UNHRC SESSIONS IN GENEVA IN MARCH 2014
Posted on January 13th, 2014
Chanaka Bandarage
(i) An International Commission of Enquiry against Sri Lanka?
At the next UNHRC sessions in Geneva in March 2014, there is the possibility that an International Commission of Enquiry can be set up to investigate the war crimes allegations against Sri Lanka, in relation to the final stages of the war against Tamil Tigers.
Though they may think it will be easy, setting up of such an International Commission of Enquiry against Sri Lanka will not be an easy task for the adversaries of Sri Lanka.
It is true at UNHRC in Geneva we have failed twice – in 2012 and 2013. India voted against us on both occasions. Last time (in 2013), 13 countries voted in favour of Sri Lanka, but 25 countries voted against us. 9 countries abstained from voting.
I belive the vote this year (2014), will be too close to call.
The current membership (47) of the Human Rights Council of the UNHRC is as follows:
Algeria, Argentina, Austria , Benin , Botswana , Brazil, Burkina Faso , Chile, China, Congo, Costa Rica, C´te d’Ivoire , Cuba, Czech Republic , Estonia, Ethiopia , France , Gabon, Germany, India , Indonesia, Ireland, Italy , Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait , Maldives, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Pakistan , Peru , Philippines, South Korea , Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia , Sierra Leone , South Africa, Macedonia, UAE, UK, USA, Venezuela and Vietnam
Judging the current membership, most Asian and African countries may want to vote in favour of Sri Lanka, otherwise they may abstain from voting. India is again likely to vote against us. The misfortune for us is that the EU countries will cast a block vote, and their votes will go against Sri Lanka. The US and UK will put undue pressure on some African and Latin American countries to vote against us. It is interesting to watch how Japan and South Korea would vote this time.
It is prudent for Sri Lanka to be ready for any adverse outcome that may arise out of Geneva.
Whatever machinery that the Government would put in place in the next two months to investigate the alleged war crimes allegations (currently it seems the Government intends to do the investigation through the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission with foreign members also appointed), in March 2014, our adversaries in UNHRC may say that such machinery was not good enough. It is obvious that our adversaries will demand a full judicial enquiry than the Government’s current quasi-judicial enquiry. Even if the Government announces a full judicial enquiry – to be conducted by a judicial Commission/Tribunal that has punitive powers, it is likely that Sri Lanka’s enemies will still not be satisfied with that. To the writer, they seem hell-bent on conducting their own enquiry.
Given that Sri Lanka too has strong support in UNHRC, there is a possibility that UNHRC may give Sri Lanka another chance to set up a full scale judicial body with the UNHRC stipulating the terms of reference for the Commission/Tribunal, and they may agree to assess the position again in late 2014 or in 2015. Comparatively, this would be a good outcome. What the UNHRC will actually do in March 2014, it is difficult to predict now, much depends on the attitude of the member countries. If India again decides to vote against us (likely), it will certainly not help us. Due to India, some Asian and African countries may be unwilling to assist us.
Given that Ms Pillai will still be at the helm of UNHRC and the recent rhetoric of Messrs Cameron, Harper, Singh, Rapp et al., as stated before, we should be ready for any scenario, even an adverse outcome – UNHRC may pass a resolution to set up its own International Commission of Enquiry against Sri Lanka. It is difficult to believe they will seek other punishments such as imposing economic sanctions/travel bans on the country’s leaders.-
ii) Effects of an UNHRC resolution to appoint an International Commission of Enquiry on Sri Lanka
The UNHRC in Geneva can make resolutions as it likes by way of majority vote, but they are not binding on the member nations. Even last year there were resolutions passed against Sri Lanka such as requesting us to fully implement the LLRC recommendations. But Sri Lanka is not bound by them, so Sri Lanka can disregard them and do nothing (Sri Lanka almost fully complied with the last year’s resolutions). Except the bad publicity, nothing will happen to Sri Lanka from a UNHRC resolution. UNHRC resolutions do get wide publicity and no country wants a resolution passed against them. For example, so many resolutions have been passed against Israel and nothing has happened to Israel.
Like Israel, nothing will happen to Sri Lanka, unless the matter is raised in the UN Security Council.
Israel is more fortunate than Sri Lanka. There have been more than half a dozen resolutions passed against Israel in UNHRC, and Israel ignored all of them. The UN Security Council has never made a referral of Israel to the ICC or imposed sanctions against it. Israel is safe, it knows the UN Security Council is unlikely to make sanctions against it. This is because Israel is always protected in the UN Security Council by the US. Very recently, the retired UK Judge Goldstone made adverse findings against Israel in his UN report on Israel’s attack on a flotilla of boats to Gaza where innocent people were killed. When the matter was raised in the UN Security Council, the US blocked any resolution being brought against Israel.
iii). Sadly assuming that the worst case scenario happens – an International Commission of Enquiry is established against Sri Lanka in March 2014,what would be the consequence of such a Commission on Sri Lanka?
Then, the Commission will promptly conduct its investigations. It is likely that Sri Lanka may co-operate with the Commission to some degree, but, it is likely it may not allow the Commission to conduct sittings in Sri Lanka. The Commission may sit in Geneva. It is unlikely that any Sri Lankan leader (political and military) will give evidence in the Commission’s proceedings. It will not be mandatory anyway. The Commission’s role I believe will only be to conduct committal proceedings – making a finding whether or not there is strong evidence for individuals to be charged for war crimes, to refer them to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague. The writer believes that Channel 4, Gordon Weiss, Mr Darusman and his team, Stephen Rapp (the latter allegedly collected evidence in Mulatiwu during his travel this time), Tamil Diaspora, TNA, Northern Tamils (people like Ms Sasitharan, Rayapppu Joseph and hundreds or possibly thousands of other Tamils) will adduce evidence before the Commission. True, that most of the evidence against Sri Lanka will be dubious, due to limited or no participation of Sri Lanka at the enquiry and veracity of the evidence against Sri Lanka being very high, it is likely that the Commission will make a finding that criminal proceedings should be initiated against certain Sri Lankan political and military leaders and soldiers (the Commission will name them), for alleged war crimes. This will be a real blow to Sri Lanka.
The referral of Sri Lankan nationals to the ICC must be determined by the UN Security Council.
Note that after an International Commission of Enquiry, the political leaders of Kenya (including its President and the Vice President) are currently facing charges in the ICC for alleged crimes committed during and after the 2007 Kenyan Presidential election – The Prosecutor v. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta ((ICC-01/09-02/11). The UK actively demanded this pathway.
(iv). UN Security Council
Sri Lanka is not a member of the ICC. Mr Ranil Wickramasinghe, when Prime Minister, refused to join the ICC (even the US is not a member). The approval from the UN Security Council is required to send a non-member to the ICC. Kenya was then a member (not any more).
We have good friends like China and Russia in the UN Security Council, but it is na¯ve to think that China and Russia will come and rescue us all the time Note the recent Chinese Government statement about Sri Lanka’s human rights record.
It is true Russia strongly protected Syria at the UN Security Council. The Russian President Mr Putin personally congratulated our President on his appointment as the President of the Commonwealth. Will Russia come and rescue Sri Lanka at the UN Security Council (or whether or not both Russia and China will protect Sri Lanka at the UN Security Council), they are difficult predictions to make at this stage.
When the UN Security Council approved the referral of Mr Omar Al Bashir of Sudan to the ICC in the Hague, his best friends, China and Russia abstained from voting – they did not veto against the proposal. After he was indicted by the ICC (ICC-02/05-01/09; The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir), Mr Al Bashir agreed to hold a referendum to determine whether or not Sudan should be divided into two.
When Mr Al Bashir’s matter was raised in the Security Council, China was investing in Sudan more than any other African country. But, China did not intervene to save its friend. The same situation arose in relation to Libya, to overthrow Gadhafi. Both China and Russia abstained from voting in the Security Council, so the West was able to send planes to bomb Libya. In 1990, both Russia and China consented to sending UN forces to Iraq.
Therefore, it is an illusion to think that either China or Russia (or both) will definitely come and rescue Sri Lanka in the UN Security Council if an adverse finding is made against Sri Lanka by the International Commission of Enquiry, a body (to be) created by the UNHRC, that our political and military leaders should be prosecuted for war crimes in the Hague. After an adverse finding by the Enquiry, it is possible that lesser number of countries may come forward to help Sri Lanka in the UN Security Council.
Like in Sudan and Libya situations, it is possible China and Russia to finally abstain at the crucial Security Council voting against Sri Lanka, resulting the referral of Sri Lanka to the ICC (ie, certain Sri Lankan political and military leaders).
Again, if our leaders and military commanders are referred to the ICC in the Hague to face war crimes charges, this will be a tremendous blow to Sri Lanka. In ICC, quick indictments will be issued against them and warrants will be issued for their arrest if they do not turn up for court proceedings in the Hague. This is how the ICC acted in relation to Sudan, Kenya and former political and military leaders of former Yugoslavia, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina.
In regards to the former Sierra Leon leader, Charles Taylor, the ICC imposed a 50 year custodial sentence upon him. He is scheduled to be moved to a British jail.
(v). Real motive of the West in establishing the International Commission of Enquiry against Sri Lanka – a referendum to create the Tamil Eelam?
