Insight By Sunil Kumar

Oct.26th. 2011
If all the world leaders listened to the apathetic pleas of those calling to indict Sri Lanka’s President each time he travels abroad on official matters, in the manner The Australian Tamil community has done, it would not only be a rank breach of international protocols but also disregard for his status in a world where he is accepted and respected as a leader who liberated his Sovereign Nation from the attrocities and mendacities of an outlawed group of terrorists. If Australia’s domiciled Tamils or a greater part thereof feel betrayed by the Federal Government’s decision to stop a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan President proceeding in Australia then its tough luck on their optimism which was doomed to failure from the moment it was conceived.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To draw an analogy to a similar situation, there have been calls of a similar nature by rights groups in Canada to indict former US President George W. Bush for war crimes also ignored by the Canadian Government on related protocols as mentioned earlier as it simply is not kosher to haphazardly dance to the tunes of disgruntled groups when it comes to world leaders who have no probable charges against them diplomatic immunity notwithstanding unlike certain other leaders who have openly violated human rights and habe been hauled before an International War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague, Netherlands where names such as, Milasovich, Pinochet, Saddam Hussein and others of similar ilk come to mind.

There are many Sri Lankan and perhaps Indian Tamils who would love to create consternation and embarassment for Sri Lanka’s president over the issues presented.These are Tamils such as a certain Mr.Jegan Waran who has filed insubstantiatable charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court against President Mahinda Rajapakse attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). in Perth Australia. One who is simply” barking at the moon” as does the proverbial dog to no avail as his call will simply not be heeded to on very substantial grounds. In this instance as well as in other similar instances the Australian Attorney-General ‘s permission is required for the proceedings to go ahead, but as one would expect, given all the related facts and figures as well as the impeccable track record of Sri Lanka’s Head of State, where there isn’t a shred of evidence against him beyond hearsay, doctored videos, proven lies and innuendo.Consequently any charges against him have been been ruled it out and very correctly so.

Furthermore Australian Attorney General Mr McClelland has cited the President of Sri Lanka’s legal entitlement to diplomatic immunity which has bolstered the decision against the call which would even otherwise have been rejected had they been provable.

As expected the Australian Tamil Congress national spokeswoman Sam Pari who says the decision is disappointing should think again if she believes that a local magistrate could implement charges against President Rajapaksha and overturn a Federal Government decision portraying how tiny minded she must be where her sense of optimism seems to to take precedence over the rationalities needed to interpret the importance as well as the legally binding nature of the decision.

She has been quoted as saying “We actually have a magistrate who has set a date for the hearing and to think that the Australian legal system will allow this to take place but for a politician to then say that these proceedings can’t go forward is very, very disappointing,” where there seems to be a touch of myopia on her part, a misconstruance of the term Attorney General as opposed to “politician’ towards understanding related protocols and the substance of the case.

However, it is understandable when she suggests that” they feel quite betrayed as well and that they have an ”eyewitness” who has as in the case of many such seem to have found the courage to step forward” where it is more than likely none of his levelled charges would stand up in any Court of Law as the related credibilities seem questionable at best and many obvious conflicts of interests which would in all probabilities add to the flimsiness of the charges would end up as expected~ being disentitled and waived off!

In a very speculative outburst of negative rhetoric a Former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh seems to believe that the AG Mr McClelland is wrong to claim he would have breached international law if he allowed a war crimes case against the Sri Lankan President to proceed in Australia. The speculations rest on unprovable accusations and not based on politics according to the Haigh mindset.

Mr Haigh seems to have insinuated that “He the AG doesn’t want to do anything that would upset the apple cart as far as CHOGM’s concerned and that in terms of international law and in terms of Australian law, no, he would not be in breach” but a mere matter of opinion by a diplomat questioning the decision of the country’s Attorney General who obviously is in a better legal as well as moral capacity to draw his conclusions so Mr Haig would be better of toning down his rhetoric which somehow has the familiar bias reeking of pro Tamil Tiger Sympathy. Not surprising at all given the manoueverings of the Tamil activists involved in this case inasmuch as those in similar capacity around the globe who still don’t seem to be able to come to terms with the reality that the President of Sri Lanka is not a criminal but a world recognized, precedent setting HERO!.

In the case of the Australian Tamils who have initiated this case it certainly must be a bitter pill to swallow that it has been invalidated by one of the highest legal authorities in the land and debunked !