Let peace prevail in Sri Lanka
Posted on March 25th, 2014
George Rupesinghe
I have submitted the following to The Sydney Morning Herald in response to their editorial today.
To The Editor
The Sydney Morning Herald
It is distressing that the Herald, too, has succumbed to the widespread propaganda of the defeated Tamil Tiger terrorists to draw a smokescreen over the decades-long conflict in Sri Lanka and concentrate on unsubstantiated allegations of war crimes in the closing stages of the war and on-going issues on human rights (Australia abetting Sri Lanka’s stand on human rights inquiry, 25 March).
Why not call for a full international investigation into the entire conflict? Among other things, this will bring to light the roles of Western governments, who turned a blind eye to the massive fund-raising, arms procurement and people smuggling activities of the terrorists within their shores. It will bring to light the role of the Indian Peace Keeping Forces who went on a merciless rampage of civilian killings during their time there in the 1980s. It will bring to light the role of organisations like Amnesty International, which blatantly agreed to assist the terrorists set up courts and police stations in the areas under LTTE control. One could go on.
But let’s dig a bit deeper. The US, the biggest perpetrator of human misery across the globe, and accountable to no one, is sponsoring the latest resolution using allegations of human rights for no other purpose than to twist Sri Lanka’s arm for their own geopolitical objectives in the region.
Sri Lanka is at peace. Yes that peace is maintained at the expense of some civil liberties in the face of real threats to its security from agents within and without. The shooting of a police officer by an LTTE agent was linked to the arrest of the “prominent human rights activists” mentioned in your editorial.
But no one can deny the vast strides made in the past five years to rehabilitate terrorist combatants, set in a program of restorative rather than punitive justice and foster a climate where people can move freely without fear of suicide bombs or children being abducted to serve as child soldiers. Peace must be allowed to prevail in Sri Lanka.
George Rupesinghe
Belmore NSW