11 Senators tell US Government, international community HELP SRI LANKA WITH A DOMESTIC PROCESS
Posted on February 28th, 2014
Their resolution goes against Obama policy SL of great strategic importance
Calling on the United States Government and the international community to assist the Government of Sri Lanka, ‘with due regard to its sovereignty, stability, and security, in establishing domestic mechanisms to deal with any grievances arising from actions committed by both sides during and after the civil war in Sri Lanka’, Senator James Inhofe tabled a resolution in the US Senate on Thursday, on behalf of 11 Senators.
The resolution is totally opposecd to President Barack Obama and the US Government’s stand on Sri Lanka asking for an international inquiry, as articulated by Secretary of State John Kerry.
The said resolution notes that “Sri Lanka seeks to be a key partner of the United States in the fight against terrorism and Indian Ocean.’
The document expresses support for internal rebuilding, resettlement, and reconciliation within Sri Lanka that is necessary to ensure a lasting peace and had stated unequivocally that ‘Sri Lanka Government by holding elections has allowed the people of the North of Sri Lanka to exercise their political rights that had been withheld from them for more than 20 years by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and resulted in a clear victory for the provincial wing of the Tamil National Alliance.’
The Resolution also has underscored the fact that “Sri Lanka is enjoying rapid economic growth as an important hub for shipping transport, technology, and tourism in the South Asia region’ and stressed that Sri Lanka is of great strategic importance to the United States, due to its location, deep-water ports, and proximity to the world’s busiest shipping lanes, ‘an importance noticed and pursued by other significant powers.’
The resolution has recalled for benefit of those concerned “that May 19, 2014, marks the five-year anniversary of the end of the 26 year civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka and the people of Sri Lanka had suffered greatly as a result of this conflict, the impact and aftermath of which has been felt by all, especially by women, children, and families.
The resolution has also made reference to the establishing of a ”Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission” (LLRC) by the Sri Lanka Government to report whether any person, group, or institution and aftermath of which has been felt by all, es directly or indirectly bears responsibility for incidents that occurred between February 2002 and May 2009 and to recommend measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future and promote further national unity and reconciliation among all communities.
The resolution goes on point out that “the LLRC report was presented to the Sri Lankan Parliament on December 16, 2011, and officially translated into Sinhala and Tamil on August 16, 2012, has acknowledged the important events and grievances that have contributed to decades of political violence and war in Sri Lanka and makes constructive recommendations on a wide range of issues, including the need to credibly investigate widespread allegations of extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances; intentional targeting of civilians and noncombatants; demilitarizing the north and the country as a whole; reaching a political settlement with minority communities on the meaningful decentralization of power; and promoting and protecting the right to freedom of expression for all through the enactment of a right to information law and additional rule of law reforms.
The resolution explains further the steps taken by the Government of Sri Lanka. It says that the SL Government developed the National Plan of Action to implement the recommendations of the LLRC and has made significant progress within limited time in the implementation of the National Plan of Action, notably in the areas of de -mining, rehabilitation of ex-combatants, resettlement of displaced persons, improvements of infrastructure and social services in the North and East, as well as investigations into complaints regarding persons who have disappeared during the war.
The September 21, 2013, elections in Sri Lanka for the Northern, Central, and North Western Provincial Councils were an important step in fulfilling this commitment. These elections were made possible through a sustained effort by the Government of Sri Lanka to restore infrastructure in the North and put in place a system for the conduct of the elections.
– See more at: http://www.dailynews.lk/local/help-sri-lanka-domestic-process#sthash.dIm1v2rn.dpuf
February 28th, 2014 at 2:50 pm
So there are some SENSIBLE people still living in USA also in the Senate.
Hopefully USA will make a U TURN or further sour the good relationship.
February 28th, 2014 at 2:59 pm
This is heartening news indeed !
Thank you, Sen. James Inhofe and ten other Senators. Let good sense prevail far into the future too. Yes, we need to move forward and let the past stay in the past. Reconciliation a must for us all. Let’s Move On !
March 1st, 2014 at 5:46 am
He make sense.
March 1st, 2014 at 11:02 pm
It is the height of HYPOCRISY for us Americans to be preaching to Russia about violation of International Law.
In the last three decades the USA has HABITUALLY RESORTED to violating International Law and invading and bombing multiple foreign countries on various fabricated pretexts,all in the name of NATIONAL INTEREST, with or without “coalitions of the willing” and other assorted mafias in tow when even the puppet United Nations cannot swallow hard and sanction our aggression.
With our repeated threatening of Russia since the demise of the Soviet Union, by stationing missiles along her borders, undermining her allies around the world, and inciting separatism within nher borders, we have pushed Russia into a corner from which Russia has no option but to fight its way out. And the patriotic Russia people will succeed, as they did against all odds during WW-II despite torture by both internal and external enemies. The events in the Ukraine were carefully fostered and engineered by the US without regard to the consequences. We are spawning a new Cold War in which the Russian Federation will abandon collaboration and will openly lead those opposed to the United States.
We have missed a GREAT OPPORTUNITY to treat Russia, emerging from Communist subjugation, decently and to make it a reliable and trusted partner in a peaceful new world order. By threatening its essential national interests, we have transformed resurgent Russia into an implacable enemy.
Chief among those who led us into this MONUMENTAL FOLLY is Hillary Clinton who perfected and implemented the machiavellian art of destabilizing and undermining other countries from within using “human rights” and “democracy” as her tools of choice, pitting the citizens of these nations against each other.
Contrary to her expectations, when the dust settles, the United States will have no friends or allies left in the world, and will have lost much blood and treasure on the way, leaving our citizens needs unmet at home. Have we no wise leaders left to replace these covert gun-slingers of both sexes eager to carve one more notch on their six-gun handles in the quest of immortality which continues to elude their grasp again and again? The best laid plans of both mice and men, it seems, do often go astray!