EXPOSING THE EXPOSED
Posted on September 15th, 2013
By‚ GOMIN DAYASRI
Lady trudges looking like a tramp but holds a trump being the High Commissioner of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Her roots beckon a South Indian origin; born to a South African family belonging to the Tamil Valhalla caste and responds to the name of Nevenatham Pillai. Should create no ripple being a South Indian Tamil if she is objective in her determination. True, the issue relates to Sri Lankan Tamils: but that does not deserve a stamp with a bias tag. Tamils are a world apart from the terrorists. Binding the two is as fatal and unrealistic as merging the two provinces!
More a concern is her South African connection in receiving a political elevation to high judicial office for defending persons incarcerated on account of terrorism activity, including her husband Gaby detained under the Terrorist Act – though it had much to do with apartheid politics. Admittedly, the cumulative effect does not appear to sound proper. For the sake of justice in the interest of transparency, could she not have delegated her functions to another in the UNHRC to exclude any trace of inherent bias? It would have sounded better for her at the time her obituary is written. Ministry of External Affairs did well in not raising an issue instead allowing her full access, which she dignifiedly acknowledged. Understandably, with an unlikely second term she takes all that lays before her in the balance term ahead.
Ask yourself, would India allow any exploration of their human rights deficiencies or over the violations by the IPKF in the North, where there are serious allegations? She will be allowed to India as a tourist to see the Taj Mahal but with no checks in the Kashmir Valley. Why does she not wag a finger at India for a change?
Her initial reaction at the present session of the UNHRC on Sri Lanka was to express her lament on the fate that await -human rights defenders, journalists and the communities I met during my visit from any reprisals or intimidation or attack-. Madam, name a name or lay claim to a complaint of any such incident before you shame a nation? That speaks volumes for responsibility, reliability and respectability on your part. We have not heard a grumble from any one but you!
By rushing to judgment are you not falling into the credibility deficit column? The imprints of where your footsteps are leading to are on display when you act prematurely. It is your expression six days (25th May 2009) after the war ended (19 May 2009) when you joined the European Community to condemn Sri Lanka that prompted you to lately indulge in semantic acrobatics and to declare of holding -Ëœan open mind-â„¢ and -Ëœwithout any pre-judgment-â„¢ in view of previous biased pronouncements. No judge need assert impartiality as it is presumed to be inherent, unless it attracts a guilty mind that needs a cleansing.
To determine whether Pillay came to Sri Lanka with a mind – open or shut, or with notions – pre or post judged, it is rather her words, conduct and acts that matter. In her opening statement of over 2750 words carrying over to more than 5 pages issued to the media, heavily censured Sri Lanka, while in passing a single sentence dismisses the atrocities of the LTTE (-LTTE was a murderous organisation that committed numerous crimes and destroyed many lives-) in a gross under-statement; remembers only of one life (Neelan Thiruchelvam, MP/TULF) lost due to the LTTE, omitting the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians.
The genuineness of a statement cannot be measured with a foot-ruler or of the names dropped. But is it fair reporting where Sri Lanka is faulted relentlessly taking a bulk of the marathon misgivings against Sri Lanka while 28 years of cruel terrorism is dismissed mildly with the aforesaid 13 words against the LTTE. Is there equal treatment or a balanced fair mind at work in the presentation?
Thousands of civilians of all ethnicities including infants and baby monks, children and women were killed periodically for over 25 years but Pillay lists only the death of a liberal minded TULF MP killed by the LTTE which she mourned by her personal attendance at his memorial service as mentioned in her lengthy statement. ‚ No doubt Neelan Thiruchelvam is a much valued life and as was Lakshman Kadirgamar and to forget the long list of politicians from Presidents to Prime Ministers in the sub continent assassinated by the LTTE is pardonable; yet can she forget while holding her present office, thousands of specifically targeted civilians killed periodically outside a battlefield by LTTE terrorists to whom her office/title is dedicated? It-â„¢s not the names but the suppression of facts that tells more.
Lady, to expose Human Rights violations – is your prerogative, which you must do impartially. Instead, you stand more exposed, which is a disgrace to the office you hold. Thankfully for Human Rights you are in a passing phase; sadly for Sri Lanka you are an arbiter during that dodgy chapter.
Either hold domestic inquiries or be prepared to face international trials. Pillayan declared categorically, the military inquiries determined were mock trials. Fair enough – she is entitled to her view with respect. In retrospect, a fatal decision to rue for Sri Lanka, that devalued the prospect of holding a proper court martial. ‚ Her premature injudicious decision in calling for international inquiry before exhausting local remedies placed her on fault lines but now she is in safer international waters. Sri Lanka too must get off its silly street and exercise its domestic mechanism, earlier the better. We cannot afford to live like islanders!
The criticism of a government moving towards an authoritarian regime is a reasonable conclusion. It would have carried weight had she said that after a tyrannical despotic rule that existed for years, people of Wanni now enjoy much greater trappings of democracy. Especially after the largest human rescue operation in the recent history: where over a hundred thousand civilians were freed from terrorists captivity and carried to safety at the loss of military life and limb. How did you forget that Pillay lady? You are vocal against one party and silent against the other? Is that your style in exercising Human Rights?
Did not the LTTE demand from the Northerners not to exercise their franchise? Did they enjoy the freedom to vote, free speech, travel, express dissent, and access free media or enjoy political plurality? Was it the TNA through the LTTE or Government through the military that brought the North closer to democracy? Look at the voting percentages, then and now? Was it not an election free and fair if the TNA won the North and defeated the Government? Not a word from the do-good lady.
Lady, be more balanced when you make a presentation, in your own interest. Remember you did not speak a word on rehabilitation or child soldiers in your statement, points that favor Sri Lanka. You are selectivity, damages the image of the UNHRC.‚ Pillay, you talk of free media but did you not complain of criticism leveled against you in the local media? Is that not the license of the free-press in a functional democracy!
September 14th, 2013 at 1:31 pm
Thanks G D – We should now focus on the NEXT STEP – we have to now openly and unconditionally reject her findings when they are formally presented, labelling them as that of a highly biased investigator, listing out the reasons already quoted by GLP and others including yourself indicating extreme bias on her part.. I also think that Sri Lanka should go further by stating that we have no confidence in her and that she is an unacceptable person to judge Sri Lanka. GoSL of course did make a mistake in allowing her to enter SL on a highly mistaken, naive and misguided that belief that we have “nothing to hide”. However genuine that view was, such a charitable and generous expectation has no place in the context of a highly biased woman like Pillai hell bent on revenge for thrashing her ‘pet LTTE’ I hope GoSL will NOT fail to recognise this mistake and perpetuate that by allowing a Visa to UK CH4 who might gate crash the CHOGM to knock up yet another crass cooked up Documentary paid by the diaspora! – S de Silva – London
September 14th, 2013 at 2:38 pm
“Reconciliation” is a word that is MISAPPLIED to the situation in Sri Lanka: there should be NO RECONCILIATION with the Eelamist MURDERERS who terrorized Sri Lanka for over 30 years, just as there is NO RECONCILIATION practiced in Europe and America against the murderous Nazis of Nazi Germany. No Reconciliation … NONE!
