SL questions reliability of ‘UN mechanism’ after Pillay retracts criticism of Bahrain
Posted on June 6th, 2011

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy The IslandƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 

The Sri Lankan government says admission by the UN that it has been misled with regard to developments in Bahrain, where the ruling party is battling the Opposition, is indicative of serious shortcomings in a UN mechanism to deal with domestic problems of member states.

Defence and External Ministry sources pointed out that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, who had been pushing for an international war crimes tribunal on the basis of the controversial ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Darusman ReportƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ on accountability issues in Sri Lanka, on Sunday (5) had admitted that they were deceived with regard to situation in Bahrain.

International news agencies quoted Pillay as having told Social Development Minister and Acting Health Minister Dr. Fatima bint Mohammed Al-Balooshi, on the sidelines of a meeting of the ChildrenƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Rights Committee in Geneva, at the UN, that certain information received by the UN about the developments in Bahrain was untrue.

A senior Foreign Ministry official said that in the wake the unprecedented statement attributed to Pillay, the UN should reveal who had misled it with false information regarding Bahrain. “Was it the UN mission in Bahrain, the Opposition or the well paid human rights watchdogs as in the case of Sri Lanka,” he asked.

PillayƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s retraction of some of her earlier criticism of the Bahrain regime couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t have come at a better time for Sri Lanka targeted by a section of the international community. Sri Lanka is facing a tough time at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council sessions in Geneva, the FM official said.

Sources said that a recent statement attributed to US Defence Advisor in Colombo Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith, in which he had questioned the very basis of the war crimes allegations leveled against Sri Lanka, too, revealed the UN could be mislead or manipulated to facilitate political agenda directed at a certain country.

Pillay was also quoted as having acknowledged that the situation in the Kingdom of Bahrain was by far different, and thus incomparable to ongoing unrest in other countries in the region.

A London based source told The Island that in Bahrain all the major news channels had been there to witness things first hand, but in Sri Lanka there were no independent news channels to report on the war, yet Navi Pillai refuses to believe what happened in Bahrain where the cameras and reporters were everywhere but harks on about Sri Lanka where the alleged war crime reports were compiled from hearsay.

Sources said that the UN should examine its sources at various trouble spots as its credibility was at stake. They said that the UN couldnƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t ignore the need to rectify the system in the wake of recent controversies, including author of UN Gaza war report retracting his comments on December 2008.

The Island during the war revealed how the UN mission in Colombo had negotiated secretly with the LTTE to secure the release of two Tamil UN employees held by terrorists, without bringing the high handed LTTE action to the notice of the Government of Sri Lanka and the UN.

2 Responses to “SL questions reliability of ‘UN mechanism’ after Pillay retracts criticism of Bahrain”

  1. aravinda Says:

    Pillay vomited, had second thoughts and ate her vomit.

  2. ranjit Says:

    Pillai’s and velupillai’s are all same. They all work for money and power. They will have to answer on the judgement day that day will not be far away.

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