Shenali D Waduge

 There are many wanting to know why a country enjoying 4 years of post-terrorist peace with people and even former cadres getting on with their lives should be hounded by the likes of Navi Pillay, the US, UK and even India bringing Resolution after Resolution with non-associated additions with each new Resolution while no such Resolutions have come before the UNHRC for the Christian West’s successive imperial military interventions and regime change programs – the reasons are complicated just as they are unjust raising the need to always juxtapose demands made by US directly or through Navi Pillay or Ban Ki Moon against Sri Lanka with West’s desire to secure its geopolitical positioning in Asia when lease of its key base Diego Garcia is set to expire in 2016. When US is likely to be without a base sooner than later it needs to set the ground and it is doing a perfect covert operation just as it created a base by separating Kosovo and is now doing the same in Ukraine. The Government that boldly snubbed the Pillay report must now use the podium to place the issue of regime change as a topic that US/UK and West can be held accountable for.

Diego Garcia was given to the US on a 50 year lease after Britain unceremoniously chased out all the natives in what can be termed nothing other than forced expulsion or depopulation on request of US and pocketed USD14million from America. The British even exterminated all the pets and animals raised by the natives. It functions as an extraordinary rendition point. The British Government even lied to the British Parliament and the British citizens about the base and its use as a place where kidnapped people from overseas were flown in ‘ghost flights’ for inhuman and internationally banned interrogation methods. David Miliband was one of those liars. The British sham went on to hold an inquiry appointing Sir Peter Gibson who was the former head of UK intelligence leaving little to the imagination as to where the inquiry would lead to. If that was no considered a conflict of interest it is no surprise that Navi Pillay has deferred from recusing herself from Sri Lanka given that she is genetically, emotionally and ethnically a Tamil.

That US/UK were violating international laws never became a concern for Navi Pillay to issue statements against extraordinary renditions areas which she had direct mandate over. The European Parliament identified 1254 CIA flights through European airspace since September 2001.

• 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degradng Treatment or Punishment
• 1966 International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights
• 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol
• 1949 Geneva Convention III related to Treatment of Prisoners of War

A semblance of justice and fair existing was seen when the British high court ruled that the eviction of the Chagosians was illegal and the British Government response was to overrule the order through a Royal Prerogative by Blair in 2004. UN, ICC, Navi Pillay were deaf and dumb to the human rights violations of these islanders.

The US has 1000 military bases (287 in Germany, 130 in Japan, 57 in Italy) in 130 countries and Diego Garcia is a strategic point to enable US to keep watch over Russia, China and India.

Sri Lanka is just 900 miles from Diego Garcia.

Navi Pillay so concerned as to know the numbers of dead, how they died and who killed them seems not in the least interested to know how many died in the US secret prisons/where their death certificates are, how they were buried or even if their families were ever notified. Navi Pillay has to date made absolutely no effort to even suggest a  MECHANISM to find out the violations at these extraordinary rendition points.

Having clearly established a very obvious double standard and biased attitude combined with action in the manner Navi Pillay has functioned towards the West and in viewing her efforts to ensure Libya’s intervention took place while she became the first UN official to call for the arrest of Syria’s President we are well aware of where her statements on Sri Lanka are leading.

If we place the Diego Garcia scenario in the context of pressure being exerted upon Sri Lanka we can only ask ourselves some questions