“Reconciliation” has found currency, particularly in the West, because of what transpired in South Africa under Nelson Mandela after the ouster of the Afrikaans (Boer) regime practicing Apartheid against the vast majority of native South Africans, and its APPARENT success. This Reconciliation basically amounted to the Black South Africans FORGIVING the White South Africans for the systematic discrimination, racial subjugation, and wholesale theft, they practiced against native Black South Africans over centuries of colonial and apartheid rule. It allows the white South Africans the opportunity to live in Black ruled South Africa, without taking revenge on them for their awful crimes.
The world considers this “Reconciliation” practiced and advocated by Nelson Mandela to be the reason a bloodbath was avoided in South African when that country was liberated from Aparthied rule of the whites, and advocates that “Reconciliation” BLINDLY to all other developing nations having such problems often rooted in the colonialism of the past.
HOWEVER, there are many stresses and strains developing in South Africa today, because liberation from white rule did not eliminate the inequities that had developed over centuries of white rule. The bulk of the wealth and land of South Africa is still monopolized by white South Africans; this the burgeoning black population bitterly resents. There have been violent protests in the recent past against this situation that is continuing today.
An assessment of the success of Mandela’s Reconciliation can only be written in the distant future with 20-20 hindsight on how these disparities and inequities are ironed out: peacefully or violently. Most white South Africans who could convert their assets to money have already fled to other Western countries, fearing retribution, while still others are preparing to leave. While FEAR of retribution drives some, others are driven to leave because centuries of inbred racist brainwashing cannot be displaced from the human minds of the whites within one generation.
In contrast, in independent Sri Lanka, there was no such racist discrimination practiced against Tamils. On the contrary, it is the Eelamist Tamils who developed a Racist ideology, encouraged and fostered by the presence of Tamil Nadu with its 60 million Tamils nearby across the Palk Strait, who shared their caste ridden racist ways of thinking. This ultimately resulted in terrorist murders designed to create a backlash, and alienate the Tamils from the Sinhalese, and drive them towards supporting the creation of a separate state of Eelam in Sri Lanka practicing a form of Aparthied.
The majority Sinhala people of independent Sri Lanka never discriminated against the Tamils, and gradually uplifted Tamils together with all other people of Sri Lanka. Those who embraced the communal transparency of independent Sri Lanka, particularly the Sinhala community, jettisoned even their caste system which was decaying even before independence under Buddhism’s influence.
Therefore, what are we being asked to “Reconciliate”? The Racism of the Tamil Eelamists seeking to create an Apartheid State; their systematic MURDER of all who opposed that murderous Racist Vision, and enabling them to achieve that Separatist Apartheid Racist vision under the umbrella of “Reconciliation”?
Just as the world has tarred and feathered the Nazis, and to this day reject their vision of a German Master Race “Uber Alles”, the People of Sri Lanka must commit themselves to REJECTING by leaf, branch, trunk and root the Eelamist Vision of a Apartheid Tamil State in Sri Lanka, and cry out “NO RECONCILIATION” with the Communal Racists and Murderers of hundreds of thousands of our fellow Sri Lankan citizens.
The underlying principle of the Westerners blindly advocating “Reconciliation” to us istill is what it was in the colonial age: “What is mine is MINE; What is yours is NEGOTIABLE”. They advocate approaches for us that cost them nothing, but which they themselves would not practice if they wore our shoes.
The South African Model of RECONCILIATION, the darling of the biased and jaundiced Westerners, DOES NOT APPLY in Sri Lanka and should be REJECTED TOTALLY.
Instead, the Western Model of TOTAL REJECTION of the Nazi Vision, and NO RECONCILIATION with Nazis should be adopted against the Eelamists, by TOTAL REJECTION of the Eelamist Apartheid Vision, and NO RECONCILIATION with Eelamists.
September 14th, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Dear Gomin Dayasri ………I am glad an experienced journalist responded with MIGHT to a person WHO prefers to called a TAMIL, than a Lady. she has to EARN that title..” LADY”.. because she is NOT as it appear from her BIAS, unrelenting criticism of OUR MOTHERLAND.
YES, I beleive we made a big mistake in inviting her here. Keep people like them in CAGES, which we have to do soon, WHEN the Govt: starts the ppunishemnet for MAJOR CRIMES commited by that megalomanic CALLED “SUN GOD”.
His crimes as balant MURDER NOT ONLY Sinhalese & Muslims BUT THEIR own Tamil people who are at lower end CLASS & CASTE ranks in Lanka. IF not for our Central Govt. by now people in Northern most communities in Sri Lanka, will NOT HAVE any peace or traquility, NOT to metion funds to pur food on their tables.
DID the so called TAMIL DIASPORA ever visited the poor & needy of tamil population in the North & East.? They continue LIE to mass population who emigrated to WEST, COLLECT FUNDS to ONE day attack Lanka again.Emigrated to west & other parts of the world saying the MANTHRA that Sinhalese & SL govt discriminates. I FEEL WE SHOULD have stared the so called DISCRIMINATION, MANY MOONS before all these RIOTS, DEMANDS OR running to INDIA and making a case against lanka.
If our two major political parties JOINED and had a NATIONAL govt to tacle the 12% of parasites who linger in our Island, from North to COLOMBO & now to Southern province, these problems may NOT have arised. They will creep & find many sympathetic Sinhalese to grant them relief. BUT NOT a word of thanks or respect. THEY CONTINUE call themselves TAMILS, before Sri Lankans. If you ask an American he or she will always say I AM AN AMERICAN, not Lankan American, Latin American, or Indian American. WE ARE AMERICANS they would sayLOUD & PROUD.
In most countries such incidents occur, the discriminated or put down are large popultions who had made significant contribution to their national economies. NOT mere 12%, NOW howerning around 4 to 5% of the population. Will any country in their RIGHT mind grant any favours, or give & sustain people WHO WAGED WAR against a DULY ELECTED Sovereign Govt:? No where in the world that would happen, THEN WHY ARE WE TALKING ABOUT TAMILS & their PROBLEMS which are NOT problems at all. TAMILS SHOULD LEARN TO LIVE in a country peacefully IF NOT emigrate to Tamil Nadu..It is YOUR COUNTRY. Sri Lanka Has NOTHING to do with you.
TAMILS made sure to INTERNATIONALIZE our domestic problems to gain sympathy & STILL have NOT stopped their DIS-INFORMATION CAMPAIGN AGAINST SRI LANKA.
WE need to teach them a lesson so NEVER AGAIN some irrevalnt MINORITY can dictate TERMS to the MAJORITY, how they should be treated. It is a DOMESTIC ISSUE where UN, UNHRC or any other world body have NO BUSINESS of dealing or interferiing in.
What mistakes we made in the past MUST BE CORRECTED at the expense of the so called discriminted SUFFERING PEOPLE, who emigrated WEST & AUSTRALIA. Our punishment should be a DETERENT TO any other group contemplating taking such ACTION against a SOVEREIGN state in the FUTURE.
