Western Powers and the UNHRC keep Hounding Sri Lanka based on Unsubstantiated Allegations
Posted on April 3rd, 2017
Mahinda Gunasekera
Moves by western powers and their subservient UNHRC to harass Sri Lanka for defeating the Indian trained Tamil Tiger Terrorists whom they nourished by permitting the Tiger front organizations to raise funds within their jurisdictions, to arm and sustain the terror group and maintain them as a constant threat to tearing the island apart. It fitted in with the western objectives of destabilizing smaller countries leading to their division or break up, preparing the ground for exploiting available resources or strategic locations. It is the same western powers that have a long history of violating human rights that have been hounding Sri Lanka at the UNHRC bringing charges of transgressing international humanitarian laws and war crimes based on one sided information from prejudiced sources claiming indiscriminate shelling of civilian safe zones, hospitals, denial of food to IDPs ,etc., and pulling out numbers of casualties from thin air without a proper investigation and repeating the much hyped figure of 40,000 civilian deaths in the latter stages of the armed conflict in 2009. These western powers sought even to intervene towards the end stages of the armed conflict to remove the Tamil Tiger leaders who refused to surrender to the local forces, and take them to a client state willing to provide asylum, so that they may continue to keep stoking the fires and keep the armed separatist flames burning in Sri Lanka.
The number of genuine civilians killed is unknown as none of the published figures distinguish between combatants, LTTE Auxiliary Forces Personnel, and genuine non-combatant civilians. The UN Resident Representative’s office in Colombo reported that a total of 7,721 were killed between end August 2008 and May 13, 2009 which number the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, did not accept stating that it could not be verified as the UN was not on the ground other than lower rung Tamil employees whom the LTTE refused to release. Amnesty claimed a total of 10,000 being killed, the UK Sunday Times reporter who only overflew the last battle ground when he accompanied Ban ki Moon on his inspection tour on May 25, 2009 reported that 20,000 had been killed in the last stages (i.e. January 1 to May 19, 2009), while UNSG’s so called Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka sitting in New York claimed tens of thousands of persons being killed estimated at 40,000, the same number reported on by the Int’l Crisis Group. Gordon Weiss who was the UN Spokesperson in Colombo later inflated the number killed to 40,000 in his book “The Cage”, which number he lowered to 10,000 when he was being questioned by a Sri Lankan audience in Australia, probably with a view to profit from his book sales to members of the expat Tamil community numbering over a million. He has been described elsewhere as an Unreliable Witness. That pro-LTTE reporter Frances Harrison is still counting the dead, having stated that 70,000 to 140,000 may have been killed. Yasmin Sooka who was appointed by Ban ki-Moon as one of the three members of the Panel of Experts on Accountability on Sri Lanka, close friend of Navi Pillay, whom I believe is a South African Tamil just like Navi P, who attends all the propaganda meetings organized by the pro-LTTE groups is on the same page as Frances Harrison claiming over 110,000 persons being killed in the last stages. She certainly benefited by her openly partisan stand, receiving a grant of 25 million Euros from the EU for a South African NGO headed by her.
In 2012, the Sri Lankan authorities carried out a census among the residents of the north to determine the number of persons who had been killed in the final stages using Tamil school teachers and public servants as enumerators and arrived at a figure of 7,432 excluding those who had died of natural causes. Strangely, on adding up the monthly number of such casualties reported in the propaganda arm of the LTTE, namely the Tamilnet, the total killed for the period January 1, 2009 to May 19, 2009 was 7,398 which was below the GOSL census count.
The UNSG’s PoE which claimed 40,000 had been killed, also stated that a large proportion of the LTTE fighters did battle in civilian attire thereby blurring the distinction between combatants and civilians. Furthermore, they had based their conclusions mainly from one sided information provided to them by pro-LTTE elements, which material they recommended be locked away for a period of 20 years till 2031. Today, Sri Lanka is being hounded by the west and the UN on the basis of this report produced by the UNSG’s PoE, an internal document prepared purely for the guidance of the UNSG, which concluded there were ‘credible allegations‘, which was apparently leaked by the UNSG’s office to the UNHRC, which Navi Pillay sought to table at the UNHRC sessions although it was not a UN sanctioned document.
Another interesting statistic is the total number of injured persons among the Tamil IDPs according to the ICRC responsible for ferrying them by land and sea for medical attention was 18,439 which is lower than the 40,000 supposedly killed during the last stages. Normally, the injured (WIA) is between 2-3 times the number killed, which means that the number injured should have been 80,000 – 120,000.
