputed. Some Tamils were killed by the LTTE when they were floeeing to army controlled territory for safety. The LTTE held them as a human shield without food and water. These facts are well known to the Westerners. Thousands of army personnel sacrificed their lives in the process of trying to save the Tamils.
According to these brainwashed Western powers, our forces are supposed to have killed 40,000 Tamils. Only those with a very low IQ will believe that the same forces that saved 300,000 Tamils were responsible for killing 40,000 in the last two weeks of the war. Those who make these allegations must ask themselves the question, will our forces kill 40,000 when 300,000 lives were saved by the same forces? They could have wiped out even these 300,000 or permitted Prabhakaran to kill them without putting their own lives in danger.
It is an accepted fact that the LTTE targeted and killed thousands of their own people for disobeying their orders by refusing to be a human shield and fleeing behind army lines for protection. Those who make allegations against the army must ask themselves the question: will 300,000 run for protection to the army if the same army killed 40,000 of the same Tamils? Our detractors claims not four, not 40, not 400 nor 4,000 but 40,000 dead bodies. Can 40,000 bodies be made to vanish into thin air? Where are these bodies and what are the names of the dead? Where are their graves and, if the bodies were burnt, where are the incinerators? Only those who want to believe such poppycock will do so.
The US and UK are under deep obligation to the LTTE Diaspora for the bribes they have accepted and the Diaspora votes delivered to corrupt politicians at various elections.
Britain, USA and France are heavily dependent on the sale of armaments for the sustenance of their economies. If wars are not encouraged and ongoing wars not prolonged, arms and munition factories will have to close down and those working in the arms industry will loose their jobs. So it is in the interest of arms manufacturing countries to propagate war elsewhere. They have already created chaos in Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria.
The USA and UK may be envious that Sri Lanka has eradicated terrorism while they are still grappling with the problem despite all their sophisticated weapons and superior forces. The history of US failures in military adventures in the 1950’s, when they got bogged down in the Korean war and had to retreat, is well known. Next, they had to leave Vietnam and pull out of Iraq; now they are leaving of Afghanistan in ignominy. Perhaps they should take a cue from the SL forces on how to wage a successful war.
Was Prabhakaran used by the British and Americans to kill Rajiv Gandhi? That is not an unreasonable question in a world full of intrigue. Was there a plan to use the LTTE not only to destabilize Sri Lanka but also destabilize and fragment India? The Western powers did everything to prevent India from becoming a nuclear power. We must remember how the US and UK treated India for quite some time when India developed nuclear weapons. India’s markets are enormous and the Indian economy has grown by leaps and bounds, while western economies are stagnant.
If Stephen Rapp, former US ambassador-at large for war crimes, was impartial, he should have visited the Dalada Maligawa where hundreds were killed by an LTTE bomb, Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura where many people died as a result of an LTTE bomb, Aranthalawa where several bhikkus were massacred, the Madhu Church where several Catholics were killed and a host of other places where many Sinhalese and Muslims were slaughtered. Instead, he visited only the North and says 40,000 were killed in these areas. Whom does he think he is fooling? How can Rapp tender a convincing report without a jot or tittle of convincing evidence that 40,000 were killed by the Lankan forces during the last two weeks of the war. We have not forgotten how Hillary Clinton sent David Milliband, former UK foreign secretary, and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner to twist Mahinda Rajapaksa’s arm to stop the war. Rajapaksa stood his ground. Hence their present attitude. Is there any doubt that Rapp too was strongly influenced not only by his ow government but the LTTE Diaspora as well?
American and British politicians must remember the hatred that the world had for Hitler’s Germany. They must be conscious of the hatred their politicians are bringing upon their people by various acts of omission and commission. It is time that the people of those countries took their politicians to task for their actions. Politicians may come and go but the hatred they attract towards their people will stick like glue.
US Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavega warned his government against taking sides on the Sri Lanka issue, urging it not to resort to double standards. He called upon the US to stop bullying a country strategically important to it, unnecessarily antagonizing 21 million Sri Lankans by catering to a few thousand criminal LTTE Diaspora agents.
We all remember what the then U.S. embassy defence attache in Colombo, Lt. Col. Laurence Smith, said in 2011 at a seminar on ‘Defeating Terrorism – the Sri Lanka Experience’. He made some outspoken comments that were widely reported. They included inter alia: ‘I have been the Defense Attaché here at the US Embassy in Colombo Since June 2008. Regarding the various versions of events that came out in the final hours and days of the conflict, from what I was privileged to hear and see, the offers for surrender that I am personally aware of seemed to come from the mouthpieces of the LTTE – Nadesan, KP – people who weren’t and never had really demonstrated any control over the leadership or combat power of the LTTE.