Thank you all….Remember it is ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE, UNITED UNDER ONE LEADER, ONE FLAG & FREE….J
September 14th, 2013 at 3:36 pm
Sri Lanka nationalist party seeks legal action against major Tamil party
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 14, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Sinhala nationalist party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) says that legal action should be taken against the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for promoting separatism even after the defeat of tiger terrorism.
Participating in a national radio program, the National Organizer and the Media spokesman of the Jathika Hela Urumaya Nishantha Sri Warnasinghe said the Tamil party is attempting to create a dark era once again through the Northern Provincial Council election.
Warnasinghe said the election manifesto released by TNA calling for self-determination in a merged North and East has challenged the laws of the country, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity.
According to the JHU spokesman, Sri Lanka should have adopted a measure similar to what Germany did after the war banning everything including the political movements connected to Nazism and ban every organization associated with the Tamil Tiger terrorist group LTTE.
Participating in the same radio programme, the Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Open University Raja Gunarathne said that the people of the North should be further enlightened about the reality.
He said that after being subjugated to terrorism for several decades they are now used to implement orders being given to them and measures should be taken to make them capable of independent thinking.
“People of the north should be given the opportunity to decide whether they want to make their children inherit the cyanide capsule once again or to march through the peaceful path,” Gunarathne said.
September 14th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
There is a lot of writing of the power wielded by the high commissioner to use her power to place false accusations of human rights violations against her own community. The Tamils have demonstrated that at the moment they have a lot of power to persuade nations to act as the voice of the Tamil Diaspora. Add to this the head of the UNHRC and the Chief minister of Tamil Nadu and one has a potent multi headed Tamil propaganda machine.
In order to counter this new avatar of Tamil determination to create Eelam the Buddhist Sanga needs to also expand her sphere of influence. If there is no TV station dedicated to the Buddhist Sanga and Buddhism then there should be. TV along with movies have proved to be a potent force for propagating the voice of the Singhalese Buddhist and it does not have to be boring either.
Such a channel can have entertaining programs that cover the life of the Buddha, the Jataka tales, to current events dealing with the Tamil voice coming from the TNA to Tamil Nadu to the Tamil diaspora to the UNHRC. The TV channel can be used to propagate Buddhism over other faiths. It could have a travel series that covers the Buddhist world but above all it can become the voice of the Buddhist Sanga on any issue ranging from international events held in Sri Lanka to social problems that can be addressed through TV to help out the the Sri Lankan population.
This should be part of the new tools for the Buddhist Sanga to be heard in every corner of Sri Lanka and across the world. In the same manner movies that would cover the war to the plight of the Singhalese Buddhists to life of the Buddha will cement the Buddhist stamp through these modern ways of communication.
The Tamils are already way ahead of the Buddhist Sanga in using TV and their movie studios in Tamil Nadu to champion their point of view. If the Buddhist Sanga fails to rise up to this challenge it will be that much harder to silence the voice of Tamil propaganda couched in lies.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:33 am
Navi Pillay is a LTTE agent who has demonstrated her strong bias against the GOSL consistently, on numerous occasions, and threfore, is UNFIT to investigate the allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Therefore, she should either DISQUALIFY herself from all involvement in this issue, or the UN should remove her from her post as UN Human Rights Commissioner.
Navi Pillay simply cannot be allowed to continue polluting the integrity of the United Nations by using her position to advance the agenda of the Eelamist Tamils. Period!
………………….
SRI LANKA: UN’S NAVI PILLAY FAILS TO DISPEL CHARGES OF BIAS
By Kalinga Seneviratne
Nation.lk
September 7, 2013
SINGAPORE (IDN) – Giving a press conference at the end of seven-day visit to Sri Lanka, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay, a South African, said that she was highly offended by comments in the Sri Lankan media accusing her of bias because of her Indian Tamil ethnicity.
“Some media, ministers, bloggers and various propagandists in Sri Lanka have, for several years now, on the basis of my Indian Tamil heritage, described me as a tool of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). They have claimed I was in their pay, the ‘Tamil Tigress in the UN’. This is not only wildly incorrect, it is deeply offensive,” said Pillay at the beginning of the press conference on August 31, 2013.
In the same vein, she added, “the LTTE was a murderous organization that committed numerous crimes and destroyed many lives . . . those in the diaspora who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE must recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless organization”.
These comments have not stopped the Sri Lankan media and the blogosphere continuing their attacks on the perceived bias of both UNHRC and its head for allegedly overstepping her mandate to attack the Sri Lankan government from its own soil.
In a hard-hitting editorial, the government-owned Daily News the day after she left Sri Lanka, said that “the UN High Commissioner’s prejudices have long been clear, but they have never been clearer than after her recent visit to this country”.
The editorial went on to argue that the reaction at the end of her tour was expected and in fact, President Mahinda Rajapakse himself predicted it the day before. “He told her at Temple Trees (President’s official residence) that the people of this country think that her report to the UN at the end of her tour of duty will reflect her prejudice,” the paper disclosed.
Welcoming her comments on the ruthlessness of the LTTE, the Daily News said: “We may very well be able take her at her word that she has no truck with the Tamil Tigers, but if anybody on the streets gets that impression she has only herself to blame for it.” It pointed out that without informing the government in advance she had tried to lay a wreath in Nandikadal, the location of the final battle in which the LTTE was annihilated. The army officials on the location stopped her from doing it.
During her meeting with President Rajaakse, Pillay was reported to have told him that it was good she was able to come to see the developments in the country and it was “very visible” to her that the government has invested a lot in reconstruction work in the North.
Yet, the pro-LTTE TamilNet said that according to informed sources in Jaffna when the Northern Province Governor Major General (retd) G.A. Chandrasiri was showcasing the development work in the area, she told him that she was more interested in witnessing what had been achieved on the human rights front. She also questioned whether the people on the ground had been consulted in designing the ‘development’ projects that were being displayed to her.
‘Double standards’
In addition to her perceived ethnic Tamil bias, a lot of criticism in the Sri Lankan media and websites has focused on what are considered as her double standards in demanding an independent war crimes investigation on the final days of the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, while being silent on U.S. and NATO actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and currently in Syria.
Writing in LankaWeb, veteran journalist M.L.D Mahindapala argued that Pillay has worked hand in glove with the European Union to accuse Sri Lanka of war crimes. “As early as May 2009 she has fired a broadside with regards to human rights violation which ran on parallel lines to the EU resolution tabled at UNHRC,” he pointed out.
“On what criteria did she confine her condemnation of Sri Lanka to the last five months of war, leaving out selectively 32 years and 7 months of the longest war in Asia in which the Tamil Tiger terrorists used every conceivable weapons of war, including chemical warfare?” asked Mahindapala.
The independent Island newspaper reported that the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse has told Pillay that the United States had no moral right to move a resolution targeting Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. He has questioned her silence and argued that it reflected the difficulties experienced by the UNHRC in dealing with atrocities committed by U.S.-led Western powers.