After the emergence of South Sudan, the West has shown no interest to pursue Mr Al Bashir in the Hague. Mr Al Bashir who is on an international warrant for arrest, was in China and also in Egypt some time ago, in December 2013 he was in Kuwait , no one was really bothered to arrest him. This shows the West’s ulterior motive – what they wanted was Mr Al Bashir to agree to hold the referendum, not the actual prosecution of him.
The West basically achieved what it wanted – create the Christian South Sudan.
By asking for a war crimes investigation against Sri Lanka and then referring the leaders to the Hague as a result of the findings of the Enquiry, one could say that the West is using the same Sudan tactic against Sri Lanka. The West is heavily indoctrinated with false accusations against Sri Lanka by the most powerful Tamil Diaspora. Now, both the West and the Tamil Diaspora desperately want the Tamil Eelam, and they know the best way to achieve it is by way of exerting pressure on Sri Lanka, so that a referendum will eventuate.
This referendum will be limited to the North and East (not islandwide) . If the referendum is held, the Tamil Eelam will be dawned, I believe sometime between 2016 – 2018.
Once that happens (once the Tamil Eelam is dawned), the current adverse international focus on Sri Lanka may stop. The West will donate large sums of money to Sri Lanka to keep it happy. Our political and military leaders and soldiers may not be strenuously hounded down on the Hague pathway. Both Sri Lanka and Tamil Eelam will learn to co-exist, for the Sinhalese there will be no other choice anyway. Of course, the Sinhalese will lament the loss of 1/3 of the land mass (best lands of the country) and 3/4 of the coastal area, but they will learn to accept the fact. It may be that they will eventually be satisfied that the war did come to an end in 2009, Prabhakaran is dead, and everyone has managed to live in peace and harmony in the two respective countries. I believe Mr Wigneswaran’s TNA will impose strict travel restrictions on Sinhalese to travel to Tamil Eelam and the Sinhalese who live in Tamil Eelam (like the Nawatkuli Sinhalese who have lived in Jaffna for generations) will be forced to return to the south – to Sri Lanka. Tamils who live in Sri Lanka will continue to live there.
Initially, our patriotic leaders of the nation will not agree to hold the North/East referendum, but, the pressure that will be put on them will be so severe (like in 1987, there will be bogus threats of military intervention in Sri Lanka etc, eventually like Mr Al Bashir , Sri Lanka may agree to hold the referendum. India will always take the side of the West. It is strongly advised that whatever the pressure put on Sri Lanka, it must not consent to hold a referendum in the North and East. We should not repeat the stupid acts of Sudan and Indonesia (the latter, in relation to East Timor) to hold referendums to divide our country.
Messrs Wigneswaran and Sampanthan are now Mandela type world figures (it is we who created such statures for them!). They have more acceptance in the West than for our President. Once the Tamil Eelam is created, it will not be a surprise if both of them become joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize. Our President will continue to rule Sri Lanka.
vi) What should Sri Lanka do now – to avoid an adverse resolution being passed against Sri Lanka, such as setting up of the International Commission of Enquiry in March 2014? (Given that this is a do or die moment for Sri Lanka, as a matter of urgency it must do everything possible to win the UNHCR vote in Geneva in March 2014)
1). Sri Lanka must establish its own Commission of Enquiry (must be judicial), preferably with acceptable foreign members on the panel as soon as possible, definitely before the Geneva sessions in March 2014
Mr David Cameron asked Sri Lanka to hold its own war crimes enquiry. He stated if not, he will recommend that the international community (ie, UNHRC) will conduct its own enquiry. To conduct its genuine enquiry, the Sri Lankan Government after it has established its own Commission will need to make a formal worldwide request for witnesses to come forward to give evidence before the Commission. The Government must ask the West to provide it with a list of victims of the war, if the victims are dead, names of the family members to become witnesses etc. But, it is unlikely that the West will do this. Channel 4 has stated they will not divulge their sources of information to Sri Lanka. Mr Darusman has uttered the same. Neither the Tamil Diaspora nor the TNA will file complaints with the Sri Lankan Government about the matter, they want to give evidence only before an International Commission of Enquiry. This is creation of a ‘Catch 22′ situation for Sri Lanka. The West especially the UK should not encourage this. Without complainants/witnesses, it will be impossible for Sri Lanka to establish a war crimes Commission/Tribunal and conduct proper hearings. Mr Abbott, the Australian Prime Minister stated in relation to the controversy over Australia’s live cattle exports to Indonesia that it was wrong for the former Australian Government to formulate policies based merely on an ABC TV documentary. The same rationale applies to the allegations made against Sri Lanka by Channel 4. Mr Cameron and the West blindly believe that Channel 4 documentaries are true when Sri Lanka has stated (unfortunately, not very convincingly) that Channel 4 videos are unauthentic (and findings of the Darusman Report are also wrong). Thus, the West demands that Sri Lanka must conduct its own Enquiry into the alleged war crimes as highlighted in the Channel 4 videos. Their demand has no substance if they do not actively assist Sri Lanka to properly conduct its own Enquiry (investigation). Effectively, they are laying another trap for Sri Lanka to fall into.
2) Sri Lanka should obtain assurances from its 2 friends in the UN Security Council – China and Russia, that they will veto any proposal to refer our political and military leaders to the ICC, if such a proposal is brought before the UN Security Council, after the making of adverse findings against Sri Lanka by the International Commission of Enquiry
3). Sri Lanka should initiate a massive campaign to win over the moderate members of the UNHRC – especially those who are likely to abstain from voting on the proposed adverse resolution to be brought against Sri Lanka, (most likely by the US) and Sri Lanka should lobby other countries at .large. Sri Lanka must ask its friends and those countries that will definitely vote for it in Geneva to canvass more votes for Sri Lanka. These actions must start immediately.
We must stress to the world that we did not commit war crimes and the accusations brought against us are mostly dubious and fraud. This can be done, provided that the Government starts a robust, sensible campaign to rebut the most serious allegations that have been made against Sri Lanka. We should use expert technical analysis to prove that Channel 4 videos are unauthentic. Sri Lanka Support Group (the writer is the President) is in possession of such expert analysis. The writer who once received instructions to initiate legal action against Channel 4 (but, a cause of action against Channel 4 was not initiated), has identified 38 blatant errors/untruth in the ‘Sri Lanka Killing Fields’ video; he now says there are more. The 1st Channel 4 video that alleges that the Sri Lankan Army shot dead a number of Tamil Tigers extra-judicially, in pointblank range is a total fabrication. It is now proven that that video was prepared by the LTTE in Tamil language much earlier than end of the war in May 2009. Channel 4 concealed this from its viewers. The background of this video does not resemble that of Sri Lanka but a Balkan or a Mediterranean country. The people in the video resemble Mediterranean type of people (of olive complexion). The 3rd and 4th videos are also full of inaccuracies. The Channel 4 videos contain number of sub-videos that have been highly edited, thus are extremely dubious. Channel 4 stated that the original videos provided to them were proper records of the battlefront and the videos were taken using mobile phones. Expert technical analysis very well show that some of the videos have been made using sophisticated video cameras that have zoom lenses. Everyone knows that mobile phone cameras do not have zoom lenses. It is highly believed that some scenes of the ‘Sri Lanka Killing Fields’ (the 2nd and the most controversial video) had been shot in Thamilnadu using Tamil actors. Sri Lanka Support Group is in possession of evidence against Channel 4 and they are many. The writer has prepared comprehensive reports about the Channel 4 inaccuracies. There are many other patriots around the world who have worked tirelessly on these areas. These works must be properly collated and used in defence of the country. All these must be presented to UNHRC members, Mr Cameron and the West in a meticulous, methodical, comprehensive and professional manner.
4). Patriotic Sinhalese groups must travel to Geneva well in advance of the UNHRC sessions in March and meet with delegates of the member nations, legislative members of the European Union, various NGOs and also with Ms Pillai. They must work as one coherent group. They must run a permanent stand at UNHRC in Geneva manned by volunteers and must also participate in media briefings, press conferences, conduct workshops, exhibitions, lectures, public meetings, street theatres, film shows etc at UNHRC premises, its surroundings and in Geneva City (all peacefully). Like in the past, the Tamils will do similar lobbying and propaganda work. The Sinhalese patriots (hundreds of volunteers who are required to travel to Geneva from various parts of the world) will have to regularly write to Geneva based newspapers and participate in radio talkback shows. They may conduct peaceful demonstrations with banners/placards clearly depicting the unfair and unjust treatment meted out to Sri Lanka by the West. Where possible they must attend radio and TV stations and talk to journalists to explain the real, true situation in Sri Lanka. These Foregin government representatives of UNHRC, EU, NGOs etc have an obligation to meet with our Sinhalese representatives, given that they afford much time to meetings with separatist Tamil groups.
5) Sinhalese groups in the UK must demand a meeting with Mr Cameron, who frequently give appointments to Tamil groups to meet with him. The Sinhalese groups must make him aware that there are more Sinhalese voters in the UK than Tamil, and the Sinhalese in the UK are very unhappy with the harsh stance that Mr Cameron has thus far taken against Sri Lanka. Similarly, Sinhalese groups in Canada need to meet with Mr Harper, another harsh critique of Sri Lanka. If we continue to avoid them, there will be no one that will be able to explain them the real truth. Patriotic Sri Lankans in Australia, including Sri Lanka Support Group, will continue to positively lobby Australian parliamentarians.
