Sri Lanka’s Ambassador Dr.Nonis In Outstanding Response To Critics On BBC’s “Impact On Asia.”
Posted on June 3rd, 2013
Insight By Sunil Kumar
JuneƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 4th 2013
Sri Lanka’s Ambassador ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to the UKƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dr. Nonis in a recent interview on BBC’s Impact on Asia hosted by Mishal HusainƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ has given an assertive and outstanding response to three panellistsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on the program which in all probabilities is a rapier thrust to the hearts ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka’s adversaries over the issue of falsely presented Human Rights Violations albeitƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ seriously flawed and distorted simply to attempt justification.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
In the ongoing barrage of accusations againstƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka re- human rights violations during the successful decades long Government campaign against the Tamil Tiger terrorists one distinct feature seems to stand out which all point toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ a pro Tamil sympathyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ based on the insistence of LTTE Rump supportive Tamil Diaspora who have gained acces to certain important areas of overseas administrative facilities and are infiltrating many similar enclaves around the world like a growing pestillenceƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ simply to aggraveate the present Administration.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The panel comprisingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canada’s Commonwealth Rep. Hugh Segal,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ free lanceƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ writer Rosemary Harrison who has complied a documentary ~Still Counting The Dead”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ laced in obvious bias based onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ hearsay andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ perhapsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ where one needs no rocket science to ascertain where she ‘s coming from and where her sympathies lie.Could this also be a consort of Adele Balasingham one wonders?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The third panellist wasƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka’s own Sunday Leader editor Lal WickrematungaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ whose contribution to the clarion calls disfavouring Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ during the best of times seemed apathetic and of a somewhatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ homage payingƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ nature given his status as well as nationality and a total affront to the good work being done presently by the Rajapaksa Administration whilst also casting a slur on his sense of patriotism and damning his loyalty to the Sinhala Nation regardless of what differences the paper he represents might have with the present Administration.
While both Segal and Harrison bemoaned so called “attrocities perpetrated on Tamils”ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by the GOSL with hardly a murmur about the other ethnicities who suffered and what seemed to be a pseudo-prophetic observation in their own mindset that no reconciliation was taking place as though they had observed this first hand, it was alsoƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ somewhatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ disconcerting ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to hear the response of the Sunday Leader Editor who blatantly commented that there was no evidence on the ground repeatedly to indicate thisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and perhaps indicative of the same attitude that has given an air of contentiousness in the eyes of many astute observers relative to the Newspaper he edits short of being blatantly bourgeoisie and arrogant.
While the intent of the panel seemed hell bent on damaging Sri Lanka’s reputation ahead of the forthcoming CHOGM in November where Canada has taken a defiant stand unilaterally to boycott the proceedingsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ based onƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ its venue, their objectives were met in response with a dazzling display of eloquence, statistics and assertive explaining of the realities which surround the reconciliation processƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in Sri lanka today by High Commisioner Dr. Nonis and perhaps ended on a sour not for the panellists although none of them were available for comment after the show!ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Dr Nonis also explained briefly ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the circumstances surrounding the internecine disturbances involving some radical Sinhalese and Muslims cited by the panelƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and that the issue is being resolved favourably by the Government where hopefully calm will return to the problem areas although history has proved that resolving ethnic issues in Sri Lanka were never easy.
The moderator of the interviewƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ one of the BBC’s mosr accomplishedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Newscaster / JournalistsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mishal Husain was unbiased in her questioning and at times seemed somewhat perplexed over some of the arguments presented by the panellists and seemed to silence some of them through her dialogue as they appeared to carry no water towards the issue of rights violations in a tangible perspectiveƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ where for example when the Canadian cited South Africa as being by-passed onceƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ for a similar event based on the situation the country was in during the pre- Mandela era she had no hesitation toƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ask if he was implying that Sri Lanka fell into the same category where his answer was evasive and negativeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ conveying an incapacity to justify what he and the rest of the panel were aiming at.
The High Commissioner’s responseƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ veritably summed up in deference to what the panel was implying that he, through first hand vision from many visits to the regionƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ could vouch for the progress the Government was making towards re-settling hundreds of thousands of displaced TamilƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ people in the North, rehabilitating former terroristsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and providing the freedom and equal opportunities for Tamils in that regionƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ where it is indeed a reality that The Tamil community in that region was greatly appreciative of what the Government had done and is continuing to do.
This perhaps also bearsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ testimony to the reality that it was the murderous terrorist leader PrabhakaranƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who caused much distress, aggravation and loss of life regardless of what ethnicity it affectedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and that it was the Government and its Armed Forces that came to their rescue contrary to what some of the innuendo, lies and cooked up evidence for very obvious reasonsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ are attempting to portray!
June 3rd, 2013 at 9:48 pm
To those who saw this interview it provided first hand the class of Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner in the UK, his intellect and high level of communication in keeping with his diplomatic status which surely makes all Lankans proud.
Well done Sir!
June 4th, 2013 at 8:22 am
At last a High Commissioner has done justice to the position!! We all should say Well Done!! One has to hammer them with historical facts using their pile of muck in their own historical backyard. I only hope others will follow this example. I have to say for once I am proud of the performance of a Sri Lankan representative – S de Silva – London
June 4th, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Bloody Hell! LTTE bombers of the Train in Dehiwala let off with only 10 year sentence (inaddition to 17 years they were held to date).
Reconciliation be DAMNED … Not ENOUGH PUNISHMENT, I say! These murderers should really have been put against a wall and SHOT DEAD! At least they should have received LIFE SENTENCES!