When Pillay was asked this question at the press conference, she merely said that UNHRC release a report on every country each year and last year the U.S. had to respond to 19 queries. But, she avoided saying anything more about these queries or why she has not articulated it publicly as she has done with Sri Lanka.
“The bottom line was that Mrs Pillay would remain as UN rights chief as long as she didn’t antagonise the U.S.,” Defense Secretary told the Island.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Prof G.L Peiris has reiterated during a meeting with Pillay in Colombo that it is important to have an objective approach and extend equal treatment to all countries when fulfilling the assigned mandate of the UNHRC. The Minister added that Sri Lanka accepts constructive and justified criticism, but resents vicious and baseless positions, which are incessantly repeated.
He had explained to her the difficulties encountered in identifying the perpetrators of human rights violations due to the conditions prevailing at the time of incidence, with regard to a number of cases UNHRC has raised that occurred during the war. He drew a parallel with the case of the assassination of the former Foreign Minister late Lakshman Kadirgamar (by the LTTE), where conviction has not been possible due to the lack of evidence. In cases of missing persons, he outlined the difficulties in identifying the missing due to instances involving persons having migrated to other countries holding multiple identities, and those host governments not divulging their details.
It was indicated to UNHRC head that the repeated use of baseless and arbitrary figures in respect of disappearances, eventually lends authenticity in the face of the massive propaganda that is being carried out against the Government of Sri Lanka. Regarding comments made by the High Commissioner on the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), the Minister stated that some of the countries that criticize, have provisions in their domestic legislation far beyond those of the Sri Lankan PTA.
He advised Pillay to look at the human rights situation in Sri Lanka from a more broader perspective and pointed out the impressive development indicators in the country since the war ended in 2009. He gave her information on the enormous amount of resources being channeled to the North, which has resulted in a 27% growth rate in that region, as against corresponding national figure of 7%. In this context, Minister had also informed her that there are 225 bank branches and 76 finance and leasing companies that have been established in the Northern Province since 2009.
Pillay is due to make a report to the next UNHRC sessions in October on Sri Lanka, but, many commentators in Colombo tend to believe that it will not be fair to the country.
Cautioned on ethnic bias
However, political columnist D.B.S Jeyaraj of the Daily Mirror newspaper has warned against using the “ethnic bias” argument to discredit Navi Pillay’s report. “The proponents of this ethnic bias argument are in effect playing into the hands of those seeking an impartial international investigation into charges against Sri Lanka,” he argues.
“The line pursued by those who desire an international investigation into alleged war crimes during the final phase of the war against the LTTE is that Sri Lanka would not be able to conduct an impartial investigation into those matters because of the ethnic factor. The predominantly Sinhala Govt. would not conduct a free and unfettered probe into allegations against the predominantly Sinhala armed forces is the crux of the argument,” notes Jeyaraj.
“Colombo however, invokes the concept of sovereignty and counters such demands by saying that Sri Lanka as a nation is above ethnic considerations and is capable of conducting an impartial probe,” he adds.
“What the denigrators of Navi Pillay on grounds of ethnicity fail to take note of is that their campaign against the UN High Commissioner is strengthening the hand of those seeking an international investigation into Sri Lankan affairs,” he warns. “If Navi Pillay is deemed unsuitable because of alleged partiality due to ethnicity then the same argument would be applicable to Colombo too,” he adds. [IDN-InDepthNews – September 5, 2013]
– See more at: http://www.nation.lk/edition/special/item/20767-sri-lanka-uns-navi-pillay-fails-to-dispel-charges-of-bias.html#sthash.WfHbYBBU.dpuf
September 15th, 2013 at 1:37 am
Navi Pillay is a LTTE agent who has demonstrated her strong bias against the GOSL consistently, on numerous occasions, and threfore, is UNFIT to investigate the allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka. Therefore, she should either DISQUALIFY herself from all involvement in this issue, or the UN should remove her from her post as UN Human Rights Commissioner.
Navi Pillay simply cannot be allowed to continue polluting the integrity of the United Nations by using her position to advance the agenda of the Eelamist Tamils. Period!
D.B.S. Jeyaraj’s espousal of Navi Pillay is by itself concrete proof of her strong Tamil Eelamist credentials!
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SRI LANKA: UN’S NAVI PILLAY FAILS TO DISPEL CHARGES OF BIAS
By Kalinga Seneviratne
Nation.lk
September 7, 2013
SINGAPORE (IDN) – Giving a press conference at the end of seven-day visit to Sri Lanka, United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) head Navi Pillay, a South African, said that she was highly offended by comments in the Sri Lankan media accusing her of bias because of her Indian Tamil ethnicity.
“Some media, ministers, bloggers and various propagandists in Sri Lanka have, for several years now, on the basis of my Indian Tamil heritage, described me as a tool of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). They have claimed I was in their pay, the ‘Tamil Tigress in the UN’. This is not only wildly incorrect, it is deeply offensive,” said Pillay at the beginning of the press conference on August 31, 2013.
In the same vein, she added, “the LTTE was a murderous organization that committed numerous crimes and destroyed many lives . . . those in the diaspora who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE must recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless organization”.
These comments have not stopped the Sri Lankan media and the blogosphere continuing their attacks on the perceived bias of both UNHRC and its head for allegedly overstepping her mandate to attack the Sri Lankan government from its own soil.
In a hard-hitting editorial, the government-owned Daily News the day after she left Sri Lanka, said that “the UN High Commissioner’s prejudices have long been clear, but they have never been clearer than after her recent visit to this country”.
The editorial went on to argue that the reaction at the end of her tour was expected and in fact, President Mahinda Rajapakse himself predicted it the day before. “He told her at Temple Trees (President’s official residence) that the people of this country think that her report to the UN at the end of her tour of duty will reflect her prejudice,” the paper disclosed.
Welcoming her comments on the ruthlessness of the LTTE, the Daily News said: “We may very well be able take her at her word that she has no truck with the Tamil Tigers, but if anybody on the streets gets that impression she has only herself to blame for it.” It pointed out that without informing the government in advance she had tried to lay a wreath in Nandikadal, the location of the final battle in which the LTTE was annihilated. The army officials on the location stopped her from doing it.
During her meeting with President Rajaakse, Pillay was reported to have told him that it was good she was able to come to see the developments in the country and it was “very visible” to her that the government has invested a lot in reconstruction work in the North.
Yet, the pro-LTTE TamilNet said that according to informed sources in Jaffna when the Northern Province Governor Major General (retd) G.A. Chandrasiri was showcasing the development work in the area, she told him that she was more interested in witnessing what had been achieved on the human rights front. She also questioned whether the people on the ground had been consulted in designing the ‘development’ projects that were being displayed to her.
‘Double standards’
In addition to her perceived ethnic Tamil bias, a lot of criticism in the Sri Lankan media and websites has focused on what are considered as her double standards in demanding an independent war crimes investigation on the final days of the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka, while being silent on U.S. and NATO actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and currently in Syria.
Writing in LankaWeb, veteran journalist M.L.D Mahindapala argued that Pillay has worked hand in glove with the European Union to accuse Sri Lanka of war crimes. “As early as May 2009 she has fired a broadside with regards to human rights violation which ran on parallel lines to the EU resolution tabled at UNHRC,” he pointed out.