6). The Sri Lankan Government will need to highlight the alleged frauds perpetrated by Channel 4 and others against Sri Lanka to Western Governments, Western Media, UN and its agencies and NGOs. So far, the Government has done some work but not enough. It appears that the Government does not have capable persons to do the job in its armoury. Now, as a result, the country’s leaders are at risk of facing serious war crimes charge and the sovereignty of the country is at grave stake.
7). In the next 2 months, if we can convince the 47 members of the UNHRC, not excluding the UK, US, Canada, Norway and the EU about the Channel 4 forgeries and Tamil Diaspora lies/frauds; if we do a very good job (emphasis added), we may be able to avoid an International War Crimes Enquiry being mounted against Sri Lanka. This means we will be able to fix the problem permanently. If the West is defeated in Geneva this year (ie, if we win!), it will be impossible for the West to bring another resolution against Sri Lanka ever again. Some may say it is useless talking to these countries, and they have already prejudged Sri Lanka. There is a truth in having such a negative belief about these powerful Western powers, but, we must not give up. Sri Lanka’s case is different to that of Sudan and Kenya. Sri Lanka did not commit war crimes during the last stages of the war. We must not be scared to say this and we must not admit to crimes that were never committed. If horrendous isolated war crimes were committed , they should be investigated internally (locally), not internationally, and the perpetrators after due trials should be punished (the Government has already stated it will embark on this pathway). The Government has already sent to jail few ex-soldiers for committing war time atrocities (isolated crimes during cause of the war). But, we must try to stop the International Commission of Enquiry being appointed against us in March 2014 at any cost. It will simply be the opening of a huge Pandora’s Box for Sri Lanka.
8). In the next 2 months, the Government must send fine emissaries to Western and other countries. They must be people who can sit on an equal footing with Western leaders like William Hague, John Kerry and John Baird etc and meet with other world leaders and explain them that due to the alleged frauds associated with Channel 4 and other dubious sources of information like the Darusman Report, it is necessary that they give deference to our side of the story as opposed to that of our opponents. Given the current difficult predicament that we are in, we must try everything possible to prevent the International Commission of Enquiry being established. Professor GLPeiris is well suited for the task; he needs a good, intelligent, vibrant team. If the Government can spend millions of dollars on a useless CHOGM conference, surely it should be able to spend some money on this matter – a matter that goes to the very heart of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. But, like in the past, it will be foolish for the Government to pay millions of dollars to foreign consultancy and law firms to do public relations (PR) work for the Government. The money paid to the foreign firms before was a sheer waste.
9). One example (there are many examples) of false war crimes accusations that have been made against Sri Lanka – that Sri Lanka killed 40,000 innocent Tamils in the last stages of the war. The contradictions in the evidence put forward against Sri Lanka are overwhelming. These anomalies should be brought to the personal attention of people like Messrs Obama, Cameron, Harper, Abbott, Key, Kerry, Hague, Baird, representatives of the 47 UNHRC Member states etc. Sadly, the Government has so far not carried out these representations effectively. Let us undertake to give wide publicity to the following in the next 2 months:
i. During the war Mr Gordon Weiss (the then UN Spokesman in Colombo) stated that up to 7,000 people were killed (this was also a high number and the Sri Lankan Government denied this high number). Mr Weiss waited for 9 months after the end of the war to state that the actual number of deaths may be 40,000. He wanted to sell his book; the writer confronted Mr Weiss at his book launch in Melbourne in 2010 as to how he came up with the figure, Mr Weiss was baffled and could not answer. The London Times also picked up the 7, 000 figure and later published a big headline story that Sri Lanka killed 40,000 innocent Tamils. The news travelled like wildfire. Channel 4 later produced a number of dubious videos.
ii. Mr Darusman went ahead and wrote the report based on such hearsay (inadmissible) evidence.
iii. Up to now, no one has been able to say where these figures have come from. They cannot do this because Mr Weiss and the London Times plucked the 7,000 and 40,000 figures respectively from thin air.
iv. Now the whole world (ie the West) want to prosecute Sri Lanka for a crime it did not commit.
v.The TNA MP, Mr Sumanthirian stated about 5 months ago that the Sri Lankan Army killed 75,000 Tamils. According to Stephen Rapp thousands were massacred in St Anthony’s Park in Padumathalan. He made this ‘finding’ solely on the basis of hearsay evidence, when no investigation into such a massacre has been conducted by anyone including himself. This is the first time that such an allegation has been made against Sri Lanka (the alleged St Anthony’s Park massacre). With time to come, it is possible for enemies of Sri Lanka to increase the dead figure, say to a more comfortable 200,000 or 300,000, so that immense pressure can be brought forth upon our leaders forcing them to eventually agree to hold the referendum in Sri Lanka, to create the Tamil Eelam. As stated before they can still be sent to ICC in the Hague for criminal prosecution after creating the Eelam.
vi. It is estimated that since end of the war at least 7,000 Tamils migrated to Australia illegally in boats. Many thousands of Tamils fled to other European countries like Italy, the UK, US etc. Without disclosing these facts Channel 4 and the Tamil separatists say that since end of the war thousands of Tamils have disappeared in Sri Lanka. Those people who migrated in boats illegally are counted as missing ( disappeared) Tamils of Sri Lanka.
vii. If Sri Lanka killed so many innocent Tamils during last stages of the war (intentionally or recklessly), would India, or for that matter Tamilnadu (located only 30 km away from the war zone), maintained a silence at that time? Then, India offered full support for the war.
viii. If 40,000 Tamil civilians were killed in such a small area of land (the no fire zone was less than 3 sq. km), where were the dead bodies buried, what are the names of the dead 40,000 people, who are their relatives, why cannot the TNA/Tamil Diaspora., ordinary Tamils in the North give the list of the victims’ names to the Government?
ix. People like Messrs Weiss, Sumanthirian etc who come up with fanciful allegations against Sri Lanka also agree that Tamil civilians were killed by the LTTE weapons and thousands of Tamil terrorists were legitimately killed by the Sri Lankan Army. They should be included in the dead Tamil numbers (during last stages of the war, the Tamil Tigers deliberately killed Tamils who were fleeing the no fire zone. Even Mr Weiss agreed in his book that the LTTE were holding heavy armory inside the no-fire zone and they fired at the civilians who fled it. The number of civilians died from LTTE gunfire amounts to few hundreds, not thousands. Then, about 12,000 Tamil Tigers were killed by the Sri Lankan Army and about 5,000 Army soldiers also died. So there were ‘legitimate’ killings happening in the war areas. But, even these killings did not reach the very high 40,000 mark as alleged by the country’s adversaries).
x. To save civilians, Sri Lankan Army did not fire at the no-fire zone, thus, large numbers of Sri Lankan soldiers got killed as a result of the Tamil Tiger gun/artillery fire. This shows the waging of a ‘just war’ by Sri Lanka. It was called a humanitarian operation than a war. Mr Weiss, Channel 4, The London Times, Mr Sumanthirian or other enemies of Sri Lanka would not admit this truth. This is because then they cannot a create a bad impression about Sri Lanka worldwide. Just because of that the West should not set up an International War Crimes Enquiry against Sri Lanka.
xi. During last stages of the war thousands of Tamils in North died due to natural and other causes (non-war related causes). It is believed these people are also included the 40,000 figure.
Mr Cameron was misled by the Tamil Groups in the UK. It seems he believed every lie uttered to him by the Tamil groups whom he met in London just prior to his visit to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, Mr Cameron acted like a child in relation to Sri Lanka, he did not act like a statesman. Mr Abbott did show statesmanship.
Mr Cameron should have learnt a lesson from Mr Muraltharan, the world famous cricketer. He, a Tamil, uttered that Mr Cameron was misled by the Tamil Diaspora and Channel 4 about Sri Lanka.
In relation to the war, it is the desire of all patriotic Sri Lankans that truth must prevail at any cost, even so belatedly – after more than 4 years of ending the war. The Government is obliged to use all its resources to show to the world the real truth – Sri Lanka fought a just war that no recent Army has fought (especially compared to how the US and UK fought the 2nd war in Iraq).
If we can effectively ‘market’ the truth to the world, we may be able to escape the War Crimes charges to be made against Sri Lanka in March 2014. Sri Lanka organised the CHOGM so well. The conference was a success. It is now time for Sri Lanka to conduct another efficient operation to safeguard its good name and reputation. If we lose this ‘war’, it is possible that our political and military leaders may end up in the Hague; it will also be the end of One Sri Lanka.