“So their offers were a bit suspect any way and they tended to vary in content hour by hour, day by day. I think we need to examine the credibility of those offers before we leap to conclusions that such offers were in fact real. It is not so uncommon in combat operations in the fog of war, as we all get our second, third, and fourth hand (information) from various commanders at various levels, that the stories don’t all seem to quite match up. But I can say that the version presented by the Sri Lankan Army at this seminar is what I heard as I was here during that time. I think I’d better leave it at that before I get into trouble”.
No sooner had he made this truthful statement, the US State Department dissociated itself with what their own Military and Defense Attaché had said. This is the way the USA and UK work. It clearly shows that the Pentagon and the State Department have two prisms through which they see the wars in the world.
It was very strange that the then Sri Lankan delegation co-sponsored this Resolution without authority from the cabinet from the then president. We must show indomitable courage in the face of daunting odds and overwhelming obstacles that will confront us in Geneva.
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There’s an ill more dangerous and pervasive than the Coronavirus that’s currently sweeping Sri Lanka. That is the fear to express one’s convictions. Across the public sector of the country in particular many persons holding high office are stringently regulating and controlling the voices of their consciences and this bodes ill for all and the country.
The corrupting impact of fear was discussed in this column a couple of weeks ago when dealing with the military coup in Myanmar. It stands to the enduring credit of ousted Myanmarese Head of Government Aung San Suu Kyi that she, perhaps for the first time in the history of modern political thought, singled out fear, and not power, as the principal cause of corruption within the individual; powerful or otherwise.
To be sure, power corrupts but the corrupting impact of fear is graver and more devastating. For instance, the fear in a person holding ministerial office or in a senior public sector official, that he would lose position and power as a result of speaking out his convictions and sincere beliefs on matters of the first importance, would lead to a country’s ills going unaddressed and uncorrected.
Besides, the individual concerned would be devaluing himself in the eyes of all irrevocably and revealing himself to be a person who would be willing to compromise his moral integrity for petty worldly gain or a ‘mess of pottage’. This happens all the while in Lankan public life. Some of those who have wielded and are wielding immense power in Sri Lanka leave very much to be desired from these standards.
It could be said that fear has prevented Sri Lanka from growing in every vital respect over the decades and has earned for itself the notoriety of being a directionless country.
All these ills and more are contained in the current controversy in Sri Lanka over the disposal of the bodies of Covid victims, for example. The Sri Lankan polity has no choice but to abide by scientific advice on this question. Since authorities of the standing of even the WHO have declared that the burial of the bodies of those dying of Covid could not prove to be injurious to the wider public, the Sri Lankan health authorities could go ahead and sanction the burying of the bodies concerned. What’s preventing the local authorities from taking this course since they claim to be on the side of science? Who or what are they fearing? This is the issue that’s crying out to be probed and answered.
Considering the need for absolute truthfulness and honesty on the part of all relevant persons and quarters in matters such as these, the latter have no choice but to resign from their positions if they are prevented from following the dictates of their consciences. If they are firmly convinced that burials could bring no harm, they are obliged to take up the position that burials should be allowed.
If any ‘higher authority’ is preventing them from allowing burials, our ministers and officials are conscience-bound to renounce their positions in protest, rather than behave compromisingly and engage in ‘double think’ and ‘double talk’. By adopting the latter course they are helping none but keeping the country in a state of chronic uncertainty, which is a handy recipe for social instabiliy and division.
In the Sri Lankan context, the failure on the part of the quarters that matter to follow scientific advice on the burials question could result in the aggravation of Islamophobia, or hatred of the practitioners of Islam, in the country. Sri Lanka could do without this latter phobia and hatred on account of its implications for national stability and development. The 30 year war against separatist forces was all about the prevention by military means of ‘nation-breaking’. The disastrous results for Sri Lanka from this war are continuing to weigh it down and are part of the international offensive against Sri Lanka in the UNHCR.
However, Islamophobia is an almost world wide phenomenon. It was greatly strengthened during Donald Trump’s presidential tenure in the US. While in office Trump resorted to the divisive ruling strategy of quite a few populist authoritarian rulers of the South. Essentially, the manoeuvre is to divide and rule by pandering to the racial prejudices of majority communities.
It has happened continually in Sri Lanka. In the initial post-independence years and for several decades after, it was a case of some populist politicians of the South whipping-up anti-Tamil sentiments. Some Tamil politicians did likewise in respect of the majority community. No doubt, both such quarters have done Sri Lanka immeasurable harm. By failing to follow scientific advice on the burial question and by not doing what is right, Sri Lanka’s current authorities are opening themselves to the charge that they are pandering to religious extremists among the majority community.
The murderous, destructive course of action adopted by some extremist sections among Muslim communities world wide, including of course Sri Lanka, has not earned the condemnation it deserves from moderate Muslims who make-up the preponderant majority in the Muslim community. It is up to moderate opinion in the latter collectivity to come out more strongly and persuasively against religious extremists in their midst. It will prove to have a cementing and unifying impact among communities.