“On what criteria did she confine her condemnation of Sri Lanka to the last five months of war, leaving out selectively 32 years and 7 months of the longest war in Asia in which the Tamil Tiger terrorists used every conceivable weapons of war, including chemical warfare?” asked Mahindapala.
The independent Island newspaper reported that the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse has told Pillay that the United States had no moral right to move a resolution targeting Sri Lanka at the UNHRC. He has questioned her silence and argued that it reflected the difficulties experienced by the UNHRC in dealing with atrocities committed by U.S.-led Western powers.
When Pillay was asked this question at the press conference, she merely said that UNHRC release a report on every country each year and last year the U.S. had to respond to 19 queries. But, she avoided saying anything more about these queries or why she has not articulated it publicly as she has done with Sri Lanka.
“The bottom line was that Mrs Pillay would remain as UN rights chief as long as she didn’t antagonise the U.S.,” Defense Secretary told the Island.
Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Prof G.L Peiris has reiterated during a meeting with Pillay in Colombo that it is important to have an objective approach and extend equal treatment to all countries when fulfilling the assigned mandate of the UNHRC. The Minister added that Sri Lanka accepts constructive and justified criticism, but resents vicious and baseless positions, which are incessantly repeated.
He had explained to her the difficulties encountered in identifying the perpetrators of human rights violations due to the conditions prevailing at the time of incidence, with regard to a number of cases UNHRC has raised that occurred during the war. He drew a parallel with the case of the assassination of the former Foreign Minister late Lakshman Kadirgamar (by the LTTE), where conviction has not been possible due to the lack of evidence. In cases of missing persons, he outlined the difficulties in identifying the missing due to instances involving persons having migrated to other countries holding multiple identities, and those host governments not divulging their details.
It was indicated to UNHRC head that the repeated use of baseless and arbitrary figures in respect of disappearances, eventually lends authenticity in the face of the massive propaganda that is being carried out against the Government of Sri Lanka. Regarding comments made by the High Commissioner on the PTA (Prevention of Terrorism Act), the Minister stated that some of the countries that criticize, have provisions in their domestic legislation far beyond those of the Sri Lankan PTA.
He advised Pillay to look at the human rights situation in Sri Lanka from a more broader perspective and pointed out the impressive development indicators in the country since the war ended in 2009. He gave her information on the enormous amount of resources being channeled to the North, which has resulted in a 27% growth rate in that region, as against corresponding national figure of 7%. In this context, Minister had also informed her that there are 225 bank branches and 76 finance and leasing companies that have been established in the Northern Province since 2009.
Pillay is due to make a report to the next UNHRC sessions in October on Sri Lanka, but, many commentators in Colombo tend to believe that it will not be fair to the country.
Cautioned on ethnic bias
However, political columnist D.B.S Jeyaraj of the Daily Mirror newspaper has warned against using the “ethnic bias” argument to discredit Navi Pillay’s report. “The proponents of this ethnic bias argument are in effect playing into the hands of those seeking an impartial international investigation into charges against Sri Lanka,” he argues.
“The line pursued by those who desire an international investigation into alleged war crimes during the final phase of the war against the LTTE is that Sri Lanka would not be able to conduct an impartial investigation into those matters because of the ethnic factor. The predominantly Sinhala Govt. would not conduct a free and unfettered probe into allegations against the predominantly Sinhala armed forces is the crux of the argument,” notes Jeyaraj.
“Colombo however, invokes the concept of sovereignty and counters such demands by saying that Sri Lanka as a nation is above ethnic considerations and is capable of conducting an impartial probe,” he adds.
“What the denigrators of Navi Pillay on grounds of ethnicity fail to take note of is that their campaign against the UN High Commissioner is strengthening the hand of those seeking an international investigation into Sri Lankan affairs,” he warns. “If Navi Pillay is deemed unsuitable because of alleged partiality due to ethnicity then the same argument would be applicable to Colombo too,” he adds.
September 15th, 2013 at 4:33 am
Anana USA – Thank you for your fine words:
“The South African Model of RECONCILIATION, the darling of the biased and jaundiced Westerners, DOES NOT APPLY in Sri Lanka and should be REJECTED TOTALLY.
Instead, the Western Model of TOTAL REJECTION of the Nazi Vision, and NO RECONCILIATION with Nazis should be adopted against the Eelamists, by TOTAL REJECTION of the Eelamist”
Absolutely right !, this should be the stated policy of the GoSL whenever the subject ‘Reconciliation’ pops up! – SdeS
September 15th, 2013 at 7:07 am
Ms Pillai had to play his South African card. If she didn’t she wont be safe back in South Africa.
September 15th, 2013 at 9:21 am
Ms Pillai’s Agenda on Sri Lanka dovetails into TNA party politics.
Mr Wigneswaran (NPC candidate from TNA) now declares that “Tamil Nadu politicos are the real enemy” ! The unregistered TNA’s deadly illegal Manifesto is hiding behind the registered party, the ITAK. Mr Wigneswaran, do please correct your party TNA’s Manifesto and make it legal first. Then Tamil Nadu politicos will fall in line.
Please do not pull wool over our eyes. It is quite evident to us all that various Tamil leading political parties and the TNA have all along played along with the Tamil Nadu politicos for Separatism. The TNA hid behind the registered party ITAK and is hoping to keep the illegal TNA Separatist Manifesto. First correct your TNA Manifesto and make it non-Separatist and legal, then Tamil Nadu politicos will not be able to play dangerous games with Sri Lanka and back off.
Mr Wigneswaran being a Judge, ought to know the Law of the Land bette than us ordinary folks. Do your duty by your country first, Mr Wigneswaran – remove the illegal TNA Manifesto and make it a legal one. After that you may contest the elections. We await your decision and so do the Tamil people of Lanka.
September 15th, 2013 at 1:03 pm
Sampanthan is TWO FACED and speaks with a FORKED TONGUE, like the Eelamist Rattler he really is. To the Tamils he hisses “Separate State …. Support us for a Separate State of Eelam”, but turns around and rattles to the GOSL and the Sinhalese it is ONLY a call for “Self-determination for Tamils”.
To us observing the ANTICS of this Separatist Snake …. it means the SAME THING: TREASON, for there is no SELF DETERMINATION for ANY CONSTITUENT COMMUNITY of People in Sri Lanka that is SEPARATE from the SELF DETERMINATION already enjoyed by ALL Citizens through universal franchise.
Calling for “Self Determination for Tamils” that is distinct from the Self Determination of ALL other Sri Lankans is a TREASONOUS CALL for a Separate State.
If it looks like an EELAM, walks like an EELAM, talks like an EELAM, and smells like an EELAM … then it IS an EELAM that he wants!
ARREST, PROSECUTE, CONVICT and PUNISH this SERIAL SEPARATIST for TREASON, NOW!
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Sri Lanka Tamil party rejects allegations of demanding a separate state
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 15, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) today rejected the allegation that its election manifesto demanded a separate state of Tamil Eelam in Sri Lanka.