In the current UNHRC scenario, it is not a major point to show that the LTTE was a brutal group and it killed so many innocent civilians – both Sinhalese and Tamil. Also, the fact that the LTTE killed so many democratically elected politicians including President Premadasa of Sri Lanka and Prime Minister Gandhi of India. The LTTE is a spent force. All of their leaders are dead and gone. The international community accepts that the LTTE was a terrorists group. Mr Rapp questioned the Government as to why it did not prosecute the captured LTTE cadres. Currently, unfortunately the spotlight is on Sri Lanka – that the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka massacred its own citizens – innocent minority Tamil women, men and children in many thousands. This is a very serious accusation to be made against a nation. The West will not accept that any Tamil civilians killed during the war amounts to collateral damage (ie, negligence on the part of Sri Lanka). They allege that any Tamil civilian death may have been deliberate or reckless. That is why they demand an International Enquiry (if a local enquiry failed). The West’s policy on Sri Lanka is contrary to the standard that is applied in other wars. The international community (the West) obviously wants that a very high standard of care be applied to Sri Lanka, in relation to its conduct during final stages of the war. The US, UK are not hounded down for their alleged war crimes in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, but only Sri Lanka is hounded down. This shows sheer Western hypocrisy. The US and UK will not admit they committed war crimes in their recent wars. Like for Sri Lanka, no country seems interested in demanding investigations against these very powerful nations (super powers) for alleged war crimes. At the moment it is Tamil Diaspora that is exerting pressure on the West to hound down Sri Lanka, on bogus charges. Due to enormous Tamil power worldwide, the West seems have no other alternative but to carry out the Tamil demands. This is also the reason why India has become hostile to Sri Lanka (due to enormous Thamilnadu power). It is important we learn this reality and try to come out of the mess by relying on the truth and stressing to the world of this truth. Sri Lanka fought a just war and it did not kill thousands of innocent Tamil civilians indiscriminately. The West does not currently believe this. If we manage to convince them (and also the world) as to exactly what happened, despite the West’s extreme prejudice against us, we may be able to come out of the huge mess we are currently in, with minimum fuss. If large numbers of Tamil civilians were not killed by our forces (ie, thousands of Tamil), then there will be no need for the world to ask for a war crimes investigation against Sri Lanka. To convince this to the world, it is paramount that all patriotic forces work together, irrespective of petty differences. We will then be able to rescue and safeguard our beloved mother country, Sri Lanka, from the deadly crisis that she is currently unfortunately in.
srilankasupportgroup@bigpond.com
January 12th, 2014 at 3:23 pm
CB,
Don’t you think this is a TRAP?
“Sri Lanka must establish its own Commission of Enquiry (must be judicial), preferably with acceptable foreign members on the panel as soon as possible, definitely before the Geneva sessions in March 2014”
WHATEVER commission we do, they will REJECT IT AS BIASED.
This is what happened to LLRC – made up of ANTI-SL traitors. One big LLRC traitor DIED of the LLRC CURSE not long after!! Still they rejected it (picked beneficial recommendations only).
Even after LLRC they passed 2 resolutions against SL!!
Once upon a time a crow picked a large cheese and was getting ready to eat it. A fox comes along and says, “hey Mr Crow, you know your singing is SO beautiful. Can you please sing for me.” The stupid crow started singing. The cheese dropped and the fox ate it. Then the crow tried to get it and it fell to the ground. The fox ate it too!!
I recon WE DO NOTHING but show them the LIES of Tamil LTTE RUMP.
January 12th, 2014 at 4:11 pm
CHANAKA !! I know your heart is seething with Patriotism for Sri Lanka. Please make an effort to join the Sri Lankan Delegation in March. Thanks.
January 12th, 2014 at 4:29 pm
Lorenzo, if we do nothing they will go and appoint the International War Crimes Commission against us. Surely, we do not want that. Who wants to go to the Hague to answer war crimes allegations? Look at Charles Parker, the Emperor of Sierra Leon’s Diamond Mines, now in jail for 50 years! We’ve got just 2 months to go. We must try everything to stop the establishment of the International Commission of Enquiry.
it is ok to establish our own Enquiry. As I stated in my article “If horrendous isolated war crimes were committed , they should be investigated internally (locally), not internationally, and the perpetrators after due trials should be punished (the Government has already stated it will embark on this pathway). The Government has already sent to jail few ex-soldiers for committing war time atrocities (isolated crimes during cause of the war). But, we must try to stop the International Commission of Enquiry from being appointed against us in March 2014 at any cost. It will simply be the opening of a huge Pandora’s Box for Sri Lanka”.
Apart from establishing our own local Enquiry, there’s nothing much we can do in the next 2 months, than lobbying. . We must speak to every UNHRC country. There are 47 of them.
January 12th, 2014 at 4:38 pm
Thanks Susantha, hope you are in good health
In the next 2 months, it has to be lobbying and lobbying – to secure new friends
This is what Tamil Diaspora does so well. Unfortunately, we have not mastered the art well. We have unnecessarily created enemies
January 12th, 2014 at 4:57 pm
Thank you Chanaka for your very learned analysis of the likely course of events. Makes me shiver but not surprised. It all boils down to the utter incompetency of those responsible for NOT taking the required action in time – the catalogue of such failures is very long as pointed out by many in these columns and elsewhere. Right in front will be: Any inquest should take in account all the terrorist activities over the total period of the conflict and NOT just the final 3 months; it Must include all those funded and facilitated the conflict including India and the Tamil Diaspora; demand a replacement for Navi pillai to hear the case because of her ‘Conflict of Inteests; SL should should make these conditional on SL submitting itself to the UNHRC or else pull out of the UNHRC
January 12th, 2014 at 5:17 pm
S De S !! There is this reason to Highlight the last three months. It is a TAMIL PLOY to erase INDIA out of the equation, for ARMING, TRAINING, PROVING BASES FOR LTTE TAMILS, AND PROVIDING ALL THE FACILITIES AND LOGISTICS, FOR TRAINING TERRORISTS ON INDIAN SOIL.
SO ONLY, SRI LANKAN SOLDIERS AND POLITICIANS WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE. TAMILS ARE MASTERS AT DECEPTION, AND OUR POLITICIANS CANNOT SEE IT, OR REFUSE TO SEE IT, BECAUSE OF CONCEITED MINDS.
THE INTERNATIONAL LAW MAKERS, AND LAW BREAKERS ARE ALL ON THE PAYROLL OF THE TAMILS TO STAND THE “THREE MONTHS GROUND “, WHICH IS NOT THE REALITY. MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND.
January 12th, 2014 at 5:30 pm
CB,
No dispute on propaganda. We MUST.
OK, I agree in the circumstances. MOST of these have already been done.
e.g. Trinco students, etc.
Yes. We MUST canvass ALL 47 countries.
Thank you for your efforts. You were at the FOREFRONT in 13 amendment scrapping project too. NEVER give up on SL. It is the ONLY place left for Sinhalese and Buddhists. It MUST be defended AT ALL COST.
ALL patriotic heads should now FOCUS on winning this UNHRC madness.
At the same time we should have a PLAN B in case the terrorists win again.
January 12th, 2014 at 5:58 pm
Thanks Chanaka, Iam hanging on to be with you all. I will give my two cents worth till the last. Regards.
January 12th, 2014 at 6:17 pm
Lorenzo, what we should have done was to forego CHOGM and hold an islandwide referendum to abolish the provincial councils (abolish the 13th Amendment). Everyone knows that the NPC would one day lead to creation of the Tamil Eelam. By creating the NPC, we created a vehicle for the West to conspire against Sri Lanka. This ‘NPC vehicle’ was a creation by ourselves. Mr Cameron was able to travel to Jaffna thanks to the NPC Government. The ‘pilgrimage to Jaffna’ by Western leaders (latest being Stephen Rapp) will become a future hallmark of their visits to Sri Lanka. It looks like the Government has no control over them once they are in the North. Why did we allow Stephen Rapp, an extremely hostile person, to visit to Sri Lanka?. Who authorised the issuance of visa to Ms Sebastian? The NPC will now give separatists the chances to stake their illegal claim for the Tamil Eelam. Again, holding of CHOGM was not a wise move, like Mauritius we should have let it go. We patriots asked the Government to abandon the CHOGM – a useless gathering. CHOGM helped to bring the Sri Lankan war crimes allegations into international focus in a very big way. The Government should have learnt a lesson from the failed IIFA event of 2010. We will have the same international circus next year when our President goes to Glasgow (Scotland) for the Commonwealth Games, and also in 2015 when he goes to Malta as President of the Commonwealth. Just imagine how much of a hard time the Tamil Diaspora and Channel 4 would give our President when he is in the UK and Europe.
January 12th, 2014 at 6:26 pm
Susantha,
Good to hear from you after a break. I wish you the best, just to do the best for my country, with all the meritorious work I have performed in my life. This wish has worked before and will work again for you.
Lorenzo, CB,
Yes. I too agree with internal investigations. Why ?
1. Leave aside 2009 war. What has our legal system done lately ( at least as per propaganda of others ) ?
1a) Why our chief justice , appointed by MR, became a Thief justice ?
1b) Why our Bar Association Chairman, a true traitor, is allowed to continue betraying the country ? Democracy ?
1c) Why is the murderer Kuduarachchige Duminda Silva was transported to Singapore, given a long rest, bail allowed and allowed to attend supreme parliament ?
1d) Why is another murderer who shot and killed a man( no matter who he is) and raped his girlfriend, is allowed to run wawy, similar to KD Silva ?
1e) Why is Pissuarachchige Mervyn Silva is allowed to make our country a jokers paradise, why can’t he be silenced using law ?
