No to Unwanted Interference
Dilrook Kannangara
It was Di Cavour – the first Italian prime minister who said “I
have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speak the truth, and
they never believe me”. How true about the Sri Lankan context?
Present state of managing diplomatic affairs in Sri Lanka has been dignitary.
After years of incompetency, neglect and lack-of-self-interest the new
style of managing interfering foreign elements is commendable. No wonder
majority Sri Lankans take great pride in this new endeavour. In doing
so we have come in line with the manner other Asian countries like China,
India, Pakistan, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and also Nepal,
Bhutan and tiny but dignified Maldives handle their interferers. However,
there is a lot of howling when Lanka follows her neighbours. Why? This
is because of the sudden change; all this time we were ready to accept
any and every foreign interferers with open arms and parted legs! And
now it has changed.
How the nation suffered due to this open arms and parted legs policy?
Thanks to this obscene attitude, Sri Lankan national interests suffered
enormously and nobody seemed to care. The Norwegians, for instance,
made such a big mockery of their involvement here that they equated
the GoSL to the LTTE, provided the LTTE with communication equipment,
made a number of gratifications and presents to the LTTE leader, started
interfering in the nation’s donor conference and at one point were
running the country themselves by amassing executive powers for themselves
on war and peace.
Then there are the INGOs; some of these groups have no concern whatsoever
to the Lankan legal system, customs, traditions and values. A number
of them colluded with the LTTE on so called “humanitarian matters”.
Later it was found that their humanitarian assistance have ended up
in LTTE bunkers! Another major endeavour of these groups has been unethical
conversions. Sri Lanka is the only Asian country that still allows unethical
conversions.
A number of political busybodies focus on the Sri Lankan conflict not
because it is the most disastrous conflict in the world, but rather
because it is the only interfere-able conflict in the world! If these
groups are genuinely concerned about human rights, etc. they have a
lot to do in Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Nepal, China, Thailand, the Philippines, East Timor, Bangladesh, Tibet,
Indonesia to name a few. However, most of these groups are barred from
entering these countries let alone interfering! This is the reason why
they are so confused about Sri Lanka’s new found diplomatic chastity.
Our friends stand by us while our enemies can’t reach us
Owing to this competent diplomatic management, our true friends have
shown solidarity with us. No foreign nation attempted to interfere with
our internal affairs and it was only foreign groups that have no political
power tried to do so. It should be remembered that even the UN is nothing
but for its members, especially the Big Five permanent members. They
have stated in no uncertain terms that they would not want any interference
in Sri Lanka. Especially China and Russia made it only too clear that
they increasingly dislike any form of interference anywhere in the world;
even in Darfur where there is a genuine need for outside intervention!
There has been renewed interest from foreign donors to support Sri Lanka
rebuild the East. The only obstacle in this regard is the irresponsible
conduct of the Opposition Leader who takes a lot of trouble going to
each donor and lender to convince them that they should not help his
country.
It is worthwhile to remember that during the 1980s we were marginalised
by the world community for gross violence committed by the present Opposition
Leader’s government. No country was willing to give us weapons
even after repeated and humble requests. If not of the extreme generosity
of Pakistan and Bangladesh then, Lanka would be pieces by now. Today’s
situation is different; we are supplied with weapons from many parts
of the world including the US, Israel, India, Pakistan, China, Ukraine,
Russia, etc. The success of our present diplomatic management is indisputably
evident in how American-made bombs are carried on Russian-made bombers!
Another striking example is military co-operation between the West and
Sri Lanka corroborated by defence pacts and joint military exercises.
Even major international anti-terror gatherings were held in Lanka recently.
It should also be noted that some interferers are also a menace to the
above mentioned countries; they go from one official to another trying
to get contradictory evidence on the Global War on Terror. As a result
the whole world is on this side of the fence against retired politicians
and ‘political-neutrals’ on the other.
Our effective contemporary foreign policy has filtered out friends from
enemies, VIPs from nobodies, donors from donees, producers from parasites
and invitees from rejects. This is a very potent foreign policy and
must be maintained for the good of the country.
From mediation to interference
Before the LTTE lost the East, it was mediation and now it has turned
into forceful interference. Why? It is due to LTTE’s rejection
of mediation after they lost East; in the case of acceptable mediation,
all parties at war must honour the status quo. Simply they have to remain
in the area under their control. This is not acceptable to the LTTE
as this will permanently sever the East from the North. For the LTTE,
North is manageable where they have successfully completed their ethnic
cleansing. Whereas in the East, their ethnic cleansing endeavour failed
to scare-off Muslim and Sinhala settlers. As a matter of fact, Tamil
is the smallest ethnic group in the East and only by terror LTTE can
rule the East. They lost all avenues of controlling East when the security
forces ended their control. Along with the last eastern bastion crashed
all hope for mediation. Therefore, the only way to interfere is by way
of forceful intrusion; R2P is one such means of violating a country’s
sovereignty. However, it is not upto Evens, Howls, Holms or Rock to
decide on R2P. It must be decided by, among others, the permanent members
of the UN Security Council, which is not forthcoming. Nobody wants another
Iraq or Afghanistan here. Especially, China, India and Pakistan would
not tolerate any intruders in their backyard. Therefore whomsoever’s
dream of R2P is a non-starter just as his political career that crashed
suddenly and tragically leaving him a lot of unfinished business that
still keeps him important.
Many disaster management projects will end with the war
There are many stakeholders and their projects concerning the war/peace
in Sri Lanka. Most notably there are humanitarian, demining, IDP, medication,
peace building projects. Millions of dollars are involved in these projects
that provide enviable employment to a very selected crowd; selected
based on ethnicity, religion and/or political affiliation. There are
other hidden projects like spreading Christianity, spying for multinational
businesses and foreign agencies, sustaining terror groups, interference
in national matters, etc. All this are going to come crashing down once
the war is over. Therefore, these stakeholders would do whatnot to save
their pockets.
Assumed danger
Armed forces personnel, civilians, monks, priests, air workers and even
LTTE/TMVP cadres run the risk of being attacked and even killed in war
zones and virtually anywhere in the country owing to nation-wide acts
of terrorism unleashed by the LTTE. It is essentially something that
is commonplace and has to be recognised. There is no nature’s law
that protects the special species of aid workers. The UN Force, MSF
(doctors without boarders) and the Red Cross/Crescent have won many
prizes for their services in war zones solely because of this assumed
danger. Therefore, it is futile to blame anyone for the deaths of aid
workers. On the other hand, ensuring their safety is the duty of the
government, the LTTE and also the aid organisations that employ them.
Sri Lanka is not too dangerous for aid workers; otherwise their numbers
would not increase at today’s staggering rate. Another irreconcilable
fact is the desperate attempt made by NGOs to restart their work in
the East which they claim is a highly dangerous place!!
How to make Sri Lanka a safe place for ‘aid workers’?
The only way to make the country a safe place for everyone is by annihilating
all terrorist elements. This is how Glasgow, Heathrow, New York, Mumbai,
Madrid, London, etc. became safe. That is their right to protect themselves
from marauding intruders. This right to protect vests with the citizens
and is better when they exercise it than delegate it. Intruders have
no right to protect the now endangered terrorists from their certain
fate.
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