By Gomin Dayasri

International Crisis Group (ICG) is preparing an exparte report calling for an international inquiry into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. To give credibility to itself, there will also be a vague finding against the LTTE. With the LTTE ceasing to exist – such an adverse finding would cause no impact on a defunct LTTE. ICG naming them too as a guilty party- will be a mere eyewash.

It is the backroom boys at the ICG that are playing the role of scripting the ghost report to discredit the Defense Forces of Sri Lanka. Why does the ICG want an inquiry into war crimes in Sri Lanka?

The objective of the report is to bring Sri Lanka into disrepute in the eyes of the international community. Unlike the non- existing LTTE, Sri Lanka is a live nation state that can be subjected to international sanctions. Western Powers and their allied NGOs were incapable of finding material to discredit Sri Lanka in its effort to defeat terrorism. These nations and their shadow NGOs’ failed having fought valiantly to preserve the LTTE; it now requires a busybody such as the ICG at their command, to unearth material to hang Sri Lanka. It is an assignment on a contract given to parties specialized in plumbing operation, as is the ICG. They are the front -runners on whose doctored reports the Western Powers and NGOs can activate their objectives of attempting to shame Sri Lanka.

From the charge sheet, it is obvious their target is the present Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya. No more are they interested in the ex- Army Commander Sarath Fonseka chief of the Army at the time of the war, since their allegations do not name Fonseka as a wrongdoer instead the ICG charge the present Commander for the events of the past. Possibly after Fonseka expressed a desire to make revelations, they seek him for information.

International Crisis Group (ICG) describes itself as an “independent non governmental non profit organization”. Its key officials are persons highly critical of Sri Lanka on its war efforts. Its present CEO/President is Louise Arbour, the President Emeritus is Gareth Evans. The co chair is Lord Chris Patton. This ‘Gang of Three’ has been harsh on Sri Lanka in its conduct of the war against terrorism. Can an organization, which is headed by officials with such prejudiced and jaundiced views present an impartial and objective report? Obviously such a report is a pre-meditated effort to destabilize Sri Lanka in the international arena.

Chris Patten has asserted that the UN should have intervened politically and diplomatically under the doctrine of Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to safeguard Tamil civilians in the Sri Lanka’s campaign of the military to wipe out Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. (Island, 5 May 2010) Gareth Evans visited Sri Lanka in the company of expelled Rani Mani, to lecture that the country is certainly capable of deteriorating to the extent of a R2P situation and that it is a R2P situation that demands preventive action. (Foreign Policy Magazine 1 May 2009). Gareth Evans during the height of the war alleged, ” the whole world watches the continuing calamity in Sri Lanka, with thousands of civilians dead with tens of thousands at risk as government forces try to quash the last of the insurgent Tamil tigers” (Foreign Policy Magazine 7 May 2009). At the Neelan Thiruchelvam lecture in July 2007 Gareth Evans pronounced “In recent Sri Lanka history offers all-too- many- examples of large scale atrocities, mass graves, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. It was Louise Arbour’s reports that prompted US State Department official to assert that ” we remain concerned about the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka as confirmed in the recent assessment of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights[Louise Arbour], an international human rights presence in Sri Lanka would be an important step in improving human rights, accountability and the rule of law and ultimately resolving the conflict in Sri Lanka.”

This is proof that those who are trying to hang Sri Lanka for war crimes were once prime movers backing international intervention in Sri Lanka. This was the common stand of Patten, Evans and Arbour prime players in the ICG that would soon be releasing a report to call for an international inquiry to find Sri Lanka guilty of war crimes with a finger directed at the present Army Commander. [See boxes on Patton, Evans and Arbour]. In a nutshell the ICG officials had pronounced Sri Lanka guilty long before deliberating to write a report!

But does not the ICG report originate from sources that have displayed its partiality and bias and exposed their mala fides towards Sri Lankan Defense Forces? What degree of impartiality can be attached to a report that is prepared by a group that has been hostile to the war related events of Sri Lanka.

Though ICG in its introduction boast of a ‘non -governmental’ character, Source Watch has traced that it raises funds from governments and its prime sources of funding includes the governments of US, UK, Norway, Sweden Canada, Denmark, France, Germany and Australia. It is estimated 40% of its funding comes from State funds.

Its funding sources include George Sores Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Henry Luce Foundation and United States Institute of Peace [ source: Spin Watch in the article-Who pays the Piper? by Jan Oberg-Director Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future].

George Soros, executive member, foundation trustee and long time core supporter of ICG and founder of one of its prime financiers Open Society Institute( see: ICG media release) is known as “the man who broke the Bank of England” due to his sudden withdrawal of US $ 10 billion worth of pounds sterling. This led to the Bank of England withdrawing the currency from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism leading to the devaluation of the pound sterling. It is reported George Soros earned an estimated US $ 1.1 billion in the process and it cost the Treasury UK pounds 3.4 billion.

Former Prime Minister of Malaysia during the Asian financial crisis accused Soros of using his wealth under his control to punish ASEAN for inviting Myanmar as a member and for unbalancing the Asian currency markets.

In 1988 French courts fined him US $2.3 million for charges of insider information.

In the US George Soros has been highly criticized for avoiding tax payments.

In September 2002 George Soros Open Society Institute, a main funding source for ICG, gave US $ 20000 to the Defense Committee lawyer Lynne Steward who defended terrorists in court and was sentenced to 28 months prisons sentence for providing material support for a terrorist conspiracy. (Source: Material on Wikipedia)

This reveals funding sources of the ICG are of a suspicious nature and dubious character; at times its funding sources appear to be tilted in favor of terrorist objectives.

Diana Johnston [Emperors New Clothes- 28.Feb.2000] described ICG as a ” high-level think tank supported by George Soros…. {devised} primarily to provide policy guidance to governments involved in the NATO-led reshaping of the Balkans” …which led to the creation and the recognition of Kosovo as a “state”, just as the LTTE attempted to create a state of Eelam.

ICG openly interferes in the exercise of the franchise of the people being supportive of political parties of their fancy and in the last election in Macedonia in the Balkans, ICG came in favor of the opposition. ICG published a rabid attack on the then incumbent government of Macedonia-relegating the rampant corruption of the predecessor [like in the case of the atrocities of the LTTE]-whom it tacitly supported. In Bosnia in the Balkans, ICG has recommended confrontations, the imposition of sanctions and if it fails, the use of force. It is an organization that supports “just wars”-when it suits them.

According to Certified Independent Auditors Report of Gelman, Rossenberg & Freedman addressed to the Board of Trustees- ICG maintains a regional office/local field representation in Sri Lanka.

The famed “Economist once remarked sardonically ” To say (that ICG) is ‘solving world crisis’ is to risk under estimating its ambitions, if over estimating its achievements.”

In the recent confrontations in Thailand between red and colored shirts, ICG was the only NGO that called for international intervention to solve an internal dispute describing it as an undeclared civil war.

In this background, the credibility of the ICG is highly suspect and appears to be an undisclosed agent of western powers that did not want terrorism to end in Sri Lanka and was acting as a supportive buffer for the LTTE.

ICG could not prevent a victory for the Sri Lankan Forces that brought peace and tranquility to Sri Lanka, most notably to the Tamils in the north and east. Having failed miserably in saving the LTTE, ICG now returns to discredit Sri Lanka by attempting to fault them on war crimes.

Who will believe them with their dubious past except those Western Powers and their front NGO organizations that fund ICG to do assignments they are unable to undertake? This is another installment of a western strategy to bring Sri Lanka to disrepute. This is neither the beginning nor the end of the exercise.