2. LLRC consisted of people who did not loved the country, no doubt, and has become a burden rather than a relief. This time this should be corrected. Their faults should also be found. The new investigation, headed by new Chief Justice, should be empowered to do it. New investigation should be result orientated rather than President selected based on opinions of others, the members should be interviewed and their loyalty shall be ensured.
3. Look at our Police ! The whole world knows how corrupt it is. Within a month, at least 5000 police officers should be caught and punished. This operation should run in parallel with the new investigation.
4. Similarly, all PC’s shall be dissolved. Properly qualified, non-politicians should be appointed to run the interim PCs and find ALL faults of the previous members island wide ( including NC).
This way we can win back our completely lost credibility. Otherwise it is a mad-dog run country and useless to carryout further investigations as no one trust such work.
In summary we mus
January 12th, 2014 at 6:33 pm
Nanda, we have two bad vises – corruption and mismanagement. With those two in hand, I doubt it that we can become the ‘Wonder of Asia’.
January 12th, 2014 at 6:38 pm
Just do one thing my dear MR. Item No.4 – dissolve all PCs ……and punish all culprits NOW
It will be the best Wonderful Act of Asia, at least for now.
January 12th, 2014 at 7:47 pm
Very happy to see your patriotism & legal arguments. As you mentioned our people are NOT used to gather & unite even when our country in danger of being broken up. That is why Tamils always win in their efforts, as they are UNITED against their arch enemy, -the Sinhalese.
Now you mentioned that a GROUP of PATRIOTS should volunteer & visit Geneva as well do the groundwork in COURTING 47 countries & their representatives. This is something which needs MUCH COORDINATION & EFFORT to see this through.
Perhaps you could lead this effort & other LAWYERS familiar with legal jargon of Geneva must SUPPORT this cause. DO NOT expect HE President or any other to even think of supporting. He may NOT get the correct advice to act. As such people like you MUST FORM A COHESIVE GROUP to solve this problem by CANVASSING these country reps.
I know it is easy or me to say, BUT DOING this in a methodical,PROFESSIONAL manner is quite a challenge. I know other Sri Lanka assns throughout the world, including Nevada in the USA, will be a very USEFUL contact. He is a young able person SRI LANKAN & also Sri Lankan Consellor General for 8 states of USA (who resides in NV) will also help.
I am NOT very familiar with INDIVIDUALS except I see & read in Nespapers & also FOREGN NATIONALS of high repute, if we can muster their asistance will be also helpful. ONE Prof: from Minnesota University Mr. SHELTON GUNARATNE & another from the same University has published THE FALSE accusations what Tamil Diaspora made, and pointed out out HOW INDONESIA quelled the uprisings.
He is another person who could help us & ofcourse Prof: Shelton Gunaratne. Only these are the ones I can think of at present. But I am sure ones who replied or cmmented on your article, are bound to help as well.
Thanks again & see to canvass in Australia & NZ too. I beleive they have NZ – assn headed by a lawyer & he will sure to assist……………Just expressing & hoping some good will come out in our efforts………..J
January 12th, 2014 at 10:50 pm
This article is painting the picture of a doomsday scenario. It also reflect the ‘this war is not winnable’ mentality of some of our leaders. It is better to be positive and fight on and for that, there should be a strategy. No country will respect us as a nation if the citizens repeatedly empower corrupt and greedy politicians to rule (or the corrupt politicians get the citizens to vote for them by unfair means). They violate the human rights of the majority of its people. This is exactly what China is saying.
So, the first thing to do is to change the system.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:08 am
Win the war and lose the battle. By the looks of it Tamil EElam is unavoidable. Thanks MR you sold the country.
January 13th, 2014 at 12:44 am
Stanley, Do not say so. All what we need is a good leader to whack the SOBs, just like at Nandikadal. I know this will happen again as MR has paved the way for that.
January 13th, 2014 at 1:59 am
It will be very difficult that time. Lots of lives lost unnecessarily. MR will be responsible for all future lives lost as well.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:30 am
MR should be given credit for winning the war. But, unfortunately, we have not handled the war on the International Front well. It is still not too late to reverse the mistakes made.
All is not lost, we MUST win in Geneva. If we defeat them this time, it will be very difficult for them to bring future Resolutions against us. We simply cannot allow our Leaders and Ranaviruwos to end up in the Hague. This will be a disaster to the Nation.
Jayasiri, thanks for ther input. Patriots who are willing to do volunteering in Geneva, can contact me on the email address given in bottom of the article. If there’s a good response, let’s run a Stand there
January 13th, 2014 at 4:58 am
It is the India and Indians who support the Indian terrorists who were wiped out by the Sinhala army. What we have to do understand is that it is India and Indians who are behind. In the U there are lots of Indians who provide substantial financial support to the Democrats. There are lots of Indians working in important positions of the U bureaucracy and in Professions. The best examples are US State Department and the Attorney. In the UK there are Indian MPs and the richest persons in UK are Indians. The same applies to Canada. Fortunately it is not the case in Australia yet. Indians have tried to influence the Liberals by stacking its branches with Indians and nominating candidates. Indians have succeeded in influencing the Labour using the Unions Socialists. They have succeeded in getting the support from Greens with money and memberships. It is the same in most of the European countries.
What we have to do is expose the real culprits that is India and Indians overseas.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:03 am
8 Buddhist monks and 16 others arrested for attacking a Christian prayer center in Hikkaduwa.
This is not good.
These things put SL in a DIFFICULT position to fight off allegations.
This madness MUST stop now. If the law needs to change, do it. Don’t take matters into own hands.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:12 am
Once upon a time a crow picked a large cheese(Vadai)- Thanks mate at least one person (myself) got benefit from your comments .
(because I want to say this Kaaka story to my 5 years old son but I was not able to translate English correctly ).
NB
any one remember AE Manokaran’s – Ilankai enpathu Namathu Thai Thiru Nadu !- Good olden days !
our generations have been poisoned racism !!!
SAD , VERY SAD !
January 13th, 2014 at 6:03 am
There is apathy among the Sinhala Diaspora to get involve in patriotic work. We can’t blame them. Every one of them love the motherland (say about 95% of them), yet, they are reluctant to come forward to participate in patriotic activities. I belive this is mainly due to the unprecedented politicisation of everything in Sri Lanka. Provincial council system has ruined Sri Lanka. The exceptionally bad Sri Lankan political culture has negatively impacted the psyche of the Sinhala Diaspora. They seem to be more comfortable in living inside their own ‘cocoon’ than to go out and ‘fight’ for the motherland. Credit should go to Tamil Diaspora; they may be spreading lies, but, they do their work with wholehearted commitment; a far higher commitment than the Sinhala Diaspora. When it comes to achieving their final goal – Tamil Eelam, they will rally around themselves well. For the cause, they would generously give time, money and energy. Unfortunately, this commitment – at least for the present moment, is lacking in the Sinhala Diaspora.
January 13th, 2014 at 8:54 am
Credit should go to Tamil Diaspora; they may be spreading lies, but, they do their work with wholehearted commitment
Chanaka B lies can not be spread with wholehearted commitment ,You know that !
We Tamil do not given any alternative, that is the problem Sakotharaya .
eg: as soon as war finished If MR would have implemented a political solution than You Sinhales would not be in this position now & We Diaspora Tamil would not waste our valuable time in western cold weather to issue leaflet to foreigner .
late but not too late .
MR & NP CM can solve this problem forever ! I hope & pray they will !
January 13th, 2014 at 11:47 am
Besides looking around to attack MR, the System, administrative corruption of the government, with little political and personal agendas, we should look at the larger problem the Sri Lanka is faced with not by the fault of the government but by the want of the TNA Tamils, Tamils of the Diaspora and the foreign governments lending their ears to them, making it an excuse to weaken Sri Lanka destabilise the Government and either change regime or divide the country for the strategic interest of USA and the West. We could stop that by every one rallying round the government on this matter as a National issue leaving aside being critical of government for personal and political reasons, which would further strengthen the hands of the real enemies of the country .
January 13th, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Kumar, I meant the separatist Tamil Diaspora, not all Tamil Diaspora
January 13th, 2014 at 1:09 pm
Since 1980 or so our country has become very e corrupt. It is still very corrupt today. There is also the mismanagement and maladministration. If we wish to become another Singapore, we need to put our house in more order. The country is still moving forward, mainly due to the hard work and resilience of our people – especially those who are in self-employment like farmers, fishermen, and of course our dynamic and vibrant private sector (business community). Tourism is bringing in lots of revenue – here we are reaping the rewards of winning the war! My heart goes to our overseas workforce (I am one) who work their guts out in different countries around the world to send remittances to their families. We expatriates send about $8 billion to Sri Lanka every year, and that is a lot of money. The Provincial Council system is a huge White Elephant and it is corrupt to the core. Unfortunately, it seems we are trying to strengthen the provincial councils more and more than dismantling them. One day they might bankrupt our country. Note the number of film stars, sportsmen/women, family members of the current and past politicians and lots of other undesirables who want to jump into the provincial council bandwagon.
January 13th, 2014 at 1:12 pm
Charles,
SL govt. too lend its ears to them. That is the problem.
