RANJITH SOYSA

The President, Sirisena paid tributes to the members of Sri Lankan defence services personnel for the sacrifices made in the protection of the country and the state at the Government war memorial meeting.

He was highly critical of the individuals who would not know  the difference between a soldier and a terrorist, One wonders whether it was an act of leg pulling as only the other day one of his own senior ministers who took up the position obviously failing to appreciate the distinct variation of the actions of a soldier who wages war against a terrorist to protect the people and a man of terror whose aim is to kill people indiscriminately to achieve his objective, Or, is it the President playing the role of now familiar role of pacifier which he had been engaged in it whenever the crucial issues come up? We suggest the President to adopt a method of go hard on his words to put a stop to insults hurled at the heroic defenders for the political survival of those who begin at the wrong end.

The President also mentioned that the Sri Lankan soldiers have not been accused of war crimes! The President either made an inadvertent mistake or forget to mention that the OHCHR report which was officially sponsored by the United Nations accused Sri Lanka as a State committed war crimes and the Sri Lankan government will have to respond to the allegations which are levelled. He also did not mention that his government on 15^th Sept 2015 endorsed and accepted UN/HR/1/30 resolution based on OHCHR report without registering any reservations. The government of Sri Lanka on 29^th Sept 2015 also, co-sponsored UNHRC resolution A/HRC/30/ which again accepted its conclusions without any questioning.

One should not forget the fact that at present the members of the defence forces who join the international peace keeping operations and others who intend traveling to the Western countries are forced to hang on to their sleeves on account of the UNHRC resolution sponsored by the Sri Lankan government.  Some foreign embassies openly quote that the Sri Lankan government has approved the contents of the resolution.

It is not too late to submit a rebuttal to the UNHRC on the allegations levelled at Sri Lanka’s defence forces. We request the President to open a new chapter in taking action to protect the good name of the war heroes by challenging the conclusions of the said UNHCR resolution and on the basis of  the  LLRC & Paranagama reports, the exhaustive submissions made by Sir Desmond De Silva, Prof D.M.Crane, John Holmes and also the recent revelations’ made by Lord Naseby with whom the President had a conversation while in the UK.

We urge the President to take the UNHRC bull by the horns NOW and to clear the decks so that the unenviable humanitarian mission carried out by the Sri Lankan forces will receive the due recognition of the world

RANJITH SOYSA