It is not sufficiently appreciated by governments in the global South in particular that by voicing for religious and racial unity and by working consistently towards it, they would be strengthening democratic development, which is an essential condition for a country’s growth in all senses.
A ‘divided house’ is doomed to fall; this is the lesson of history. ‘National security’ cannot be had without human security and peaceful living among communities is central to the latter. There cannot be any ‘double talk’ or ‘politically correct’ opinions on this question. Truth and falsehood are the only valid categories of thought and speech.
Those in authority everywhere claiming to be democratic need to adopt a scientific outlook on this issue as well. Studies conducted on plural societies in South Asia, for example, reveal that the promotion of friendly, cordial ties among communities invariably brings about healing among estranged groups and produces social peace. This is the truth that is waiting to be acted upon.
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By Sanjeewa Jayaweera
It was on 3rd January 1972 that our family arrived in Karachi from Moscow. Our departure from Moscow had been delayed for a few weeks due to the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It ended on 16th December 1971. After that, international flights were not permitted for some time.
The contrast between Moscow and Karachi was unbelievable. First and foremost, Moscow’s temperature was near minus 40 degrees centigrade, while in Karachi, it was sunny and a warm 28 degrees centigrade. However, what struck us most was the extreme warmth with which the airport authorities greeted our family. As my father was a diplomat, we were quickly ushered to the airport’s VIP Lounge. We were in transit on our way to Rawalpindi, the airport serving the capital of Islamabad.
We quickly realized that the word “we are from Sri Lanka” opened all doors just as saying “open sesame” gained entry to Aladdin’s cave! The broad smile, extreme courtesy, and genuine warmth we received from the Pakistani people were unbelievable.
This was all to do with Mrs Sirima Bandaranaike’s decision to allow Pakistani aircraft to land in Colombo to refuel on the way to Dhaka in East Pakistan during the military confrontation between Pakistan and India. It was a brave decision by Mrs Bandaranaike (Mrs B), and the successive governments and Sri Lanka people are still enjoying the fruits of it. Pakistan has been a steadfast and loyal supporter of our country. They have come to our assistance time and again in times of great need when many have turned their back on us. They have indeed been an “all-weather” friend of our country.
Getting back to 1972, I was an early beneficiary of Pakistani people’s love for Sri Lankans. I failed the entrance exam to gain entry to the only English medium school in Islamabad! However, when I met the Principal, along with my father, he said, “Sanjeewa, although you failed the entrance exam, I will this time make an exception as Sri Lankans are our dear friends.” After that, the joke around the family dinner table was that I owed my education in Pakistan to Mrs B!
At school, my brother and I were extended a warm welcome and always greeted “our good friends from Sri Lanka.” I felt when playing cricket for our college; our runs were cheered more loudly than of others.
One particular incident that I remember well was when the Embassy received a telex from the Foreign inistry. It requested that our High Commissioner seek an immediate meeting with the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr Zulifikar Ali Bhutto (ZB), and convey a message from Mrs B. The message requested that an urgent shipment of rice be dispatched to Sri Lanka as there would be an imminent rice shortage. As the Ambassador was not in the station, the responsibility devolved on my father.
It usually takes about a week or more to get an audience with the Prime Minister (PM) of a foreign country due to their busy schedule. However, given the urgency, my father spoke to the Foreign Ministry’s Permanent Sectary, who fortunately was our neighbour and sought an urgent appointment. My father received a call from the PM’s secretary around 10 P.M asking him to come over to the PM’s residence. My father met ZB around midnight. ZB was about to retire to bed and, as such, was in his pyjamas and gown enjoying a cigar! He had greeted my father and had asked, “Mr Jayaweera, what can we do for great friend Madam Bandaranaike?. My father conveyed the message from Colombo and quietly mentioned that there would be riots in the country if there is no rice!
ZB had immediately got the Food Commissioner of Pakistan on the line and said, “I want a shipload of rice to be in Colombo within the next 72 hours!” The Food Commissioner reverted within a few minutes, saying that nothing was available and the last export shipment had left the port only a few hours ago to another country. ZB had instructed to turn the ship around and send it to Colombo. This despite protests from the Food Commissioner about terms and conditions of the Letter of Credit prohibiting non-delivery. Sri Lanka got its delivery of rice!
The next was the visit of Mrs B to Pakistan. On arrival in Rawalpindi airport, she was given a hero’s welcome, which Pakistan had previously only offered to President Gaddafi of Libya, who financially backed Pakistan with his oil money. That day, I missed school and accompanied my parents to the airport. On our way, we witnessed thousands of people had gathered by the roadside to welcome Mrs B.