Anyhow when SL faces international attacks like now we should all unite behind SL.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:00 pm
Charles,
You can easily condemn all the commentators here as having “personal agendas” but if “MR, the System, administrative corruption of the government” ruins and divide the country for MR’s own “personal agendas” and greed, what’s the point rallying behind that person?
All these criticism from so many people do not come from “personal agendas”. This is what these honest people see. They don’t gain anything by criticising.
Anyhow when SL faces international attacks like now we should all unite behind SL.
People here are uniting behind Lanka , always. That does not mean we don’t question the leadership like bunch of fools.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:11 pm
People must be united behind SL, NOT MR, etc.
SAVE SL, not the rulers. They are paid to be sacrificed for SL. They are only servants of the people.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:36 pm
MOST UNHRC members are pro-US on SL.
They KNOW the US is the biggest war criminal. But we need their support to either vote for us or ABSTAIN from voting.
It is not the time to make enemies of them.
Algeria
Argentina PRO-US
Austria PRO-US
Benin PRO-US
Botswana PRO-US
Brazil
Burkina Faso PRO-US
Chile PRO-US
China
Congo
Costa Rica PRO-US
Côte d’Ivoire
Cuba
Czech Republic PRO-US
Estonia PRO-US
Ethiopia PRO-US
France PRO-US
Gabon PRO-US
Germany PRO-US
India PRO-US
Indonesia
Ireland PRO-US
Italy PRO-US
Japan PRO-US
Kazakhstan
Kenya PRO-US
Kuwait
Maldives
Mexico PRO-US
MontenegroPRO-US
Morocco
Namibia
Pakistan
Peru PRO-US
Philippines
South Korea PRO-US
Romania PRO-US
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone PRO-US
South Africa PRO-US
Macedonia PRO-US
UAE
UK PRO-US
USA PRO-US
Venezuela
Vietnam
January 13th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
This is where communist pro-Cuba Daya J and Tamara Kunanayagam got stuck. She started showing corruption, mismagament, etc. of UNHRC!
All those are FACTS no doubt but didn’t help SL’s case.
We need to join ANY DEVIL to win the UNHRC. Like a SL election. Without the support of the rotten no one can win an election in SL or UNHRC.
January 13th, 2014 at 3:55 pm
We can even get Australia’s support. Why MR did not visit Aus ? We could have arranged a big delegation from Lanka Web to meet him and support him.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Lorenzo, by closely looking at your analysis (how each member country will vote), it looks like this time in Geneva, they (US) will have enough votes to pass another adverse resolution against us. It is quite possible we will not have the numbers (that’s why lobbing is so important to secure votes for us). Given that Sri Lanka will soon establish its own Commission of Enquiry (before March 2014), it is unlikely that UNHRC in March 2014 will establish an International War Crimes Commission against Sri Lanka, but, they may impose strict conditions on our local enquiry. UNHRC may stipulate terms of reference for our own Commission/Tribunal, and they may agree to assess the position again in late 2014 or in March 2015 . They will closely monitor our Enquiry. We should ask them to include in the resolution that the member nations will facilitate Sri Lanka in providing witnesses to conduct the Enquiry. This means Channel 4, Darusman et al will have to provide us with their sources of information. Channel 4 journalists may be required to give evidence in person before our Enquiry.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:30 pm
Helping MR is helping Sri Lanka. It is MR that made what Sri Lanka is today. He is a more astute politicians and he knows what he is doing. He earned the wrath of the West because he made Sri Lanka an independent country able to make new friends not depending on the old Colonial Rulers, and the rich USA which kept us dependent on US wheat quotas under PL480. We may be in debt but we have developed the country as it had never been before. The development is for keeps and the loans will be paid.
Sri Lanka will have civilian governments and there would not be a military take over. A military take over is no panacea for all ills. MR may not be popular amoung the elitist Colombo voters and expatriates, but he is popular with the ordinary people who make the majority. Corruption and mismanagement is not unique to Sri Lanka.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:45 pm
CB,
What can we do to help you?
There is no point everyone firing their little pistols in every damn direction. We should support someone who has a PLAN.
January 13th, 2014 at 5:56 pm
Charles,
All that is true.
BUT SL deserves much more.
Stop benchmarking MR against terrorists, faggots, lunatics and other AVAILABLE OPTIONS. We have to think BEYOND that. Also stop benchmarking SL against world hell holes. Of course we are better than them. But we have to think BEYOND that.
IF MR is truely patriotic he MUST SCRAP 13 amendment. Already a NPC delegation has met MOST on-the-fence countries and canvassed their vote at UNHRC. (At taxpayers’ expense mind you thanks to MR). A bigger group plans to go to Geneva (At taxpayers’ expense mind you thanks to MR). That will include NPC AND EPC traitors + MP traitors + NGO traitors. NPC also plans to do its OWN census into disappeared (At taxpayers’ expense mind you thanks to MR) to RIVAL our census. They plan to come close to the 40,000 figure.
MR has dug a grave for SL.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:14 pm
“Helping MR is helping Sri Lanka.”
MR is helping the 90% corrupt police.
MR is helping Mervyn ( Pissu) Silva and his Lambogini treat
MR is helping Duminda (Kudu) Silva and his murders
MR is helping Veggi
MR is helping PC money wasting machine and 13A
MR is helping is sons to live a Lambogini life
MR is helping Kassipu Joesph to destroy our country by telling lies to US
and how on this earth by helping MR we help our country ? It is the opposite, we destroy the country.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:21 pm
” It is MR that made what Sri Lanka is today. He is a more astute politicians and he knows what he is doing.” – Not true. It is our war heroes helped MR to get this opinion.
“He earned the wrath of the West because he made Sri Lanka an independent country able to make new friends not depending on the old Colonial Rulers, and the rich USA which kept us dependent on US wheat quotas under PL480.” – partly true but now he has completely reversed this path out of fear.
“MR may not be popular among the elitist Colombo voters and expatriates, but he is popular with the ordinary people who make the majority.” – 70% true but there is 30% village folks who hate him now because he betrayed the land.
January 13th, 2014 at 6:53 pm
We should support MR based on his present action, behaviour that help Sri Lanka and NOT as a person.
This is why we need him to make a single move in the correct direction.
For example, catch that PC murderer who killed a man and raped a woman.
Make some positive statement about TNA, catholic liars, not just say “propaganda, they are free to do it”.
Jeyalalitha is now bigger than MR.
Gov is doing what exactly she wanted !
Why the hell we release those kallathoni smugglers even before she release our fishermen ?
January 13th, 2014 at 7:44 pm
There are patriots who are considering the possibility of sending a team to Geneva to do strong lobbying. A highly respected, senior patriot is doing networking in this regard. Let’s wait and see the outcome. As I stated in my article, it is worthwhile trying to canvass the vote of the nations that would otherwise be abstaining. I think there are a number of states who are currently ‘sitting on the fence’. Sometimes only a small push may do the trick to get them to our camp. There is sense in what Charles is saying. I don’t think anyone is attacking MR here. We don’t won’t personal attacks here, please. Giving constructive advice to the Government is a good thing as long as they are done without malice
January 13th, 2014 at 8:26 pm
To add my two cents worth, Nanda said:
“This is why we need him to make a single move in the correct direction.”
He was asking for a single move by MR which is good for the country. This is exactly what I also wanted to say. But I know they would not do that. All leaders we had have been doing what is good for them to prolong their rule only. According to some statement from SF, even MR was contemplating of abandoning the war after Muhamalai debacle saying that he would negotiate with Prabhakaran and find an easy way out.
The more IC hammer us at UNHCR the better for MR as all Sinhalas would rally round him and most probably he would have a presidential poll immediately after a defeat at UNHCR.
Coming back to that single move, will MR take a firm stand on the import of more than a quarter of a ton of Heroin?. All other civilized countries would impose death penalty on a person entering a country with even two grams of banned drugs. One can get away with blue murder in our country if the person involved is a politician.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:20 pm
Aloy,
Muhamalai debacle was by Fonseka. He was told by GR VERY CLEARLY NOT TO capture land but kill terrorists to a given daily quota. But his arrogance and over-confidence led him to push the 53 and 55 divisions southwards WITHOUT ANY close air support or approval.
He tried another blunder by trying to whack VP when VP said capturing Kilinochchi is a day dream of MR. Thankfully GR told him NOT TO. It was a trap. We went AROUND Killinochchi and hammered the REAR of the tigers. Kilinochchi automatically fell. What a BEAUTIFUL BEAUTIFUL SIGHT it was!
THEREAFTER 53 and 55 could walk in across EP southwards WITHOUT A FIGHT!
BOTH MR and SF lost their bearings AFTER the war. PTSD! (post traumatic stress DISORDER).
January 13th, 2014 at 10:22 pm
Very true Alloy.
Both of us know how Singapore work, how easy to do business there, how reliable and firm the government activities and law and order. We have lived in the future of Sri Lanka we prefer to see. We are not UNPiers, Colombians or any sort. We just love our country, our people, our values and don’t like to see these values deteriorate day by day.
Let’s hope that single move but at the same time as CB said let us get together for the county’s sake.
January 13th, 2014 at 10:33 pm
CB,
If meeting on-the-fence countries, please send experienced persons in diplomacy, geopolitics and fluent in English, etc.
Take printed material, USB files of propaganda material, etc.
