By Charles.S.Perera

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is a contradiction of the President Mahinda Rajapakse, who had on the one hand most rightly promoted the leadership of the Government Armed Forces in recognition of their heroic contribution to save Sri Lanka from the perils of terrorism, and on the other hand to have ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-sackedƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ the most distinguished , brilliant, forthright, and an outspoken diplomatic worrier who won another ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-warƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ for him in the diplomatic front in Geneva.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was a great fortune that we had Dayan Jayatilleke in Geneva at a time when the International Community was all out to take revenge from the Government of Sri Lanka for nothing else but for defeating the attempt of the terrorists to set up a Tamil Home Land in the North of Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dayan Jayatilleke a diplomat of exceptional quality, defeated the aims of another sort of terrorists who made all efforts to give a life line to Prabhakaran and his terrorist cohorts, and having failed in that effort to accuse the Sri Lanka Government Forces for war crimes.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was indeed the most remarkable event in the annuls of the history of Sri Lanka for the Government Forces to have eliminated terrorism that had caused so much of material damage and human loss to the country, and was on the verge of breaking away a part of its territory to create a Tamil Eelam State.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Sri Lanka terrorists , who were not terrorists for the International Community, used, guns, live suicide bombs, claymore bombs , snipers, and grenade lobbers , whereas the terrorists Dayan Jayatilleke had to fight used other weapons such as , verbal guns, artillery of false information, cannons of official positions, backed by political time bombs, personal mines of IMF Loans, GSP+ , heavy weapons from UK , France, and USA in the form of Foreign Ministers, to stop the military operations against the terrorists and then to discredit the government, bring it on to its knees, and finally accuse it for war crimes.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Navy Pillay like Prabhakaran the terrorist would not accept defeat, and when the resolution against Sri Lanka was lost in the UNHuman Rights Council, she wanted to make a come back to the battle ground with more false figures gathered from the terrorist website to accuse once again the Government Forces for war crimes. But our bold worrier Dayan Jayatilleke was ready to take any one head on in the diplomatic foray.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dayan JayatillekeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s diplomatic clashes to avoid bringing discredit to our government, and shame to our armed forces which had sacrificed large numbers of men, and risked their lives to end the cancer of terrorism that had eaten into the flesh of our motherland was also fraught with danger. The gratitude the President showed to Dayan Jaytilleke who valiantly faced the onslaught of determined International Community to bring the government before a tribunal accused for war crimes, was simply to have sacked him.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If giving credit to this hero who had fought the invisible forces unleashed by the Western powers and the UN, is to throw him out like a used dirty chiffon, it would remain in the history of our nation as a shameful aftermath for a glorious battle fought with brilliance, intelligence , and vibrant verbal force for the glory of the motherland.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ All the laurels won by the President Mahinda Rajapakse for his great contribution for saving the country from terrorism, is blown away in the dry wind of shameless ingratitude by this one act.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ What could be the great wrong committed by Dayan Jaytilleke for him to deserve this inglorious end of a remarkable diplomatic carrier in the service of his country ?

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ When I wrote to a friend on the subject asking him whether it was a decision made by the President, and if so whether it is not an unpardonable error. He wrote to me giving details of the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-erraticƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ political path traversed by Dayan Jayatilleke , and explained that he as a Diplomat representing Sri Lanka should have been more careful making statements which may have contradicted the PresidentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s not yet decided views on the 13 Amendment, and that his statement on Israel was an embarrassment to the President.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ I disagree on both counts. On the 13 Amendment Dayan Jayatilleke had made his personal views as any other citizen even if his official capacity demanded him to be more cautious. He has a right to express his view on a matter that affects the future of Sri Lanka which he officially represents in a foreign land.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ With regard to his statement on Israel, what he said is not altogether wrong, but it may be taken as a statement made without reflection as Dayan Jayatilleke is not a hypocrite and calls a spade a spade. And yet that was not an irreparable damage.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As to his erratic political path , that was the past. We always learn from our past to relate ourselves to the future. Many are those who had followed erratic paths, but it should not stand on the way to judge them for what they are now.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The President should not have precipitated to take a very unfair and unjust decision to sack Dayan Jayatilleke for those statements made in his private capacity. Even many soldiers may have been allowed to die in vein by sheer miscalculation of military strategies by the Army Commanders. The bus load of Navy personnel massacred by the terrorists at Habarana was due to the negligence of the Security staff. And so was the terrorist suicide attack of the Anuradhapura Air Force Camp where the security guards were said to have been watching a television show.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ If those incidents had been overlooked in view of the over-roll performance of the Army, why was Dayan Jayatilleke not given such consideration for the greater services he had contributed for Sri Lanka at a very critical time.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And Sri Lanka is still not out of the tunnel as far as the vicious intentions of the International Community and Navy Pillay are concerned. Therefore, we still want Dayan Jayatilleke to be in his Diplomatic post in Geneva. He was a diplomat respected by his counterparts in Geneva and his removal in this manner may antagonise the diplomats of those friendly countries that voted to defeat the resolution of the UNHRC.