I cry in anguish that Sri Lankan LIVES are VALUED at BARGAIN BASEMENT Prices, by our own Justice System!
Many Friends and some Relatives of mine who were BLOWN TO BITS in that attack, on the alter of Tamil Eelam, must be TURNING IN THEIR GRAVES today!
What a SHAME!
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Suspects of LTTE bomb attack in Sri Lanka train 17 years ago get prison sentences
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jun 04, Colombo: A Sri Lankan court today sentenced three cadres of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suspected of blowing up a train in Sri Lanka 17 years ago killing 66 people.
When the case was heard today the Colombo High Court Judge Kumudini Wickremasinghe sentenced two of the suspects – Saverimuttu Loganathan and Robert Maxillan to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment while the female suspect, Siththirasenam Thirumagal alias Ramani to five years of rigorous imprisonment.
The suspects were accused of placing two bombs in two carriages of a highly crowded train and detonating it while stopped at the Dehiwala station on July 24, 1996. The attack killed 66 people and injured over 400 people.
The accused have pleaded guilty to the charges of conspiring, aiding and abetting to cause the loss of life and irreparable damage to the Sri Lanka Railway by blasting a bomb.
Since the suspects have been in remand for nearly 17 years, the counsels for the accused have asked the court for a lenient sentence. The prosecution has not objected to the request.
Two more suspects Sinnappu Suharajah and Suppiah Sudarshanan have pleaded not guilty to the charges and the judge has fixed their trial for September 11.
June 4th, 2013 at 10:09 pm
Sri Lanka was not called the Resplendent Isle for nothing and the resplendency was mainly due to the Sinhala majority that inhabited the land for generations and made it resplendent until feudal Dravidians happened along to sully the landscape!
Just because an insignificant implanted migrant worker ethnicity happened to be introduced which grew in numbers not significant to claim any inherant rights but were given prominence by colonial rulers who saw in them their hard working potential and over time began claiming rights to which they were never entitled to and rebelled with a three decade long near nation destructing insurgency what rigt does a myopic and blinkered westerm world have to dispute the true inherant rights of the Sinhalese. Tamils who contributed to the insurgency should have been deemed criminals and given just punishment for treason instead of which the leniencies shown by the Administration has given them a courage they have never been entitled to. It is laughable that the west is asking for an accountability from a nation that has defended its sovereignity and territorial integrity from the scum that tried to destroy it.The western protagonists of Sri Lanka have no entitlement to their demands and need to be viewed as harbingers of impediment towards the progress of a nation that has an unprecedented accomplishment in the war against global terrorism.
June 5th, 2013 at 11:52 am
What is this INDIAN delegation doing in Sri Lanka interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal matters?
First India seeds and fertilizes Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, then invades to partition Sri Lanka in favor of its porteges, then fights its Tamil surrogates when they threaten India’s own integrity, then they declare victory and flee back to India with their tail between their legs leaving us with a greatly enhanced separatist problem, and now HERE THEY ARE AGAIN … turning up like the Proverbial Bad Pennies on our doorstep … collaborating with the Separatists to Divide Sri Lanka AGAIN attempting to solve India’s problems on our heads.
The GOSL MUST STOP this SLOW UNDERMINING of Sri Lanka’s SOVEREIGNTY, NOW!
To get the POINT ACROSS, Sri Lanka should send delegations to India on FACT FINDING MISSIONS TO INDIA to talk to all INDIAN SEPARATIST GROUPS (Kashmiri and Assamese terrorists come to mind).
Why stop there, talk to the Naxalites and Dalit groups protesting caste discrimination, as well!
ISSUE INTERNATIONAL REPORTS recommending DEVOLUTION OF MORE POWER to EACH of these groups, in the interest of “human rights” and “greater democracy”, of course.
Let us see how the INDIANS will like their own bitter medicine!
NOTHING will CONVINCE these BUGGERS to CEASE & DESISTS until WE DO UNTO THEM AS THEY DO UNTO US! Nothing!
Get these BUSYBODIES OUT of Sri Lanka, PERMANENTLY!
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India’s opposition party delegation arrives in Sri Lanka to discuss 13th Amendment
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Jun 05, Colombo: A six-member Indian delegation led by the deputy leader of Indian opposition Bharatha Janatha Party (BJP) in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad arrived in Sri Lanka yesterday for a five-day visit.
During the visit organized by the New Delhi-based India Foundation and Bandaranaike Centre for International Studies in Colombo, the delegation will hold discussions with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on power devolution.
The delegates intend to discuss the issue of granting police and land powers to the provinces under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and Northern Provincial Council election with the President and Defense Secretary.
The Indian delegates will also meet senior leaders of other political parties in Sri Lanka.
In addition to the leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, Indian delegation will include Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu, senior Indian journalist Swapan Dasgupta, retired IFS officer Vivek Katju, RSS representative Ram Madhav and human right activist Monika Arora.
The delegation today left for Jaffna in northern Sri Lanka to hold discussions with the leaders of Tamil parties including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA). They will also meet the Governor of the Northern Province to discuss the Northern Provincial Council elections planned o be held in September.
The delegation includes Suresh Prabhu (Shiv Sena), Ram Madhav (RSS), journalist and political commentator Swapan Dasgupta, former IFS officer Vivek Katju and human rights activist Monika Arora.
According to The Hindu the delegation’s visit, although not government sponsored, is being watched keenly by the Indian government since the opposition-led team will be meeting all the top leaders of Sri Lanka.
This is the first discussion BJP will have with the Sri Lankan government prior to India’s general election in 2014.