VINDICATED: “What kind of hypocrite are you PM? …’, was Rajpal’s question
Posted on November 22nd, 2013

Rajpal Abeynayake writes :

British PM David Cameron at the press conference.
People keep asking me what I -Ëœshouted-â„¢ at David Cameron the British Prime Minister when he left the press conference podium at the media briefing room in Colombo during CHOGM last week. Most who ask have seen the episode on TV, but some could not catch the exact words, as they were not spoken to a mic. So here is what I asked and why — for the benefit of those who did not know:
My shouted out question as the PM left was, -What kind of hypocrite are you Mr. Prime Minister, where is the Chilcot report — what kind of hypocrite are you Mr. Prime Minister?-â„¢-â„¢.
Cameron heard and did a double take, but did not answer.
So there it is for those who did not know. And for those who want to ask why the question was shouted out as he was leaving -” well, he did not grant questions to local media, as has already been reported in many newspapers.
One more reason I give this information out today is the fact that my position about the UK PM being a hypocrite has never been more vindicated as in the last week. The UNHRC castigated UK for human rights violations in 40 categories in a report on Tuesday, violations it was said that need to be promptly addressed. Articles have also been dime a dozen in the British press castigating Mr. Cameron-â„¢s hypocrisy.
For instance Felicity Arbuthnot writes this in the Global Research Review about David Cameron-â„¢s lecturing to Sri Lanka on human rights. (The full article can be read on page 5.) She states specifically about Cameron-â„¢s lecture here in Colombo: -ËœTo cite hypocrisy of breathtaking proportions has become a redundant accusation, but words are failing.-â„¢
There are several other articles and an editorial detailing Mr. Cameron-â„¢s hypocrisy on human rights on page 5 today. Here is also Arbuthnot-â„¢s pointed reference to Cameron-â„¢s spectacular hypocrisy in last week-â„¢s lecture to Sri Lanka:
Spectacular welcoming ceremonies barely over, he launched in to an entirely undiplomatic, public tirade, at this gathering of the -Commonwealth family of nations- alleging that his host, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was guilty of war crimes during the civil war with the Tamil Tigers. Not disputed is, as any conflict, that terrible crimes were committed on both sides.
But these are accusations from the man both covering up the genesis of massacres of genocidal magnitude -” and who enjoined in the near destruction of Libya, the resultant lynching of the country-â„¢s leader, the murder of his sons and small grand children and uncounted others in another decimation of a country who had threatened no other.
Cameron-â„¢s Libya, is Blair-â„¢s Iraq. As Iraq, the dying continues daily.
The pontification also from a Prime Minister backing funding for the cannibalistic orientated insurgents in Syria, the beheading, dismembering, looting, displacing, kidnapping, chemical weapons lobbying, child killing, infanticide-bent crazies, including those from his own country. In Sri Lanka he demanded the country ensure: -credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged war crimes- and said if this did not happen by the March deadline he arbitrarily imposed, he would press the UN Human Rights Council to hold an international inquiry. Further: -truth telling-, he said, was essential. To cite hypocrisy of breathtaking proportions has become a redundant accusation, but words are failing.
In the event Cameron: – -¦ left Colombo having failed to secure any concessions from President Rajapaksa or persuade fellow leaders to criticise Sri Lanka-â„¢s record in a communique-, reported the Guardian (16th November.)
As the Prime Minster slunk out, President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered an apt, withering reaction: -People in glass houses shouldn-â„¢t throw stones-, he responded.