INVITE them to visit SL for a holiday to see for themselves.
NEVER bash USA, etc. as this will frieghten them. They don’t want to be in any camp.
But my feeling is ALL 47 UNHRC members have already decided by today what they are going to do. The representatives who go to Geneva have NO AUTHORITY to change this decision. They do as they are TOLD by their governments.
IF logic and commonsense prevail in UNHRC, there won’t be so much violence in the world!!
But all the best. Do your BEST. You can be happy that you gave 100%.
January 14th, 2014 at 12:56 am
There is already a tribunal against MR and the Government of Sri Lanka in this very forum. A voting has already been taken at UNHRCouncil level inside Lankaweb and resolution against Sri Lanka has already been passed. Why defend Sri Lanka and MR any more . Their fate have been decided. MR is apparently digging the Grave for Sri Lanka. We thought MR was the one who dug Sri Lanka. We may invite UNP to form a government and give the North to TNA.
There appears to be a conspiracy to bust Lankaweb, the only website which accepts articles from pro President and Pro Government contributors. Already some of the patriotic commentators seem to have left. Where are Ananda USA, Thurai, Dilrook and others.
I will not be surprised if some of the commentators are NGOs. Criticism should have a limit beyond that it becomes an all out attempt to send MR home. The villagers in Sri Lanka do not hate MR. This is what the UNP and JVP pretend it to be
January 14th, 2014 at 1:30 am
The article was written to support Sri Lanka. Just as how we have acted in the past, on this occasion too, we will closely work with the Government. We will try to achieve a favourable outcome in Geneva.
In the article it is set out with examples that the war crimes allegations against us are bogus.
Patriots who would go to Geneva will meet with representatives of the member countries (all 47 of them) and hopefully will convince them that we are innocent in relation to the war crimes allegations. With some, we may be unsuccessful, but, if we can win say 5 new votes, that will be a victory.
January 14th, 2014 at 2:10 am
Charles,
It could be a “tribunal” for non-governing but certainly not a war crime tribunal.
There is no conspiracy here. People, either having visited the country lately are bringing up realistic concerns against the Gov.
Regrettably some contributors stopped making comments but people like Mario , Dilrook too are making criticisms.
This is not a bad thing.
January 14th, 2014 at 3:52 am
meant the separatist Tamil Diaspora, not all Tamil Diaspora- Thanks Chanaka B
Sorry to say my Sinhala brothers oand sisters as you all know We Tamils are for Tamil Eelam . if any one of Tamil say He is not than that is Lie (this including Our Thamil brother Lorenzo).
From 1948 to 2009 We learned Tamil Eelam goal is missed out in 1987 !
Now We are waiting for next goal that all !!!
to avoid this You Sinhala brother should give alternative solution , that is full implementading of 13A&6A no short cut!
United Provincial council of Mother Lanka
Anpudan
Hela Demilaya ( Eelath Thamilan) !
January 14th, 2014 at 5:49 am
I do not criticize every thing the government does. Many good thing have been done. For instance Colombo is becoming a beautiful city and there is some order. I have been to UDA office recently, everybody is hard at work. But the government let go of the law and order which is essential for us to develop and be the wonder of Asia. Charles, please write about that instead of praising them without knowing the latest ground situation.
January 14th, 2014 at 5:52 am
Chanaka B
You said : “ Since 1980 or so our country has become very e corrupt. ” It goes even before that Chanaka to 1948s to thethe time of the cabinet of D.S.Senanayake. There was a tractor scandal involving G.G.Ponnambalam the documents of which DS kept in his charge and pointed to them each time the Minister got out of control. And the subsequent governments were no better with regard to corruption. Karu Jayasuriya and Ravi Karunanayake too are said to have been involved in some sort of corruption or other.
Sri Lanka need not be a Singapore, our people are educated and are capable of taking up any challenge. We tend to underestimate our people a lot. If you would speak to ordinary people government servants they would also have to say lot about their system. You come across some of them in some Meditation Centres in Sri Lanka and once they become friendly they tend to speak.
13 Amendment is an unfortunate addendum to our constitution, but Governing is not as easy as it seems to an armchair critic. There may be practical difficulties to remove the 13A at the moment with international interference, the TNA and its back biting and Wigneswaran’s attitude of non cooperation.
We have to wait some more time –it is after all 5 years since terrorism was eliminated and we cannot expected the government to be perfect and do every thing that we think is necessary to do. What is important at the moment is to cooperate with the Government and show to the outside world that we are untied on National issues, and stand by the government against its enemies.
I am quite aware of what is happening in Sri Lanka and keepmyself informed. I do not write blindly expecting personal benefits.
January 14th, 2014 at 5:58 am
Chanaka,
Please read the secon paragraph of my comment as follows:
Sri Lanka need not be a Singapore, our people are educated and are capable of taking up any challenge. We tend to underestimate our people a lot. If you would speak to ordinary people, the government servants from Singapore they also have to say a lot about their own system-mismanagement etc.. You come across Buddhists from Singapore in some Meditation Centres in Sri Lanka and once they become friendly they tend to speak.
January 14th, 2014 at 6:29 am
Charles,
Non of us get any personal benefit by writing.
You say 13A is unfortunate. But just look at what is happening with PCs. Election after election. Thugs and druggies running for PCs, killing each other. This is not due to international pressure.
MR promised to reduce the cabinet size, but he increased its size, not due to international pressure.
You say the country is corrupt since 1948. True, may be, but not to this degree. Those days police catch the murderers, prosecute them properly and hang them. Now we have a President shielding the murderers. Now we have a Police corrupt to the bone.
We must express our displeasure over how the country is run, rather than praising the leader.
January 14th, 2014 at 6:46 am
Mr. Chanaka Bandara: You said “we failed in 2012 & 2013 at UNHRC” and “2014 could be a close call”. We know why we failed two times and also know where we are heading. In this background there is a “Proposal” (NOT MINE) as follows:-
1. “An Army Take Over” of the administration of the country.
2. “To establish Sri Lanka as a UNITARY SINHALA BUDDHIST COUNTRY”
What is your considered opinion of the above proposals as a way to get out of this messy situation?
I tried to oppose it and got my “Identity” changed to “LTTE+UNP”. Anyway that should not concern you.
Appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
January 14th, 2014 at 12:54 pm
First of all let me say this – none of us are perfect. In life, we all need good counsel. A good frind will always give good counsel. Some of the counsel may sound bitter, but the friend (like a loving father), will still give them, as they are given with good intent to genuinely help the friend. Good friends know they should agree to disagree. This rationale applies to giving advice to the Government. A patriot will always give good counsel to the Government always in good faith. The advice may sometimes sound unpalatable, the Government being an intelligent body, will accept them to consider.
Slinging mud at a person or a Government in a public forum in the guise of giving advice is unacceptable.
Criticism should always be constructive, not personal.
Kumar, I am glad you are satisfied with my answer.
It is great to hear from two Patriotic Giants; Charles and Douglas. Let me reply to Charles first.
Yes, Charles I did state “ Since 1980 or so our country has become very corrupt. ” Please note the adjective ‘very’. I added it purposely.
Not only DS Senanayake, I think even Kothalawela was accused of corruption. NM was implicated having a pecuniary interest in a private graphite mine. DS Senanayake, a Great Leader – Father of the Nation, is credited with introducing nepotism to our politics.
I agree 13th Amendment is a difficult issue to the Government. It was not a creation of this Government; part of JR’s legacy.
I agree Sri Lanka need not be a Singapore, we have more resources than Singapore. Singapore is just a commercial hub – in a way a concrete jungle. We have an ancient civilization going back to 2500+ years! Our giant tanks, lush green vegetation, beautiful beaches, wildlife – the resources are endless. But, if we want to be the ‘Miracle of Asia’, we have to curb corruption, mismanagement, maladministration etc and must always maintain sound economic policies (macro and micro). Singapore is a good role model to us in this regard. They are so developed, largely because of less corruption and fine administration.
By the way Charles we have a list of names to go to Geneva (just a draft only at this stage). There are some Great Names in it including a patriotic commentator from this Geneva blog. Because you live in close proximity to Geneva (France), would you be interested to include in the team? You will be a fine member. Briefly I have set it out in the article the type of activities that the team would do in Geneva. But, largely it will be conducting talks with the representatives of the 47 states.
Douglas, that proposal (I know it cannot come from a person like you!) is not worth even discussing. A waste of time.
January 14th, 2014 at 1:05 pm
Doglas is showing his petty mindedness as usual. He is NOT a patriot at all.
When asked about his position on 13 amendment, he runs away in fear!
January 14th, 2014 at 1:11 pm
Charles,
With 2/3 in parliament why is the government hesitating to SCRAP 13 amendment? It has given SL enough problems already. NEW PROBLEMS come in every day from 13 amendment.
13 amendment created Frankensteins are going to Geneva, etc. at tax payers expense to discredit SL!! Ananthi is already doing it. Others plan to join her. Viggie may not go but he has given his war crimes list to UK and US representatives already!
With LESS than 1/2 of parliament this govt. WON the war but with more than 2/3 it cannot scrap 13 amendment! I don’t believe it.
January 14th, 2014 at 1:18 pm
Kumar,
Of course ALMOST ALL Tamils want Tamil Elam and if they say NO they are lying. Agree.