Speaking to media at a press briefing in Jaffna, the leader of the TNA, R. Sampanthan said the party only wants to uphold the right of self-determination of the Tamils in a merged north-east while preserving the integrity of the country.
“We have never asked to divide the country. We have very clearly said, without any attempts to hide, that a solution should be found within the country,” Sampanthan told reporters.
He said the party will ask for whatever necessary to find a solution and the party is ready to discuss and negotiate with the government in future to achieve such a solution.
Sampanthan said however, he was very disappointed the way the Sri Lankan President has alleged that the TNA plans to divide the country and create a separate state.
He said the President when he recently visited Vavuniya, had spoken in a manner to create confusion among the people.
The Tamil leader said the President has told the people that the TNA is now asking for what the Tamil Tigers wanted and therefore it cannot be considered.
Sampanthan said the President doesn’t say what the Tamil Tigers had demanded and he doesn’t say what the TNA is demanding.
“It is wrong to speak in such manner without explaining what we (TNA) are asking for and why they (the government) are unable to give it,” Sampanthan said.
September 15th, 2013 at 3:34 pm
In all fairness to Mr Wigneswaran, these are the exact words he had used : “In an interview with The Hindu, Wigneswaran had alleged that Tamil Nadu politicians are exploiting Sri Lankan Tamil issues for their own political gains to the detriment of Tamils in the North”.
We add : Re exploitation of Tamils in the North and elsewhere in Sri Lanka, so has the TNA.
September 16th, 2013 at 5:43 am
The ‘Self Determination’ aspect that Mr Wigneswaran is apt to emphasize should be looked at in depth.
The United Nations coined the term “Self Determination’ in 1960, in order to bring justice to the colonised countries in the world.
On this subject, from Wikipedia :
“On 14 December 1960, the United Nations General Assembly adopted United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1514 (XV) under titled Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples provided for the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples in providing an inevitable legal linkage between self-determination and its goal of decolonisation, and a postulated new international law-based right of freedom also in economic self-determination. In Article 5 states: Immediate steps shall be taken in Trust and Non-Self-Governing Territories, or all other territories which have not yet attained independence, to transfer all powers to the peoples of those territories, without any conditions or reservations, in accordance with their freely expressed will and desire, without any distinction as to race, creed or colour, in order to enable them to enjoy complete independence and freedom, moreover on 15 December 1960 the United Nations General Assembly adopted United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV) under titled Principles which should guide members in determining whether or nor an obligation exists to transmit the information called for under Article 73e of the United Nations Charter in Article 3 provided that [i]nadequacy of political, economic, social or educational preparedness should never serve as a pretext for delaying independence. To monitor the implementation of Resolution 1514 in 1961 the General Assembly created the Special Committee referred to popularly as the Special Committee on Decolonization[8] to ensure decolonization complete compliance with the principle of self-determination in General Assembly Resolution 1541 (XV), 12 Principle of the Annex defining free association with an independent State, integration into an independent State, or independence as the three legitimate options of full self-government] compliance with the principle of self-determination.
“National aspirations must be respected; people may now be dominated and governed only by their own consent. Self determination is not a mere phrase; it is an imperative principle of action. . . . ”
—Woodrow Wilson with his famous self-determination speech on 11 February 1918 after he announced his Fourteen Points on 8 January 1918.”
‘Self Determination’ is a term used to free up the colonized countries after WW II when the British Empire ceased to exist. Tamil people were NEVER colonised by the Sinhela people. Tamil Nadu, the Homeland of the Tamil people was NEVER colonised by the Sinhela people. Historical wars have proved that, on the contrary, it is the South Indian Tamil invaders who attempted to colonise Lanka.
Tamils were PART of the colonised Nation of Sri Lanka, colonised by the Portuguese, Dutch & the British, in that order for nearly 500 yrs. Tamils were used for the ‘Divide & Rule’ principle on which the British especially used to rule the colonised countries. Tamils were also used by the Dutch & the British as Indentured Labor.
It is time Tamil people of Lanka freed themselves from the self imposed Caste system and also from the colonial past. The challenge is on their door step to come forward toward peaceful integration into mainstream life in Lanka. Sinhela people have tolerated much and also offers much to others, thanks to their Buddhist heritage, but it is time for all the parties concerned to come to terms with the truth of matters with self examination and live together in relative peace and harmony.
Today, Sri Lanka has many problems inherited through the Colonial period, the World Wars & the Cold War and aftermath with the present Mid East crisis. The Law of the Land must be used with additions and subtractions to stabilise the country once more and bring balance to Sri Lanka.
September 16th, 2013 at 12:23 pm
Fran Diaz,
Again … in ALL FAIRNESS to Wigneswaran, of course …. here are additional words he has used:
“Prabhakaran is indeed a hero. President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran was a warrior. Prabhakaran is not a terrorist. He was a hero and a warrior who fought for the liberation of the Tamils.”
If Wigneswaran looks like an EELAMIST, walks like an EELAMIST, talks like an EELAMIST, and even smells like an EELAMIST …I humbly submit that we CALL HIM AN EELAMIST … and be done with it!
Sampathan and Wigneswaran …. BIRDS OF A FEATHER …. FLOCKING TOGETHER … me thinks!
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Minister accuses Sri Lanka Tamil party of attempting to mobilize youth against the country
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 16, Colombo: A Sri Lankan government Minister today accused the major Tamil party Tamil National Alliance (TNA) of misleading the youth in the North and attempting to mobilize the youth for their separatist demand.
Spiking at a media briefing today leader of the coalition party National Freedom Front and Minister of Housing and Construction Wimal Weerawansa said the TNA is expressing views to the Sinhala community that are contradictory to the views of the Tamil Community in the North.
He said the old Tamil politicians of the party are determined to mobilize the youth in the North through another Prabhakaran.
Minister’s statement comes following a speech made by the TNA’s chief ministerial candidate for Northern Province C. V. Vigneswaran at Valvettithurai glorifying the slain terrorist leader Prabhakaran as a hero.
“Prabhakaran is indeed a hero. President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran was a warrior. Prabhakaran is not a terrorist. He was a hero and a warrior who fought for the liberation of the Tamils,” Wigneswaran has been quoted in the media as saying.
Minister Weerawansa said the old politicians of TNA have an undying desire to put the cyanide capsule around the Tamil youth’s neck and guide them to their graves to fulfill their separatist dreams.
He said that the TNA politicians have no qualms about mobilizing the poor and underprivileged youth in the North through another Prabhakaran since their children never joined the terrorists but grew up and were educated while living in Colombo
The Minister said that Vigneswaran had studied, worked and lived in Colombo and would have no qualms about Tamil youth in the North adorning the cyanide capsule again.
He said the TNA politicians are trying to convert the Northern Provincial Council election to a public referendum for self-rule. He requested the northern public to defeat the separatist politics of the TNA.
September 16th, 2013 at 12:46 pm
ANYBODY bearing WEAPONS against the State can be killed without ANY questions, whatever. Therefore, let us view 4,000 Eelamists taking up arms again, as a GOLDEN opportunity to COMPLETE the JOB of wiping out the Eelamists who escaped from Mullaitivu-pocket in the guise of REFUGEES!