– See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/local/vindicated-what-kind-hypocrite-are-you-pm-was-rajpal-s-question#sthash.rMN7WROi.dpuf

Cameron covers up war crimes, lectures Lanka on war crimes…

Felicity Arbuthnot
-Hypocrisy, the most protected of vices.- Moliere (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, 1622-1673.)
Last week a little more was learned as to the circumventions in Whitehall and Washington delaying the publication of the findings of Sir
John Chilcot-â„¢s marathon inquiry into the background of the Iraq invasion.
The UK-â„¢s Chilcot Inquiry, was convened under then Prime Minister Gordon Brown, to establish the decisions taken by the UK government and military, pre and post invasion. It ran from November 24, 2009 until February 2, 2011 and cost an estimated ‚£7.5 million. The as yet unpublished Report is believed to run to 1,000,000 words.
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Tony Blair
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Gordon Brown
The stumbling block -” more of an Israeli-style -separation barrier- in reality -” has been the correspondence between Tony Blair and George W. Bush, prior to an invasion and occupation, which former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan finally told the BBC was: -illegal- and that: -painful lessons- had been learned. (BBC September 16, 2004.) -Lessons- clearly not learned by the current British government.
The communications, in Sir John Chilcot-â„¢s words to former Cabinet Secretary Lord O-â„¢Donnell related to: -The question when and how the Prime Minister (Tony Blair) made commitments to the U.S about the UK-â„¢s involvement in military action in Iraq, and subsequent decisions on the UK-â„¢s continuing involvement, is central to its considerations.-(Guardian July 17, 2013.)
Further: -Chilcot said the release of notes of the conversations between Blair and Bush would serve to -Ëœilluminate Mr Blair-â„¢s position at critical points-â„¢ in the run up to war.-
Iraq war
The Inquiry had also been seeking clarification from O-â„¢Donnell-â„¢s successor Sir Jeremy Heywood regarding inclusion of references to: -the content of Mr Blair-â„¢s notes to President Bush, and to the records of discussions between Mr Blair and Presidents Bush and Obama.- The wall remains in place.
Sir Jeremy Heywood, now the country-â„¢s most senior civil servant, was Tony Blair-â„¢s Private Secretary during the period of the trans-Atlantic lies that led to the Iraq war and during the creation of the Blair regime-â„¢s -dodgy dossiers.-
Interestingly too: -O-â„¢Donnell had consulted Blair before saying the notes must remain secret.- Effectively, one of the accused, in an action which has destroyed a country, lynched the President, murdered his sons and teenage nephew and caused the deaths of perhaps one and a half million people, decides what evidence can be presented before the Court. Chilcot, has seen the documents but seemingly needs the accused permission to publish them.
A stitch-up of which any -rogue- or -totalitarian- regime, would surely be proud.
Center to the dispute between the Inquiry, Cameron and his ennobled gate keepers is material requested for inclusion in the final Report: -to reflect its analysis of discussions in Cabinet and Cabinet Committees and their significance.-
Openness and transparency
The documents being denied to the Inquiry include twenty five pieces of correspondence sent by Tony Blair to George W. Bush and one hundred and thirty documents relating to conversations between these lead plotters of Iraq-â„¢s destruction. Additionally: -dozens of records of Cabinet meetings.-(i)
Ironically on October 31, 2006, David Cameron voted in favour of a motion brought by the Scottish National Party and Wales-â„¢ Plaid Cymru (-The Party of Wales-) calling for an Inquiry into the Blair government-â„¢s conduct of the Gulf war.
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David Cameron
On June 15, 2009, in a parliamentary debate, the terms of the Chilcot Inquiry were presented in detail, duly recorded in Hansard, the parliamentary records.(ii.)
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Blair-â„¢s successor stated: -In order that the committee is as objective and non-partisan as possible, the membership of the committee will consist entirely of non-partisan public figures acknowledged to be experts and leaders in their fields. There will be no representatives of political parties from either side of this House.-
David Cameron, then Leader of Opposition stated piously:
-The whole point of having an Inquiry is that it has to be able to make clear recommendations, to go wherever the evidence leads, to establish the full truth and to ensure that the right lessons are learned -¦ in a way that builds public confidence.-
Cameron was particularly concerned about: -openness.- How times change.
Further, said Cameron:
-The inquiry needs to be, and needs to be seen to be, truly independent and not an establishment stitch-up -¦ The Prime Minister was very clear that the inquiry would have access to all British documents and all British witnesses. Does that mean that the inquiry may not have access to documents from the USA -¦ On the scope of the inquiry, will the Prime Minister confirm that it will cover relations with the United States -¦-
Cameron concluded with again a demand for -openness and transparency.-
In response, Gordon Brown stated:
– -¦ I cannot think of an Inquiry with a more comprehensive, wider or broader remit than the one that I have just announced. Far from being restricted, it will cover eight years, from 2001 to 2009. Far from being restricted, it will have access to any documents that are available, and that will include foreign documents that are available in British archives. (Emphasis mine.)
However, four years is a long time in politics and last week, as David Cameron traveled to Sri Lanka for the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, it transpired that the documents Sir John Chilcot had been pursuing and been denied for six months have been also blocked by: -officials in the White House and the US Department of State who have refused to sanction any declassification of critical pre-and post-war communications between George W. Bush and Tony Blair.-
David Cameron is apparently also blocking evidence: – -¦ on Washington-â„¢s orders, from being included in the report of an expensive and lengthy British Inquiry.-(iii) Confirmation, were it ever needed, that Britain is the U.S 51st State, whose puppet Prime Ministers simply obey their Master-â„¢s voice.
However, -shame- clearly not being a word in Cameron-â„¢s lexicon, he landed in Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon, a British Colony 1815-1948) as the above shoddy details broke, in full colonial mode.
Spectacular welcoming ceremonies barely over, he launched in to an entirely undiplomatic, public tirade, at this gathering of the -Commonwealth family of nations- alleging that his host, President Mahinda Rajapaksa was guilty of war crimes during the civil war with the Tamil Tigers. In any conflict, terrible crimes are committed on both sides. But these are accusations from the man both covering up the genesis of massacres of genocidal magnitude -” and who enjoined in the near destruction of Libya, the resultant lynching of the country-â„¢s leader, the murder of his sons and small grand children and uncounted others in another decimation of a country who had threatened no other.
Cameron-â„¢s Libya, is Blair-â„¢s Iraq. As Iraq, the dying continues daily.
The pontification also from a Prime Minister backing funding for the cannibalistic orientated insurgents in Syria, the beheading, dismembering, looting, displacing, kidnapping, chemical weapons lobbying, child killing, infanticide-bent crazies, including those from his own country.
In Sri Lanka he demanded the country ensure: -credible, transparent and independent investigations into alleged war crimes- and said if this did not happen by the March deadline he arbitrarily imposed, he would press the UN Human Rights Council to hold an international inquiry. Further: -truth telling-, he said, was essential. To cite hypocrisy of breathtaking proportions has become a redundant accusation, but words are failing.
British taxpayers-â„¢ money
In the event Cameron: – -¦ left Colombo having failed to secure any concessions from President Rajapaksa or persuade fellow leaders to criticise Sri Lanka-â„¢s record in a communique-, reported the Guardian (November 16)
As the Prime Minster slunk out, President Mahinda Rajapaksa delivered an apt, withering reaction: -People in glass houses shouldn-â„¢t throw stones-, he responded.
Ironically, in spite a tragic recent past, Sri Lanka is the only country in South Asia rated high on the Human Development Index. The UK and -allies- recent victims, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan barely make it to the bottom.
David Cameron returned to Britain still having to grapple with how to evade delivering truth to the Chilcot Inquiry.
Hopefully he will read a letter from writer Lesley Docksey (Independent, November 18, 2013.)
-It was British taxpayers-â„¢ money that funded the Chilcot Inquiry, and this taxpayer wants her money-â„¢s worth. All the British government papers concerning the sorry affair of an invasion of another country belong to this nation, not to the United States, not to Tony Blair, not to the current government. Taxpayers aren-â„¢t here to save the faces of politicians.
-Nor is it, in the words of the Cabinet Office, -Ëœin the public-â„¢s interest-â„¢ that exchanges between the UK Prime Minister and the U.S President are kept secret-â„¢ -” sorry, -Ëœprivileged-â„¢ -” from those who are paying their wages. The phrase -Ëœin the public interest-â„¢ only ever means the interests of the government of the day.
-Unless Sir John Chilcot and his team can publish a full and honest report, no lessons will be learnt by future governments. But then, if those lessons were learnt, and we the public knew (as in fact we do) what they were, this country would find it difficult to ever invade anywhere ever again.
-So, Sir John, in the words of a former PM, the Duke of Wellington, -ËœPublish and be damned!-â„¢
Oh, and as David Cameron was lecturing Sri Lanka on -transparency-, the Conservatives were removing: -Ëœa decade of speeches from their website and from the main internet library -” including one in which David Cameron claimed that being able to search the web would democratise politics by making -more information available to more people.- -â„¢.
-The party removed records of speeches and press releases from 2000 until May 2010. The effect will be to remove any speeches and articles during the Tories-â„¢ modernisation period -¦- (iv.)
Comment again redundant.
Courtesy: GlobalResearch

