By Philip Fernando

Navi Pillai bears a visceral aversion to truth striving to take up the mantle of the vanquished terrorist bunker dwellers whose residuary odds and ends want her to be the tigress of the dark ghetto they occupied for decades. Geneva has become her fortress where a scorched-earth policy against Sri Lanka was being hatched. She is in lockstep with the sinister strategy repeating ad nauseam the false charges against Sri Lanka hoping that they would stick. Pillai has generated a surfeit of venomous testosterone polluting the sober debating purpose that UN has followed. Tamara Kunanayakam Sri Lankan ambassador to UN Mission in Geneva put it succinctly: the partiality of the High Commissioner Pillai has once again been manifestly demonstrated in the Council in Geneva. .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai has never accepted the fact that Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s operations in the North and East was a humanitarian effort and part of an act of the sovereign State and its people in the wake of terrorist aggression. Tiger leaders did seek grievance redemption but tried to demolish Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sovereignty at gun pointƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚a futile attempt that caused their own demise.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai has never applauded Sri Lanka for doing everything in its power, at tremendous cost, to resettle and rebuild the lives of the thousands of people in the conflict affected areas. The dangerous and probable capability of the terrorists to launch offensives against the people Sri Lanka had been degraded in a peaceful manner after the war. All these fell by the wayside as Pillai went on a rampage denouncing Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ First she used the purely private Darusman Report in April, compiled for the advisory purposes of the UN Secretary General, to castigate Sri Lanka and pooh-pooh the successful humanitarian operation that reached a peak this year, as being one carried out “under the guise of fighting terrorism”. Her gross inaccuracies were immediately brought to her notice by Sri Lanka at the June session of the Geneva Council. But she carried on regardless repeating the same falsehoods.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai is even ignorant or chose to ignore that the UN had invoked the right of self defence and called upon the international community to neutralize or combat terrorism by non-state actors by UN resolutions 1368 and 1373 of September 2001ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ PillaiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s fluffy mindset

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Even an uninformed observer would know that PillaiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s portrayal of how Sri Lanka vanquished terrorism and worked towards reconciliation is wholly misplaced because Sri Lanka was combating one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations in the world. Her fluffy and distorted stance is insensitive to the nth degree as she disregarded contextual developments during and after the war.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai has also ignored the fact that terror war was waged with great regard for human life and a declared policy of zero tolerance for wanton destruction. She has blatantly falsified that fighting terrorism was designed with insufficient regard to human rights. The post-war climate in Sri Lanka of reaching out to everyone and making giant strides in the reconciliation process contradicted PillaiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s phony assumptions.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Unmitigated hogwash

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai has not even acknowledged the obvious paradigm shift in the post-war policy of the Government of Sri Lanka discernible to all observers. The lifting of the emergency in Sri Lanka did not cause Pillai to see things in the proper light. She has tried to mislead the Geneva UN sessions about the salutary effects of the emergency being allowed to lapseƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚this unmitigated hogwash. .

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Those who moan about the steps taken to ward off terrorism and stop any resurgence of it should note that Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s existing legislation on governance and fundamental rights today is far more salutary than the legislations of some other countries, which provide for the most stringent of measures in the treatment of terrorismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚some are even draconian. Sri Lanka has never indulged in water-boarding or torture of any sort.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Pillai has audaciously blabbered about weakened institutions, human rights and rule of law in Sri Lanka without any serious study of the situation in the country. It is a fact that all national institutions today function with due regard to established principles of international law, administrative governance and with respect to the rule of law as prescribed in the fundamental rights and directive principles of state policies. Those are enshrined in the constitution of the Republic of Sri Lanka.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We are reaching the apex of human rights restoration that suffered during the 26 years war inflicted by the Tigers. Sri Lanka is dedicated to building the country based on all-pervading unity, equity and justice. Pillai you are just being a jabberwocky mouthing the Tiger DiasporaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s unsubstantiated rubbishƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚it is even hilarious for a UN policy wonk to dabble in this type hackneyed diatribe.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You are trying to hijack the peace processƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬‚that will not succeed. Many before you tried to hold Sri Lanka hostage and failed. You will soon be in the dustbin of history. Your endless game of global hopscotch would ensure that.