As in the USA, THREE STRIKES and YOU ARE OUT! TWO strikes down now, ONE Strike to Go!
They are SLUMBERING in La La Land if they think that the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the GOSL leadership are STILL THE SAME weak kneed idiots they faced in the past.
Please do give us the NECESSARY & SUFFICIENT LEGAL JUSTIFICATION to FINISH the JOB, will ya?
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Sri Lanka fears regrouping of 4K LTTE cadre
By P K Balachandran – COLOMBO
New Indian Express
September 16, 2013
The Commander of the Sri Lankan army in the Jaffna peninsula, Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe, said, with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) glorifying the slain Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in its campaign for the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) elections, there was a possibility of reactivating about 4,000 former Tiger combatants, who are still at large.
“There are about 4,000 former cadre of the LTTE who have not undergone rehabilitation. These could be mustered by the TNA leadership,” Gen Hathurusinghe told Express over phone from Jaffna.
He had earlier told Sunday Leader that in view of the utterances of the TNA leaders and the possibility of the reactivating un-rehabilitated ex-LTTE combatants, he was thinking of requesting the Defence Secretary to open more army camps in the Jaffna peninsula.
The Lankan army and the Colombo-based media are alarmed by a recent speech made by the TNA’s chief ministerial candidate C V Wigneswaran at Valvettithurai, the birthplace of Prabhakaran. Wigneswaran had said: “Prabhakaran is indeed a hero. President Mahinda Rajapaksa knows that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran was a warrior. I am not the only person who is of this opinion. The President of the country Mahinda Rajapaksa has also recognized Prabhakaran as a great hero. I speak out on the soil of the birth of Prabhakaran. He is not a terrorist.”
“When Prabhakaran was alive, the President came forward on his own to grant 13 Amendment plus (an improved devolution package). Now that Prabhakaran is no more, the President has begun to speak of 13 Amendment minus and even to the extent of saying there is no such thing as the 13th Amendment. This is because President Rajapaksa accepted Prabhakaran as a hero. He came forward to yield concessions to the Tamils. But he is not prepared for it now. Prabhakaran is not a terrorist. He was a hero and a warrior who fought for the liberation of the Tamils.”
Wigneswaran’s speech was distributed in other parts of Jaffna and some TNA activists were arrested in this connection.
Southern politicians and media have lambasted the TNA for demanding in its manifesto, “self-determination” for the Tamils, albeit within Sri Lanka through a federal constitution.
The Sinhalese consider this to be a separatist slogan. Even the respected south Lankan commentator Dayan Jayatilleka has said that the TNA cannot be trusted.
September 16th, 2013 at 1:17 pm
While introducing a forging-resistant National ID Card for all citizens is a GOOD thing, giving these to 1.6 Million potential ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS brought into Sri Lanka during the before May 18, 2009 is SHEER IDIOCY!
Statistical demographic data from the 2012 National Census DOES NOT REFLECT the expected reduction in the Sri Lankan Tamil population to less than 3% due to the IMMIGRATION of over 1.5 Million to Western countries. Instead, it shows that the Tamil population has INCREASED! How is this possible … EXCEPT through ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION from Tamil Nadu when the government of Sri Lanka lost control of its Northern and Eastern Coastlines to the LTTE?
With 20-20 Hindsight, we can now unravel the TWO FOLD IMMIGRATION strategy of the LTTE:
1. Smuggle Sri Lankan Tamils en masse ILLEGALLY as FAKE REFUGEES into Western countries to create the Eelamist Tamil Diaspora as a political and financial tax base.
2. Simultaneously, more than replace those dear departed fake Sri Lankan Tamil refugees with ILLEGAL INdian Tamil IMMIGRANTS from Tamil Nadu smuggled into Sri Lanka. Prabhakaran is now GONE; but the DIABOLICAL TRICK he played on Sri Lanka remains to BEDEVIL us to this day. The GOSL is turning a BLIND EYE to this MASSIVE ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION SCAM perpetrated by the LTTE! Why?
The proposed National ID Card will help these ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS stake a permanent claim to Sri Lankan citizenship.
Issuing these ID Cards now before INVESTIGATING and DEPORTING ALL ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS en masse from Sri Lanka, is putting the National ID CART before Illegal Immigrant HORSE!
Did Sri Lanka wage and WIN a War of National Liberation only to LOSE the Peace to ILLEGAL South Indian IMMIGRANTS?
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Sri Lankans to get new electronic national identity cards from November
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 16, Colombo: Sri Lanka’s Department of Registration of Persons will commence issuing new electronic National Identity Cards from November for all citizens.
The new IDs incorporating fingerprints required for the current and future needs of national security will be issued through the Department of Registration of Persons for persons over age 15.
The Director General of the Department of Registration of Persons M.S Sarath Kumara says the new Electronic National ID with fingerprints will be introduced in November.
The new ID, comprising security features against tampering, counterfeiting or forging, will include the person’s photo, bio data, fingerprints, and also the blood group. It will conform to the relevant international standards.
Compiling data for this ID which consist with a photograph and family details according to international civil aviation standards are now underway, the official has said.
The ID will be issued for three time periods. The ID issued to 15 to 20 year age group is valid for 10 years. It is valid for 15 years for the 25 to 30 year age group. The ID issued for over 45 years of age has no expiry date.
The Director General says the internationally accepted ID could use to prevent malpractices and frauds.
September 17th, 2013 at 6:29 am
Ananda USA,
I agree with you. Mr Wigneswaran is an Eelamist in disguise. There is no doubt about it now.
————-
All the distractions (demos in front of Neelkandan’s office, Mr Wig’s utterances etc) are just DISTRACTIONS to lure the stupid south away from noticing the real danger i.e. the TNA is going to contest the Northern elections along with its deadly MANIFESTO, unchanged and unchallenged.
September 17th, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Fran Diaz,
I know you agree about Wigneswaran … I was just pulling your leg … life without humor is not worth living!
The dear old “Supreme Court Justice” Wigneswaran’s remarks are making more waves. This bugger, has not learned anything serving on the bench of the nations’s highest court … must have been snoozing UNDER the bench and collecting pay all those years.
First C-in-C of the Army Sarath Gonseka, then Shirani Babdaranayake, and now Supreme Court Justice Wigneswaran! MY GOD, the deadly snakes we have harbored in our bosom is enough to induce Insominia! What Next?
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Sri Lanka Tamil party Chief Ministerial candidate under fire for arousing separatism
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 17, Colombo: The Chief Ministerial candidate of Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has come under severe criticism from the government and state media for a statement he has made over taking up an armed struggle again.
TNA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, a retired Supreme Court judge C .V. Vigneswaran at a media conference in Jaffna recently has said that if the power was not devolved to the North after TNA’s victory at the upcoming Northern Provincial Council polls on September 21, they will have to take up arms.
He has said that they (TNA) cannot accept an army that cannot be accepted by the people remaining in the North. “The Army cannot be allowed to administer the people,” he has reportedly said.