 

CHOGM Declaration needed

Stop West-sponsored witch-hunt of Third World Nations

Shenali D Waduge
A U.S drone base
An ICC that cannot take US and UK to trial is not an international court. This is why the African Union has finally decided to review its relationship with the International Criminal Court in view of the rising number of cases against African leaders sponsored by Western nations. If its Africa today it will be Asia tomorrow and ONLY Third World nations and their leaders. As Chairman of CHOGM, an organization that represents 53 members, President Rajapaksa must call for an emergency session and call for the membership to unilaterally oppose ICC rulings for an international court cannot be ‘international’ if the biggest perpetrators and the very nations that sponsor terror covertly and overtly are immune from trial and conviction.
President Rajapaksa in his opening address reiterated that bilateral issues should not be taken up at CHOGM. Nonetheless, obviously to honour promises made on home turf, a very haughtily behaving Viceroy mentality-clad British PM wearing the colour of mourning insisted on going to Jaffna and met up with suddenly Western-attired TNA leaders. Later at a press conference showing white discrimination that Britain is so famous for he fielded questions only from the foreign media and went on to threaten to take Sri Lanka before the UNHRC and thereafter to the ICC.
We can ignore these threats but we are dealing with a country that can bend rules, make rules, break rules and create new rules as it sees fit. Much of these threats are to strike a deal but putting other people’s heads on the line.
Third World leaders
The Third World kept apart using various time-tested methodologies now need to realize that together they can put the countries of the First World in a position that they can no longer play the school bully. It’s time the Third World leaders start put their heads together and devise ways to take back the power without becoming neocolonial slaves. The First World must learn to respect the Third World and not simply restrict professed equality to reading out prepared messages and statements.z_p04-Stop.jpg
Africa’s concerns about the ICC is valid following the UN rejection of Kenya’s bid to stop its leader Mr. Kenyatta from appearing before the ICC trials. Mr. Kenyatta will become the FIRST serving head of state to go on trial at this pseudo international court – for election offences while none of the war crimes and crimes against humanity of the U.S, UK and NATO can get to ICC trials. The issue that Third World leaders attending CHOGM must now address is why should ONLY Third World leaders be brought before an organization supposedly called an international court that cannot take to trial or convict either U.S or Britain? Why should Third World leaders and their nations be bullied, humiliated and brought to trial by those bringing the cases whose criminal past and present are too barbaric to reveal though they pretend to be angels and expect us to treat them so?
What exactly is the International Criminal Court
Located in The Hague, it began operations in 2002 therefore it deals with crimes committed ONLY after July 1, 2002. It is meant to prosecute all those responsible for crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and can intervene if national authorities CANNOT and WILL NOT prosecute. This then cannot omit US, UK and NATO countries because the Iraq invasion and occupation without UN mandate and was based on lies.
The ICC has automatic jurisdiction upon states that have ratified the treaty, in crimes committed on the territory of a state, by a citizen of such a state or when referred by the UN Security Council. 121 countries have ratified it.
ICC prosecutor will begin investigations if a case is referred by the UN Security Council or by a ratifying state. Prosecutor and Judges are elected by states that are part of the Court. Each state can nominate one candidate for election as a judge.
121 countries has ratified the Rome Treaty. 34 states have signed but not ratified. Jordan is the only Arab state to ratify.