• Why is Navi Pillay and US continuously insisting on removal of the Sri Lankan military from the North formulating their argument by bringing in examples of rape which the military has through evidence disproved. Is it because these parties have some deal with the Northern Provincial Council, its Chief Minister and the political party that claimed LTTE was the sole representative of the Tamils? Is this why these same players are calling for the implementation of the 13^th amendment for that would easily pave the way for a separation of Sri Lanka? If this scenario stares Sri Lanka glaringly in the face we would like to know why the Government does not take efforts to repeal the 13^th amendment and replace a district council system in lieu of the provincial council system?
• Is the infiltration of Islamic fundamentalists sponsored through Saudi mosque funding a future scenario being laid out to use the 2004 Oluvil Declaration and kickstart the Eastern separation movement simultaneously so that the GOSL is placed in an uncomfortable situation having to deal with the ‘human rights’ issues that the West, Navi Pillay and the Western media will keep the Government and officials bogged down to answer?
• If the Sri Lankan military were to be removed through pressure exerted using the terminology of ‘demilitarization’ is the next step to invite US presence as the ground work for these calls was placed way back in 2002 with the ceasefire agreement and later the agreements of the PTOMs and ISGA where direct ties and provision for direct aid was one of the clauses and all these agreements were pushed by Western governments obviously having their plans well placed. The same sets of local NGOs calling for ‘accountability’ today were the one’s who jumped with joy to say the ISGA/PTOMs was the best thing that could happen to Sri Lanka. The trail of the traitors is thus not very hard to distinguish.
• With the Tamil Diaspora openly declaring their dissatisfaction with the draft 2014 Resolution, it depicted that the Resolutions had nothing whatsoever to do with crimes committed or not committed but everything to do with pushing foreign agendas and the role that was outsourced to them. Just as the current Uncle Toms in the form of Tutu’, Rajayppu Josephs and others are functioning – following the orders of their headquarters.
• Into this equation the role of India is certainly confusing. Its leaders have not had the nationalistic leadership of the caliber of Subash Chandra Bose and have been ever ready to function as Brown Sahibs falling for the flattery of being referred to as the best friend of the West not realizing how Sri Lanka’s 13^th amendment is likely to backfire on India where the Balkanization of India has been told enough times by respected academics like Rajiv Malhotra. Should it not be to India’s and Sri Lanka’s advantage that India cede its infatuation over 13^th amendment for India should be not only securing India but ensuring Sri Lanka is not taken over by Western control. India may like to wonder who is India’s bigger enemy – US or China?
• The dangers of a Western base which obviously is being pushed by Tamil lobbies in Sri Lanka, LTTE lobbies and Tamil Nadu leadership is not without some Western understanding and the context of this understanding can be none other than the agreement to function as US puppets.
• Noteworthy too is the Mauritius scenario and Diego Garcia itself. While Mauritius has been the co-sponsor of the 2014 US Resolution, it is also making numerous gestures in the eventuality Britain does cede Diego Garcia which leaves Mauritius the plum opportunity of leasing out Diego Garcia. Obviously, US is looking at a larger presence than the 1500 personnel stationed in Diego Garcia and with Russia and China rising alongside the economies of other Asian nations, the US needs to strengthen its stakes.
• Those that think serving under white rule again is honky dory may like to read up on the suffering of the natives in the nations that the US/UK and NATO promised to liberate. It would be good for Wigneswaran, Sambanthan and the rest of the coterie of others to see how wonderfully these natives now live including Egypt which is today in disarray. We cannot experiment with the imperialists for inviting trouble will leave us in eternal misery and nothing that we should sacrifice another 27,000 of our brave men simply because a handful of people for selfish reasons are ever ready to hand over the nation to foreigners.

As for the Government it behoves them to also realize the stakes involved and the need to come up with a plan that will not only save the Government but the entire nation that has kept its faith in them. These Resolutions need to be compared with the manner that the UN and its officials helped lay the foundations for the military interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Somalia and now Syria… Diplomatic niceties need to be balanced against the realism of the dangers at stake for the entire 20million people and it is in such instances that just as much the rest of the population need to take stock of the ground realties the politicians need to remove themselves from their selfish politically motivated games and remove themselves from the ugly habit of trying to always strike deals for these will work to the country’s disadvantage.

In the backdrop of the current Resolution and the manner in which Navi Pillay is showing extraordinary interest in ONLY Sri Lanka while paying scant attention to the West whose crimes cannot be ignored goes to show that there is nothing called justice, fair play in existence. World justice has been crafted to absolve the West of crimes which its officials ignore while they have explicit approval to go after Third World nations.

 If the Third World nations meekly accept this injustice when numerically they are in a position to unite and demand that the West and the UN discontinue the injustice, we are likely to see more regime change and total annihilation of populations similar to how the Chaggosians were treated by US and UK. Ordinary Tamils may like to wonder exactly where their leaders are planning to take them and Sri Lanka by their foolhardy antics and the same goes for the Colombians praying to become servants of the West.

Sri Lanka’s patriotic forces and the nation-loving public are not prepared to watch a further 27000 of our armed forces personnel be subject to sacrifice for the reality of 30 years of past politics have shown that idling with the issue for political reasons ended up only in death and destruction. Politicians and public officials are to be reminded that it is not their private property that they are making deals with and as recipients of remunerations by the toil of the public the onus is on them to secure the nation and not dole it out simply to score points against others. This statement is relevant for all those holding portfolios who have no vote base and are holding ministries on the kindness of the leader and they have no right to implement their ideologies.

We expect our leaders to protect the nation once and for all.