Amnesty and HRW commissioned a report from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) to determine the number killed after analysis of the high resolution satellite imagery of the final battleground. The latter were only able to come up with a total of 1,346 burial spots in three burial sites within the Civilian Safety Zone (CSW), which detailed report is carried in their website. As this report did not support the bogus numbers swirled around by LTTE propagandists, Amnesty and HRW did not proceed with their planned report to press for action against Sri Lanka. The AAAS report was also able to identify some 65 or so craters which they determined had been made by Mortar Shells (not artillery) along the perimeter of the CSZ close to the Nandikadal Lagoon where the LTTE fighters were concentrated, and close to the coast where the Sea Tigers operated. Even the buildings without roofs initially thought to have been targeted with artillery fire turned out to have been dismantled by the LTTE to cover their bunkers or hide their long range weapons, while the building walls remained undamaged.
The Sri Lankan forces abandoned air attacks and use of Artillery/MBRL in the latter part to prevent harm to the civilian population, while they faced a continuous barrage of artillery and mortar fire from the LTTE resulting in the loss of around 2,500 soldiers and a further 5,000 or more becoming injured. The LTTE too would have lost at least an equal number of combatants due to the intensive battles at the end stages. If one takes out 2,500 from the UN number of 7,721, one is left with 5,221. Of this number, several were killed by the LTTE which ordered their cadres to fire on escaping civilians, and even unleashed suicide bombers and artillery fire on the escaping civilians who earlier formed a human shield. Some others killed would have been members of the LTTE’s Auxiliary Forces that supplied ammo, removed injured and dead fighters, or were engaged in digging trenches or building defensive berms, and yet others from the Makkal Padai, their civilian fighters. Once you adjust for the LTTE’s own killings, auxiliary forces personnel, Makkal Padai forces that were killed, you will be able to ascertain the number of genuine civilians who were killed in the crossfire and ongoing battles.
The resolution brought by the western powers before the UNHRC is one aimed at bringing Sri Lankan Security Forces personnel before a hybrid court with the participation of foreign judges, investigators and prosecutors, whereas the LTTE which carried on a campaign of horrific atrocities over three decades including the detonation of 388 human bombs by brain washed suicide killers are being overlooked, as the focus is only on the latter stages from January 1, 2009 to May 19, 2009 when the LTTE leadership were eliminated in battle. The wrongdoings of the LTTE and the violations committed by the Indian Forces that operated in Sri Lanka from 1987 to 1990 too must be similarly investigated if the process is to be fair. The UNHRC should also not ignore the violations on the part of the western powers that unilaterally invaded or attacked sovereign countries in the Middle East and Africa, or resorted to Drone strikes in several countries to take out targeted individuals causing harm to innocent civilians in the vicinity
Mahinda Gunasekera
April 3rd, 2017 at 5:58 pm
Thanks Mahinda:
1. It is Indian vermin in the West; Indian legislators in USA, Canada and UK are good examples,and
2. Indian Colonial parasites in Indian colonies; eg. Navi Pillay and Yasmin Sooka, and
3. India colonies: eg. Mauritius
who are behind all these UN actions against the island nation.
Indian legislators in USA, Canada and UK are good examples.
April 3rd, 2017 at 6:03 pm
We worry about what the West is doing elsewhere.
Look at what Indian Union is doing in its own States like Chhattisgarh, Assam, Nagaland an Indian Occupied Kashmir.
Please get rid of the telescope and look close with a microscope and you will see who are attacking us.
April 3rd, 2017 at 9:29 pm
And along comes The Center for Policy Alternatives, headed by that COMPLETELY UNBIASED EELAMIST AGITATOR Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu the man most often quoted by the Tamil Diaspora and their NGOs to support their RACIST SEPARATIST CAUSE, now releasing yet another “SURVEY” of how the Constitutional Reform Process is going in Sri Lanka, no doubt with the intention of INFORMING the “GULLIBLE” people of Sri Lanka as to how they REALLY SHOULD FEEL ABOUT IT!
GIVE US A BREAK!
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Sri Lanka government needs to show better results, constitutional reform process not successful – survey
Mon, Apr 3, 2017, 09:37 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Apr 03, Colombo: A latest opinion poll conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a leading public policy research and advocacy think tank in Sri Lanka reveals that a majority believed the government needs to show better results and the government has been unsuccessful in informing people about the constitutional reform process.
The CPA’s latest survey on constitutional reforms reveals that only 1.1percent of Sri Lankans believe that the government’s performance since January 2015 has been excellent and does not need any improvements while 42.3 percent said that the performance has been good but the government needs to show better results. Another 23 percent believe that the government’s performance has been bad but that it should be given more time to deliver results.
Only a 16.5 percent thought the government’s performance has been very bad and it should be voted out as soon as possible.
When asked how successful the government has been in informing people about the constitutional reform process, 55.1 percent of Sri Lankans said that the government has been unsuccessful, with almost 30 percent saying that the government has been very unsuccessful.
Within that group 55 percent say the government has been unsuccessful in publicizing the content of discussions within the Constitutional Assembly and it’s sub-committees about constitutional reforms.