U.S has not ratified the Rome Treaty/ICC arguing that its soldiers might be subject to politically motivated prosecutions. Bill Clinton signed the Treaty after ensuring safeguards but Congress has not ratified it.
Bush threatened to pull U.S troops from the UN in Bosnia if US was not given immunity from prosecution by the ICC. US troops was thus given an exemption from prosecution renewed annually.
China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia and Turkey have not signed the Treaty. Egypt, Iran, Israel, Russia, Sri Lanka has neither signed or ratified the Treaty.
Japan, Germany, France and Britain are the largest contributors to the ICC and naturally use this as a leverage just as Canada is now threatening to completely withdraw from the Commonwealth using its funding power as threat.
‚· The ICC’s 1st verdict was in March 2012 against leader of the militia in DR Congo – Thomas Lubanga. He was convicted of war crimes relating to the use of children and was sentenced in July for 14 years.
‚· The next African to be brought before the ICC was Ivory Coast’s former President Laurent Gbagbo. The four charges against him were for murder, rape, sexual violence and ‘other inhuman acts’.
‚· In 2010, African leader Jean-Pierre Bemba, Vice President of former DR Congo was charged with two counts of crimes against humanity and three counts of war crimes in the 2002-3 period.
‚· In 2009, more Africans – Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui were charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
‚· Kenya’s 2013 presidential election winner Uhuru Kenyatta and three other high profile Kenyans were charged with crimes against humanity including murder, rape in 2007 elections.
‚· ICC is also targeting leaders of Uganda’s rebel movement the Lord’s Resistance Army. ICC charged its leader Joseph Kony for crimes against humanity and war crimes including abduction of children and forcing them to kill their own parents. Kony is at large refusing to sign any peace deal. Some of LTTE’s child soldiers were asked to do the same. Adele Balasingham may shed some light on this for David Cameron since she lives in the UK.
‚· ICC has an arrest warrant against another African – Sudanese President Omaar al-Bashir, the first against a serving head.
‚· ICC has also issued arrest warrants for two close allies of Libya’s former leader Gaddafi.
The ICC has no police force to arrest and put suspects on trial. Jean-Pierre Bemba was arrested in Brussels in 2008. ICC signatory countries are refusing to cooperate with the arrest of Sudan’s President Bashir with Chad and Kenya declining to detain him. India betraying Sri Lanka twice is a dangerous ally for Sri Lanka with the trust factor missing in the relationship no different to how Malawi refused to host the African Union Summit in 2012 for fear of antagonizing Western donors. So this is the game the West will play to coax nations to submission through the carrot and stick method.
International law
ICC cannot be a political organ that functions to a racist agenda. Its records of prosecutions reveal that only Africa’s leaders have thus far been targeted completely ignoring the illegalities that surround the invasion and occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan and now Libya and if all went well Syria. If the countries responsible for the war crimes and crimes against humanity escape or are immune from ICC trials it is nothing but a breach of international law and is morally incorrect.
Does the U.S have a carte blanche to send unmanned drones all over the world and murder innocent people in Pakistan and elsewhere?
Does the ICC lens cover only Third World nations? The African leaders taken to task on election violations are saintly compared to the atrocities that were perpetrated since 2003 upon Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and even Syria by U.S, UK and NATO? Who is going to take these war mongers to trial? We cite the audacity of these Western nations who openly said that the ICC was not set up to bring British Prime Ministers or US Presidents to book (Robin Cook – former British Foreign Secretary).
What kind of an international court leaves out nations from trial – especially when these nations are the key to all the conflicts taking place the world over.