When we walked to the airport’s tarmac, thousands of people were standing in temporary stands waving Sri Lanka and Pakistan flags and chanting “Sri Lanka Pakistan Zindabad.” The noise emanating from the crowd was as loud and passionate as the cheering that the Pakistani cricket team received during a test match. It was electric!
I believe she was only the second head of state given the privilege of addressing both assemblies of Parliament. The other being Gaddafi. There was genuine affection from Mrs B amongst the people of Pakistan.
I always remember the indefatigable efforts of Mr Abdul Haffez Kardar, a cabinet minister and the President of the Pakistan Cricket Board. From around 1973 onwards, he passionately championed Sri Lanka’s cause to be admitted as a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and granted test status. Every year, he would propose at the ICC’s annual meeting, but England and Australia’s veto kept us out until 1981.
I always felt that our Cricket Board made a mistake by not inviting Pakistan to play our inaugural test match. We should have appreciated Mr Kardar and Pakistan’s efforts. In 1974 the Pakistan board invited our team for a tour involving three test matches and a few first-class games. Most of those who played in our first test match was part of that tour, and no doubt gained significant exposure playing against a highly talented Pakistani team.
Several Pakistani greats were part of the Pakistan and India team that played a match soon after the Central Bank bomb in Colombo to prove that it was safe to play cricket in Colombo. It was a magnificent gesture by both Pakistan and India. Our greatest cricket triumph was in Pakistan when we won the World Cup in 1996. I am sure the players and those who watched the match on TV will remember the passionate support our team received that night from the Pakistani crowd. It was like playing at home!
I also recall reading about how the Pakistani government air freighted several Multi Barrell artillery guns and ammunition to Sri Lanka when the A rmy camp in Jaffna was under severe threat from the LTTE. This was even more important than the shipload of rice that ZB sent. This was crucial as most other countries refused to sell arms to our country during the war.
Time and again, Pakistan has steadfastly supported our country’s cause at the UNHCR. No doubt this year, too, their diplomats will work tirelessly to assist our country.
We extend a warm welcome to Mr Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan. He is a truly inspirational individual who was undoubtedly an excellent cricketer. Since retirement from cricket, he has decided to get involved in politics, and after several years of patiently building up his support base, he won the last parliamentary elections. I hope that just as much as he galvanized Sri Lankan cricketers, his political journey would act as a catalyst for people like Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene to get involved in politics. Cricket has been called a “gentleman’s game.” Whilst politics is far from it!.
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Believe me, seeing certain videos, on social media, depicting action, on the dance floor, at some of these entertainment venues, got me wondering whether this Coronavirus pandemic is REAL!
To those having a good time, at these particular venues, and, I guess, the management, as well, what the world is experiencing now doesn’t seem to be their concerned.
Obviously, such irresponsible behaviour could create more problems for those who are battling to halt the spread of Covid-19, and the new viriant of Covid, in our part of the world.
The videos, on display, on social media, show certain venues, packed to capacity – with hardly anyone wearing a mask, and social distancing…only a dream..
How can one think of social distancing while gyrating, on a dance floor, that is over crowded!
If this trend continues, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Coronavirus makes its presence felt…at such venues.
And, then, what happens to the entertainment scene, and those involved in this field, especially the musicians? No work, whatsoever!
Lots of countries have closed nightclubs, and venues, where people gather, in order to curtail the spread of this deadly virus that has already claimed the lives of thousands.
Thailand did it and the country is still having lots of restrictions, where entertainment is concerned, and that is probably the reason why Thailand has been able to control the spread of the Coronavirus.
With a population of over 69 million, they have had (so far), a little over 25,000 cases, and 83 deaths, while we, with a population of around 21 million, have over 80,000 cases, and more than 450 deaths.
I’m not saying we should do away with entertainment – totally – but we need to follow a format, connected with the ‘new normal,’ where masks and social distancing are mandatory requirements at these venues. And, dancing, I believe, should be banned, at least temporarily, as one can’t maintain the required social distance, while on the dance floor, especially after drinks.
Police spokesman DIG Ajith Rohana keeps emphasising, on TV, radio, and in the newspapers, the need to adhere to the health regulations, now in force, and that those who fail to do so would be penalised.
He has also stated that plainclothes officers would move around to apprehend such offenders.
Perhaps, he should instruct his officers to pay surprise visits to some of these entertainment venues.
He would certainly have more than a bus load of offenders to be whisked off for PCR/Rapid Antigen tests!
I need to quote what Dr. H.T. Wickremasinghe said in his article, published in The Island of Tuesday, February 16th, 2021:
“…let me conclude, while emphasising the need to continue our general public health measures, such as wearing masks, social distancing, and avoiding crowded gatherings, to reduce the risk of contact with an infected person.
“There is no science to beat common sense.”
But…do some of our folks have this thing called COMMON SENSE!