He has also stated that as per the provincial council act the government should provide funds to the provincial councils.
Ruling party Parliamentarian A.H.M. Azwer has criticized the TNA Chief Ministerial candidate for attempting to engage in an unsuccessful attempt to realize the Eelam dream of the slain terrorist leader Prabhakaran.
Participating in a national radio programme, the MP said the statement made by Vigneswaran regarding taking arms once again into their hands and seeking assistance of India and international community to receive police and land powers is really a threat to Sri Lanka’s sovereignty.
A recent speech made by the TNA candidate glorifying the slain terrorist leader as a hero has drawn alarm from the Sri Lanka’s southern public as well as from the security forces.
“Prabhakaran is not a terrorist. He was a hero and a warrior who fought for the liberation of the Tamils,” Vigneswaran has said.
September 17th, 2013 at 1:34 pm
Dear Mr. President, we know you have to placate the Indians to sleep, but saying “India will always help in uniting Sri Lanka” is a bit too much, isn’t it? It has not been so in the past, and will not be so in the future.
As you well know, India initiated and fostered Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, trained, funded and sumggled them into Sri Lanka, invaded our country to save the Tamil terrorists when they were on the verge of being defeated by our armed forces, amended our Constitution to permanently divide Sri Lanka into a patchwork of warring ethnic Bantustans, and orchestrates UN Human rights war crimes tribunals from the sidelines, shedding copious crocodile tears to placate Racist Tamil Nadu politicians to garner their votes to retain control of India’s Federal government. There is NOTHING in all this that echoes of “Helping” Sri Lanka. No, they Indians are helping themselves at Sri Lanka’s expense, performing devil dances in the belly of our Motherland.
I PRAY EVERYDAY that our Motherland, this Resplendent Hallowed Isle of Sri Lanka, will soon attain your vision of becoming the shining New Wonder of Asia, economically impregnable, militarily unassailable, allied to a phalanx of powerful friendly nations, as ONE INDIVISIBLE NATION, of ONE INSEPARABLE PEOPLE, sharing ONE GLITTERING DESTINY, that is beyond India’s power and ability to dominate and bend to its command.
But, please …. do we really need to lay it on so thick as to call this diabolical India … Sri Lanka’s stalwart friend?
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‘India will always help in uniting Sri Lanka’
By Padma Rao Sundarji, Hindustan Times
September 17, 2013
In an exclusive interview, President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka countered questions on the forthcoming provincial polls in Jaffna, the manifesto released by the oppositional Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which was sympathetic towards the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the TNA’s demands for the full implementation of the 13th Amendment engineered by India.
Rajapaksa said he was disappointed that the TNA was trying to ‘rouse the feelings of innocent people and divide the country” just to get votes but expressed confidence that India would never oblige by helping do so.
The president pointed out that it was normal for armies to be spread all over any country and that they could never be withdrawn completely from the Jaffna peninsula as the TNA was demanding.
He also pointed to the geographical and historical compulsions of keeping the army in place in the North and East, which were battered by the three-decade-long civil war and to the tremendous ‘scaling down’ of military presence in the peninsula.
The army was now largely restricted to the port of Kankesanthurai and the Palali air base in the Jaffna peninsula, he said. Much of the tedious work that the army was doing –like rebuilding public sanitation – would not be touched by the locals themselves, he said.
“Sri Lanka is one country. Whether the army is in southern Hambantota or northern Jaffna, it is one and the same thing.” Rajapaksa countered allegations of intimidation by troops of TNA candidates by pointing that there will be more than 20 election monitors from South Asian countries as well as the Commonwealth at the polls on Saturday. Asked what gave him the confidence to announce elections, given that the TNA was being seen as the favorite, he said that he wanted to keep his promise.
Rajapaksa also pointed out that several lower-caste TNA candidates had crossed over to his ruling UPFA publicly citing discrimination and that 80% of the TNA’s candidates were from the highest caste.
But he expressed confidence that the election is going to be a ‘good battle’ and urged the ‘best party’ to win. He admonished the international community for alleging that his government had not fully implemented the recommendations of a post-war commission, to come and see the tremendous development in the North and East for themselves and not base their opinions upon hearsay and the lobbies of the globally influential and pro-Eelam Tamil diaspora.
He said that he had taken the bold decision to release all former LTTE cadres because he believed that their inherent Hindu culture would help them reintegrate into mainstream Sri Lankan society.
Padma Rao Sundarji is a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered Sri Lanka for over two decades. She is based in Delhi.
September 17th, 2013 at 1:56 pm
Ananda USA,
Yes, life without humor is no good ! However, the current situation in Sri Lanka is too much of a horror show. The number of VIPs who are disloyal to the Nation is shocking.
But I was perturbed to learn that (according to the President) most of the CEO’s in Sri Lanka are from India. Did you read the full script of the Hindustan Times interview with President MR – that is what he says in the interview. Fulll script in Ada Derana, 17th September.
India seems to ‘own’ us right now, not China. Where is our own strength to manage our own economy ? Educated in Sri Lanka but gone abroad. In the end, it all boils down to wages & money, doesn’t it ?
September 17th, 2013 at 2:02 pm
“TNA’s Chief Ministerial candidate, a retired Supreme Court judge C .V. Vigneswaran at a media conference in Jaffna recently has said that if the power was not devolved to the North after TNA’s victory at the upcoming Northern Provincial Council polls on September 21, they will have to take up arms.”
This is a THREAT to SL.
We must act now or suffer later.
September 17th, 2013 at 2:15 pm
November 21, 2013 will be a DAY OF INFAMY, comparable to that infamous day of March 14, 1815, when a junta of treacherous gullible chiefs of Sri Lanka handed over Sri Lanka’s hallowed Crown to the Perfidious Albion!
On November 21, 2013, the very UPFA GOSL, that WAGED and WON a WAR of National Liberation and Reunification of Sri Lanka will ABJECTLY CAPITULATE and hand over in PEACE control of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province to the political PROXY of the defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. This capitulation to the LTTE, militarily crushed in battle at great cost in blood and treasure, to comply with a Constitutional Amendment RAMMED DOWN Sri Lanka’s protesting throat by India … the very power responsible for inciting and fostering Tamil terrorism in Sri Lanka, boggles my mind.
On November 21, 2013 the Tiger Nominated Agents of the TNA will take control of the Northern Province and begin its incremental campaign to create the Separatist State of Eelam, that will inexorably seek UNION with Tamil Nadu in India.
This unbelievable TURN OF EVENTS, breathed new life on this Day of Infamy, November 21, 2013, will spawn the Eelam War V, for the PATRIOTS of Sri Lanka will NEVER ACCEPT the Division of Sri Lanka into a patchwork quilt of Communal States.
Those leaders of Sri Lanka who stood by and allowed this tragedy to occur will be Swept Away and Consumed in the ensuing maelstrom, for they who seed the wind shall reap the whirlwind!
It is NOT the SURVIVAL of LEADERS that is at stake here, but the SURVIVAL of the NATION & ALL of its PEOPLE.