A world court cannot have selective application of justice if this ‘international court’ was created to promote security, peace, justice and reconciliation. What a travesty of justice is that US has even declared that it has a right to invade the Hague to free American citizens if indicted and facing prosecution, a sentiment that Australia also shares but only Third World has to offer their leaders on a platter to be tried in the Hague.
It is totally unfair to always expect Russia and China to come to the rescue. The nations of the World in particular the Third World needs to realize that each of them are in a very compromised position. Some of these very countries are ever willing to endorse and do what the West bids them to do because the West finds subtle ways to bend these nations to their bidding, however these are unhealthy scenarios long term for none of the Third World nations are considered on par with these First World Western nations – that continue to see them as nations to be plundered though statements camouflage this reality.
It is better that the Third World realize this truth now than living in a cuckoo land. India may not have signed the Treaty but India’s present links to the West should certainly worry Sri Lanka’s President for India has been betraying Sri Lanka on not just one occasion. Sri Lanka should not think that its leaders are safe from being handed over!
When U.S, UK and NATO crimes cover false invasions, unlimited occupation of foreign lands, take over of foreign assets, degradation of human beings, organized crime, illegal torture methods, rape, racial profiling, religious persecution, inhuman acts on prisoners, illegal prisons and prisoners kept without trials, illegal renditions, inhuman prisoner interrogations – what is the ICC going to do about these, what has the UNHRC done about these, what has Navi Pillai done throughout two terms in office, what has the UN membership done to demand justice for nations that have been victims of U.S, UK, NATO aggression?
Veto powers
ICC cannot charge America because America has veto powers in the UN Security Council.
ICC cannot charge America because it has the ‘American Service-members’ Protection Act (Hague Invasion Act) – this law allows U.S to use ‘all means necessary and appropriate’ to bring about the release of any U.S or allied personnel detained or imprisoned by or on the request of the ICC.
ICC cannot charge the U.S because it has bilateral immunity agreements – Article 98 Agreement with ICC-compliant countries which confirm that these countries will not surrender U.S citizens to the ICC.
Britain has been guilty of crimes against humanity since colonial times.
Britain’s crimes cover Ireland, Iraq, Kenya and other colonies. But again, Britain holds veto powers at the UN Security Council. It is a nation that boasts that the ICC was created not to take British Prime Ministers or American Presidents to court.
Yet the underlying take home from this is that there cannot be a world court that will not address America’s and Britain’s accountability for international crimes.
If leaders of the world (in all countries on planet Earth) have committed crimes they have to ALL stand trial and face the same justice system. There cannot be a world justice system that protects some nations, the very nations that manufacture and sell arms and creates conflicts because it is these transnational networks that have the power to control these Western Governments to do their bidding.
What President Rajapaksa must now do as the Chair of CHOGM is to bring up the witch-hunt of Third World nations to the podium of CHOGM and discuss a CHOGM declaration that ICC cannot bring members of the Third World to the ICC unless there is equal justice and all nations are put on trial for crimes. Simply because some countries hold veto power and they have deals and agreements in place they cannot escape justice especially when they are the one’s bringing others to justice.
We cannot accept a scenario where the criminal fugitive takes others to trial when the criminal’s records of crimes are too heinous to imagine.

