SRI
LANKA OFFICIAL AND OPPOSITION PARTY CHARGE THAT BRITAIN IS INTERFEREING
IN THE INTERNAL AFFAIRS
By Walter Jayawardhana
An opposition political party and an important government official
both have alleged that there is a serious attempt by the former colonial
rulers of Sri Lanka , the British , to interfere in the internal affairs
of the island nation , reminiscent of the imperial times of the British
raj.
Professor Rajiv Wijesinghe , Secretary General of the Secretariat for
Coordinating the Peace Process in Sri Lanka, has charged during a visit
to India that Britain favors a governmental change in Sri Lanka and
would prefer a regime runby the pro-British United National Party headed
by Ranil Wickremesinghe.
After the independence in 1948 this is the first time such blatant
interference has been charged against the former colonial rulers.
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) also charged that the plan of Britain
is to drag the Sri Lanka government to the peace negotiations so that
the LTTE terrorist organization could be given a breathing space and
strengthen their military power.
The JVP has publicly said that Britain is interfering in the internal
affairs of the country and has engaged a NGO to spy on the country.
“British High Commission in Sri Lanka, going beyond diplomatic
ethics, has made available funds to certain NGOs to carry out a spy
ring in the Eastern Province. British government should understand that
Sri Lanka is no more a colony of British colonialism,” said Wimal
Weerawansa, Information Secretary of the JVP at a Colombo press conference.
Weerawansa who is also the leader of his party’s parliamentary
group , which is the second largest after the pro-Western United National
Party pointed out that Britain should act only as a friend of Sri Lanka
and not a power that interferes in its internal affairs. He said the
JVP joining hands with other patriotic forces was ready to save the
country from this threat and threatened if the government refrained
from acting against this threat the JVP was prepared to rally masses
against the government as well.
Tylvin Silva, General Secretary of the JVP at the same press conference
said, “Our country is subjected to a large number of foreign interventions
during the last few years. We saw this interventions being carried out
at various times through various organizations. Certain organizations
affiliated to the United Nations Organization; especially human rights
organizations, the European Union and certain individuals attached to
these organizations prepared an atmosphere for a foreign intervention
by spreading false stories against Sri Lanka. Now, Britain, continuing
this vile scheme, has taken a drastic step to interfere in the internal
affairs of our country.”
The JVP General Secretary further said that UK government has got the
British Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office and the Ministry of Defense to create a plan named ‘Peace
Building Strategy for Sri Lanka’ to attempt interfering in the
internal affairs of Sri Lanka, infringing upon the sovereignty of the
country. He also revealed that the High Commission in Colombo has already
set up “an innovative Political and Development Section to work
along with the High Commission’s Defense Section, using £2
million from the Global Conflict Prevention Pool, which had been set
up by the British government to “ease tensions and conflicts.”
The General Secretary of the JVP said the British government, through
this plan, hopes to “Support the efforts of the Norwegians, the
facilitators to the existing peace process, help foster a supportive
international environment for the peace process including through the
European Union and the United Nations, train security forces on human
rights and reduce the availability and impact of small arms and reform
armed forces aiming at a long term peace process. Silva emphasized that
the aim of the British government is to boost up tiger terrorist organization
that has lost the Eastern Province and now limited to two districts
only and drag the government of Sri Lanka to the peace negotiations
so that the Tamil Tiger organization that has been beaten up by the
Security Forces could get a breathing space and also to weaken Sri Lankan
Security Forces to bring advantage to the terrorist organization.
Speaking further Tylvin Silva said the government has been following
a dumb and blind policy towards the attempts by various foreign powers
and organizations to interfere in internal affairs of the country while
the UNP performing the role of the Sri Lankan agent of foreign powers
is making use of this crisis for its political agenda. He said UNP leader
Ranil Wickremesinghe wants to wear the crown with the help of the white
man.
Meanwhile the head of the peace secretariat Professor Rajiv Wijesinghe
said in India , when asked whether Britain was working towards toppling
the regime of President Rajapaksa said, 'They would prefer it... They
don't like the status quo now.'
“What I see is a concerted campaign to attack the Sri Lankan government
on the human rights issue, with a particular thrust to impose an external
authoritative mechanism,”he further added.
He referred to certain reports from the International Commission of
Jurists (ICJ), Gareth Evans of the International Crisis Group and also
the Human Rights Watch, and asked what’s the real reason for all
those. He said some Western rights groups were acting in concert with
the pro-Western United National Party and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam. Wijesinghe charged that the LTTE which has suffered military
defeats in the Eastern Province would like to undermine the government
on rights abuses.
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