56.4 percent of Sri Lankans also said that the government has been unsuccessful in obtaining citizens perspectives about what should be included/what should change in the new constitution.
However, overall, awareness about the constitutional reform process has somewhat increased when compared to CPA’s October 2016 survey.
In March 2017, 29 percent of Sri Lankans said that they are somewhat aware compared to the 22 percent in October 2016. Those who say that they did not know that a constitutional reform process is taking place has reduced to 12 percent from 24 percent.
When asked if the current constitution should be wholly replaced with a new constitution or whether the current constitution should continue but with some needed changes, 23.5 percent of Sri Lankans said that we need a new constitution while 38.9 percent said that the current constitution should continue but with some needed changes.
The three key areas that Sri Lankans believe the Government should priorities at present are: Economy and development, Law and order and Corruption. This selection was made out of a list of five key areas, the other two being constitutional reform and reconciliation.
When asked what specific aspect of their first choice (economy and development) the Government should priorities, people said it should be to reduce the cost of living.
Over 66 percent of Sri Lankans believe that there are more important issues than constitutional reform and transitional justice for the government to address. This view is held across all Provinces except in the North and East. When asked to specify what these more important issues are, the answers given were all related to the economy and development – cost of living, infrastructure development, economy of the country and unemployment.
Conducted in the 25 districts of the country, this survey captured the opinion of 1992 Sri Lankans from the four main ethnic communities. The selection of respondents was random across the country. Fieldwork was conducted from March 14 – 19, 2017.
April 3rd, 2017 at 9:34 pm
HOORAY! Major General Shavendra Silva appointed as New Army Adjutant General!
The PANA-NATHI JANA-PATHI has done ONE THING RIGHT!
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Criticism as Sri Lanka appoints Major General Silva as new Army AG
April 2, 2017, 10:01 pm
Sri Lanka’s appointment of Major General Shavendra Silva to the new position of Adjutant General of the army has sparked widespread criticism, according to Tamil Guardian.
Major General Silva, who commanded the army’s 58 division during the final stages of the ethnic conflict in 2009 where tens of thousands of Tamils were massacred by shelling and aerial bombardment of civilian areas, assumed his duties at a ceremony on Thursday at the army’s headquarters.
“The appointment of Major-General Shavendra Silva as the chief administrative officer of the Sri Lankan Army is a slap in the face to tens of thousands of victims still waiting for justice eight years after the war ended,” said the South Africa based organisation, International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), adding that the appointment was evidence of Sri Lanka flouting its UN commitments.
“This appointment coming just days after the Human Rights Council session ended in Geneva is an outrage and shows the government is not serious about accountability or security sector reform,” said the ITJP’s Executive Director, Yasmin d.
“This is not just an affront to victims but also the international community to whom Sri Lanka committed to a vetting programme,” Ms Sooka added. “The UN should suspend the deployment of all new peacekeeping troops from Sri Lanka as they clearly cannot be trusted to vet the personnel they send abroad for their alleged involvement in war crimes if they keep on rewarding alleged perpetrators at home”.
April 3rd, 2017 at 9:36 pm
Over 66 percent of Sri Lankans believe that there are more important issues than constitutional reform and transitional justice for the government to address. This view is held across all Provinces except in the North and East. When asked to specify what these more important issues are, the answers given were all related to the economy and development – cost of living, infrastructure development, economy of the country and unemployment.
EXCELLENT!
This is the reality. Who gives a STUFF about constitutional BS. People need JOBS, FOOD, DEVELOPMENT. This govt. FAILED to give them those things.
EAT constitutional reforms!!
April 3rd, 2017 at 9:52 pm
Major General Shavendra Silva appointed as New Army Adjutant General! Well done PRESIDENT SIRISENA.
Thank you Sirisena. MR kept these war heroes AWAY from their LIFELONG PROFESSION. Sirisena gave them justice.
Same thing happened to JEGATH DIAS. He was sent as a low level officer to SL embassy in GERMANY. Sirisena made him CHIEF OF STAFF (second highest rank). He retired. Glad he held that top post in his lifetime and his pension is FROM that post.
Military men make EXCELLENT rulers but BAD diplomats.
Another GOOD thing by Sirisena is giving FONSEKA what he EARNED. Taking away his MEDALS, PENSION, AWARDS, etc. was bad. We should NOT have done that. Whatever his problems, the FOOL earned those by sacrificing his entire working life for the army!! Can we do that?
So it was Sirisena that recognised the 3 BIGGEST war heroes and made their career best appointments – SF, Shavendra and Jegath. What a GRATEFUL president we have!!
Our UNGRATEFUL NATION quickly forgets. But there are GRATEFUL PEOPLE too.
I request Sirisena to recognise SARATH WEERASEKEA, KAMAL KUNARATHNA, CHAGI GALLEGE, RALPH NUGERA and VASATHA KARANNAKODA too.