– See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/features/stop-west-sponsored-witch-hunt-third-world-nations#sthash.uNwk257F.dpuf

8 Responses to “VINDICATED: “What kind of hypocrite are you PM? …’, was Rajpal’s question”

  1. Nihal Fernando Says:

    Does David Cameron think that our President has raped the statue of Liberty in the highnoon and wiped his tally whacker with the union jack for him to get so furious?

  2. Nalliah Thayabharan Says:

    Shameless.glory seeking crude opportunist David Cameron is now clinging to Tigers’ coat-tails to win his next election!!!!

  3. Ananda-USA Says:

    “Lord” Parekh is a CONGENITAL HALF-WIT if he thinks “Our Prime Minister (David CAmeron) was right to visit Jaffna, commiserate with the Tamils, condemn the army operations which killed thousands of Tamils, demand an investigation into what actually happened during the war and afterwards, and meet the representatives of the Tamil group”!

    By the same standards, “Our President Mahinda Rajapaksa should visit Dresden in Germany, commiserate with the Neo-Nazi Germans, condemn the British Airforce operations which killed thousands of Germans, demand an investigation into what actually happened during the war and afterwards, and meet the representatives of the Neo-Nazi group!”

    It is only a question of WHOSE OX IS BEING GORED …. Isn’t it …. “Lord” Parekh? To these Neo-Colonialists Sinhala lives don’t matter …. only their global agenda and Tamil votes for local elections do … TO HELL WITH THE TRUTH!

    When it is your OX being FATALLY GORED, it is DO TENFOLD UNTO Dresden, Germany AS DONE UNTO to Coventry, England …. Isn’t it … “Lord” Parekh?

    BLOODY HYPOCRITES ALL WAVING DOUBLE STANDARDS!

    ……………………….
    UK parliament reiterates PM’s edict on Sri Lanka

    ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

    Nov 22, London: The UK parliament reiterated the Prime Minister’s call for an international investigation on Sri Lanka if the Sri Lankan government fails to conduct a credible and transparent independent investigation into allegations of war crimes to the satisfaction of the British government.

    Debating the UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to attend the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHIGM) in Colombo in the House of Lords Thursday, Lord Parekh commended the PM for the stand he took at CHOGM in Sri Lanka.

    “He was right to go. I think that the Prime Minister of India was not right not to go. Our Prime Minister was right to visit Jaffna, commiserate with the Tamils, condemn the army operations which killed thousands of Tamils, demand an investigation into what actually happened during the war and afterwards, and meet the representatives of the Tamil group,” he said.

    Baroness Warsi, the Senior Minister of State, Department for Communities and Local Government & Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said the Prime Minister was right to attend the meeting in Colombo since “not talking to people is never the answer.”

    “By going, the Prime Minister shone a spotlight on the situation there, and he was the first foreign leader to visit the north of the country since 1948. Because of his decision, journalists were granted access that would otherwise have been impossible to gain, and the local people – the families of the missing -were given an international voice,” she said.

    The Minister said the PM was bold and blunt in his views and had a “frank and tough” meeting with the Sri Lankan President.

    During the meeting, the PM clearly set out the need for Sri Lanka to make further progress in a number of areas, including a credible and transparent independent investigation into allegations of war crimes, Baroness Warsi said adding that the talks also covered a meaningful political settlement with the north, including demilitarization, and proper implementation of the range of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission recommendations.

    “If the Sri Lankan Government fails to do this, the UK will fully back an international investigation,” the Baroness stressed.

    “However, I accept that more needs to be done, not just in Sri Lanka but to ensure that the principles of the Commonwealth charter are applied by the countries of the Commonwealth,” she emphasized.

    The Sri Lankan government has flatly rejected Cameron’s call for an independent investigation and the March 2014 deadline saying that Sri Lanka has already set mechanisms in place to address the issues the PM raised and will take more than four years to achieve resolutions to the issues from a 30-year war.

    The Indian government yesterday criticized Cameron’s ultimatum saying that it is counterproductive and not their style of handling such issues.

  4. Indrajith Says:

    An unbiased and independent view of an Indian writer:

    CAMERON’s Un-Commonwealth-like Conduct

    British Prime Minister David Cameron behaved abominably and displayed a racist disdain for rudimentary courtesy during his visit to Sri Lanka to attend the CHOGM summit. After all, the very notion of the Commonwealth is a liberal, philosophical expression of a post-colonial awakening in which Great Britain accepts its former colonies as equal partners in a club which rejects the colonial notion of European or white supremacy.