BUT there are a VERY FEW exception too. Accept there are exceptions.
January 14th, 2014 at 1:45 pm
Mr. Chanaka Bandarage:
Thank you for your response. In regard to this question I posed to you, please read the presentation made by Mr. C.Wijayawickrama in CT (Colombo Telegraph) today. He refers to the speech made by Mr. Wigneswaran on January 5th 2014 at the inauguration of the SOS Children Village, in that, he (Mr.Wigneswaran) too stresses the cry of a so called “UNITARY SINHALA BUDDHIST COUNTRY”.
I have added my comments and hope it will be published. This is the well crafted next “BOMB” marketed in lieu of March 2014 drama in Geneva. This is aimed at winning the countries “ON THE FENCE” at the voting time.
January 14th, 2014 at 3:17 pm
Of course SL is a Sinhala Buddhist UNITARY country as much as England is an English Christian Unitary country.
UNHRC, USA, UK, etc. NEVER had a problem with that!!
Did they ask SL to change article 9 of the constitution? NO!
Did they ask the Sinhala language provisions changed? NO!
Did they ask to change the UNITARY status? NO!
Now the tiger stripes are CLEARER. Tamil Elamists have a BIG PROBLEM with SL REMAINING a Sinhala Buddhist UNITARY country. Some want it CHANGED, worse Tamil terrorists want it HIDDEN so they can have their little ELAM! Tamil Elamists call for a SECULAR TAMIL FEDERAL country completely oppositte to what we want!!
NO COMPROMISE on this please. SL MUST remain a UNITARY Sinhala Buddhists country where people of all ethnicities and religions live in equal rights.
January 14th, 2014 at 3:26 pm
CB,
Please COORDINATE with the GOSL delegation. We don’t want to confuse the UNHRC and 47 states with TWO DIFFERENT versions of the PRO-SL position.
Closed door discussions underway between Lalith Weeratunga and UNHRC now. GOSL will make a decision BASED ON THE OUTCOME. ALL pro-SL groups MUST follow it.
Tamils have formed ONE UNIT with TNA, TGTE, GTF, GTF, NPC delegation, Tamil Madu delegation, CPA of Saravanamutta, etc. ALL of them speak in ONE VOICE.
January 14th, 2014 at 6:41 pm
We don’t need a military led Government
The country, Sri Lanka, has a Sinhala Buddhist foundation. It does not mean other races cannot live there. We all must live in One Nation, Sri Lanka; like the children of One Mother. All the Sinhalese and majority of Tamils in Sri Lanka want this, except few separatist like the TNA. Tamil Diaspora is now the main problem
Lorenzo, on this Geneva issue, yes, we will work in close co-operation with the Government
January 14th, 2014 at 6:59 pm
Lorenzo, those UNHRC country representatives are seasoned diplomats. They will not get confused. I belive they must have met so many Tamil Diaspora teams. The problem is that we Sinhalese (Sinhala Diaspora) are lagging behind. Given our numbers and the caliber of people we have, rather than be on the last carriage, we should be driving the train
January 14th, 2014 at 7:31 pm
CB,
Absolutely!
All the best.
January 14th, 2014 at 7:32 pm
Chanaka B: You are on the correct path. Please proceed, unconcerned of this “Military Take Over” and “Unitary Sinhala Buddhist Country” theories spread by the LTTE Diaspora and its agents, that would poison the minds of those UNHRC country representatives.
As you correctly identified, we never had a “front line” team to present our case. I think you know how some of the “Top Delegates” behaved and even someone lost the return air ticket and the passport to return to Sri Lanka. You know what they did to Ms. Kunanayagam for exposing the Canadian attempt to bring the Darushman Report through the back door. You know how the Secretariat sent out secret e mails to delegates etc. You know who and who were responsible for all the “back biting” and “cut throat” activities secretively operated behind back doors.
So be mindful of these activities and conduct your mission well planed and organized.
GOOD LUCK.
January 14th, 2014 at 8:10 pm
If a Sri Lankan Diaspora team goes to Geneva in March ( a long way off at the moment), it will be a separate delegation. They will be our friends; but, the Government team will conduct its own lobbying, negotiations etc.
January 14th, 2014 at 9:35 pm
It is good if “Sri Lankan Diaspora ” consists of Sinhala Buddhist, Sinhala Others and Tamils too.
Any chance to get a Good Tamil or Two ? Lorenzo ? Nalliah Thayabaran ? Kantha ?
January 15th, 2014 at 12:33 am
Lorenzo
BUT there are a VERY FEW exception too. Accept there are exceptions- Agreed , if you do not take personaly I can name them few You Lorenzo , Kathirkamar etc…
Reson for this exception these few never identify as Tamils or any other community they identify geneuvinly Sri Lanka ! so They have no problm one more advandage they speck fuluant Sinhala !
January 15th, 2014 at 5:28 am
Nanda: Is Lorenzo a Tami? If you say so, I can now understand the reference made by the Chief Minister Mr. Vigneswaran at the inaugural meeting of the SOS children village in Jaffna on January 5th 2014. He said some are advocating a “Sinhala Buddhist Country of the majority and they want us to live according to their wishes”.
Please refer to the article (para 2 of the Introduction) of Mr. Wijayawickrama in Lanka Web today.
January 15th, 2014 at 5:48 am
Doglas has nothing to discuss than me!
What a pathetic soul.
January 15th, 2014 at 12:18 pm
Lorenzo: You are correct. I discuss you right through since your two proposals made through this web site. viz:
1. Army Take Over of Sri Lanka &
2. To have a Unitary State of Sinhala Buddhist.
Your above two proposals have done a great deal of damage to my country and the present Government at this very critical moment of the forthcoming UNHRC sessions in March 2014. I have very reliable information that these two proposals are being discussed at International Levels and the LTTE Diaspora are actively and vigorously marketing to sell it to the countries who refrained from voting at the last two sessions , 2012 & 2013. Some have expressed “dismay” while some others are at the moment convinced. You would have seen how Mr. Vigneswaran presented this to the public on January 5th at the SOS opening meeting in Jaffna. Also it is learned that these are matters brought to the notice of visiting “criminal investigators”. That is why he and his LTTE colleagues are consistently hammering at the Governor and his removal together with the Armed Forces located in the North and East. You too through this Web provided the ammunition. For your information Lanka Web is also being highlighted in these discussions. These LTTE rump will do anything to undermine and hammer us to the last.
Due to above reasons, I want let you go that freely. I too have so much of score to settle with this Government; but when it comes to my country and the nation, it is nothing but the security of the State that is going to be my PRIORITY.The March UNHRC sessions are so crucial to us and everyone has to set aside the “differences” and protect the Government of the day in the larger interests. That is why I even suggested a “Patriotic Act”.
For your information, I don’t believe in a “soul” to be pathetic; but I do possess a larger HEART that prompts me to be very active to defend my country and the nation. That is what I am doing with you too.
January 15th, 2014 at 5:32 pm
douglas
My sinhala brother I can understand you feeling for Mother lanka !
1. Army Take Over of Sri Lanka &
2. To have a Unitary State of Sinhala Buddhist.
Please open your eye these two already happened !
eg: 1) Last week GR started new forces call red army in Kilinochchi , why this new forces , why not police have not taken over day to day activity in NEP yet even though war finised 5 years ago !
2) Two Christan prayer place have been distroed in front of Police present ( videos in all the web sides) & over night New Bhudda vihara comimg up where ever you find Arasa Maram in NEP!
United Provicial Council of Mother Lanka , No short cut !
Anpudan
Hela Demilaya ( Eelath Thamilan)
January 16th, 2014 at 4:55 am
Thnk you Douglas for highlighting the present dilemma Sri Lanka is in and what is appropiate to do instead of writing nonsense which will put Sri Lanka further into the boiling couldron
January 16th, 2014 at 7:36 am
NPC’s CM is a creation of MR against the wishes and appeals of many commentators in this website. If he now cries foul and threaten to take the regime to UNHCR who is to be blamed?. We all have rights to write and comment about ‘my’ country. But those living in it has more rights to complain about the law and order situation than those living in London or Paris as they are the people exposed to the dangers posed by drug addicts and criminals.
In my opinion we should not be unduly worried about UNHCR. How many resolutions were brought against Israel?. nothing happened. This is geopolitics at play. Even India is cornered due to some mysterious reason.
Coming to Charles’ assertion “our people are educated and are capable of taking up any challenge.”, private sector is doing a wonderful job and keep the country afloat together with the expatriates toiling in ME and other countries. If you take Sunday Observer you will see endless number of job opportunities in the country. I do not see such a situation even in Singapore or any other Asean country. However the public sector appear to be under the full control of the top politicians of the day. If not how can the situation that exist at Norochchalai can be explained. According to reports the top engineers have now discovered that the maintenance manuals are in Chinese language therefore they unable make head or tail of the equipment. Before any piece of equipment is supplied under a government contract the first thing the officers in charge would look for is the maintenance manual and the list of spares supplied. This is a project of national importance and as a result of the problems in the plant we have been made to pay very high electricity tariffs. So, have our “educated people done a wonderful” job?. And is that not the fault of the regime that implemented it?.