Bernard Wijeyasingha USA

The inclusion of the 13th amendment in the latest round of human rights resolution against Sri Lanka should be a wakeup call to Colombo that this issue of singularly giving the Northern and Eastern provinces land and police acts when it goes against Sri Lanka’s laws of equal treatment to all provinces should demonstrate the political motives of India.

At the end of March India will join the UNHRC in condemning Sri Lanka on human rights issues, including supposed ongoing human rights violations on minorities. That translates to stopping Christian missionaries converting Buddhists or the Muslims doing the same. Considering that India has all these elements in her society including the human rights violations committed during Operation Blue Star, or her massive military presence in Kashmir where Kashmiri people routinely suffer acts of human rights violations to India’s military history with the United Liberation front of Assam.

This also includes India’s military atrocities on similar movements against the tribal people of Nagaland, the states of Mizoram, and Manipur. This also includes the atrocities committed against the Muslims in the Indian state of Gujarat. Yet the UNHRC continues to ignore them and only focus on Sri Lanka while India continues to harbor NGO pro Eelam groups such as TESO and TELO. What is even more demeaning to Sri Lanka is that India will not do the same with human rights violations that occur on a regular basis in Pakistan or Bangladesh, let alone China.

In all the human rights violations mentioned above that have been committed in India there are expat Indians of these communities who are still waiting for the UN to address these issues. From the Sikh community to the Indian Muslims to those from the North eastern states have formed groups across the world and petitioned the UNHRC to address their grievances which go unaddressed.

To add gasoline to the fire, Great Britain has demanded that the UNHRC take on a “Sierra Leone type war crimes tribunal on Sri Lanka!!!” This is the very height of arrogance. London does not even make it a secret that this demand is due to requests made to her politicians by pro LTTE groups in the UK. Sri Lanka is being singled out, falsely accused and the depth and scope of those trumped up accusations are getting worse by the passing year.

Recently India turned down China’s request to enter the Indian ocean. This does not have to be China’s problem. Under the strategic partnership with China, Sri Lanka should and I must add “must” negotiate with China to allow China to build a Chinese military base in Trincomalee. This is equally applicable to Russia. In exchange Colombo should demand that she become a member state of the CSTO and the SCO. In a rapidly changing world where Russia has tested the resolve of the US/NATO powers and found them lacking in any power to her ambitions to build eight military bases across the world.

If Sri Lanka were to ever realize this untapped power to become a member state of both the CSTO and the SCO in exchange for both Russia and China to build military bases in Sri Lanka it would neutralize India’s strangle hold on Sri Lanka, including that of the UK, the US and the UN.
Bernard Wijeyasingha