UNSG’s Panel on Sri Lanka
Posted on July 11th, 2010
Mahinda GunasekeraTambrook DriveƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Agincourt, ON Canada
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ July 10, 2010
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Hon. Michael Ignatief, MP
Leader of the Opposition and
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Leader of the Liberal Party
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Dear Mr. Michael Ignatief,
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UNSG’s Panel on Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
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With reference to the statement made by you in Shanghai supporting the appointment of a UN Panel on Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ which has been published in the Liberal Party’s website on July 8, 2010,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and your concern for Canadian families whom you state were deeply affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka which ended last year.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
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Let me at the outset point out that it is not a UN Panel but a Panel appointed by the UN Secretary General on his own initiativeƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ exceeding the powers vested in him by the UN Charter, without the sanction of either the General Assembly, Security Council or the Human Rights Council.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In fact, matters relating to the conflict were discussed in the June 2009 sessions of the UNHRC in Geneva and a decision was taken by a vote of 29 to 12 to not intervene in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka pertaining to the military action taken against the designated terrorist groupƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) also known as the Tamil Tigers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
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Furthermore, Sri Lanka is an independent, sovereign member state of the United Nations which has appointed its own quasi-judicial ‘Commission on Lessons Learned and Reconciliation’ to look into the last seven years of the conflict.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The eight memberƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Commission is comprised of distinguished citizens with four drawn from the majority Sinhalese community and two each from the two main minority groups, namely, the Tamil and Muslim communities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka as a sovereign, independent country has the indisputable right under the UN Charter to act in its bestƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ judgment on issues dealing with internal matters especially where they relate to maintenance of peace and security.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The UNSG’s move is tantamount to pursuing an interventionistƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ role against aƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ member state, and done in bad faith withoutƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ proper authority.
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I was deeply touched by your concern for Canadian Tamil families that you state were affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009, no doubt it is intended to garner votes at the next election and secure some seats in the GTA area.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Many of those affected Canadian families have directly contributed to the conflict by contributing funds to the banned Tamil Tigers over the years which the Liberal Party government allowed to flow unchecked,ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to continue their 32 plus years of
unbridled violence constantly targeting Sri Lanka’s 20 million civilians using bus and train bombs, claymore mine attacks, machete attacks at midnight on remote rural communities, unleashing of suicide bombers, ethnic cleansing, etc, resulting inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ killing of nearly 80,000, maiming more and destroying an inestimable amount of valuable property.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
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I am forwarding in attachment two documents detailing the double standards adopted by the UNSG and the flawed reportƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ recently published by the ICG headed byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ former UN High Commissioner Louise Arbour based on hearsay and rumours surrounding allegations already rejected by the UNHRC in June 2009.
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Yours sincerely,
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Mahinda Gunasekera
July 11th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Well said Mahinda.