    Cameron’s preppie posturing in Colombo as Prefect or School Captain during a gathering in which he arrogated to himself the moral posture of primus inter pares when he wagged a threatening finger at his host and Commonwealth Chair President Rajapaksa on the human rights issue was a crude display of the kind of colonial, racist jingoism that the very idea of the Commonwealth rejects. Cameron’s attitude, even as he hid behind the fig-leaf of the “Tamil Cause,” was actually a total negation of the Commonwealth and its principles.

    Also, while Rajapaksa is often called authoritarian, he is no tinpot dictator, and Sri Lanka is no Banana Republic. It is a now a free and peaceful nation and Rajapaksa is a nationalist who has been elected twice through universal suffrage in elections described by most independent observers as free and fair. Two months ago in a voter turnout of more than 70 percent — that should put the low turnouts in Great Britain to shame — the Sri Lankan Tamils in the North elected a Tamil-majority Provincial Council headed by a Tamil Chief Minister.

    This election, conducted under the Rajapaksa regime is the first real evidence of the beginning of a solution to the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka which had its genesis in Britain’s colonial policy of pitting the Tamils against the Sinhala by reserving jobs and education opportunities for Tamils which created a Sinhala backlash that finally culminated in the eruption of separatist Tamil politics of which the LTTE — off and on backed by India — became the final fascist/terrorist manifestation.

    And Rajapaksa became the first world leader to eliminate a terrorist army through conventional warfare in which LTTE cadres including child soldiers and female suicide bombers were dressed as civilians, while uniformed LTTE terrorists used Tamil civilians as human shields resulting in large civilian casualties during the last phase of the war.

    Cameron, who lives in a glass house that contains images of the bombing of civilians in Dresden during World War II, the Falklands war, Complicity in the bombings of Iraqi and Afghan civilians, Suez, Ireland, Scotland…the list is endless … would do well before hurling stones at the democratic leader of a nation fast returning to normalcy and peace and tenaciously clinging on to democracy despite 30 years of a terrorist war waged by a Khmer Rouge-type organization backed by massive funding from a wealthy diaspora in Europe and North America supported by politicians who benefit from their votes and political fund raising. He should apologize for his un-Commonwealth-like conduct.

    Badhwar, a Delhi-based senior journalist and author is former Editor, India Today

  5. Lorenzo Says:

    SL lost a golden opportunity to highlight Brishit PLUNDER in SL and demand compensation.

    Now NO POINT complaining! The horses have bolted.

    We could have done it WITHOUT HURTING Prince Charles only targeting Brishit rulers – CUM-MORON, etc.

    As always SL MISSED THE BUS!

  6. Ananda-USA Says:

    Indrajith,

    A great find! A terrific honest article by Mr. Badwar without an axe of his own to grind!

    We might ask, why can’t other Indians and jaundiced Westerners RECOGNIZE and DECLARE the truth Badwhar CLEARLY sees?

    Actually, I know the answer to that: Their Self-Interest DROWNS the Truth!

    That is why I call them HYPOCRITES INCARNATE!

  7. mario_perera Says:

    A request to the learned commentators of Lankaweb

    Could you please indicate to me the following web sites:

    1. With photos of Catholic priest demonstrating holding up images of Prabhakaran

    2. With photos of Rev.S.J.Emmanuel posing with Prabhakaran and other LTTE leaders. Besides his photos with Prabha I remember seeing one of Emmanuel with Soosai and others.

    I thank you for the attention you will pay to my request.

    Mario Perera
    Kadawata

  8. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:

    MARIO !! I very well remember having seen all the photos that you mentioned. I remember the Catholic Priest, holding a large picture of Prabhahkaran. All this cam on the web long time back. The best person to request is the Editor, Lanka Web.

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