{"id":117826,"date":"2021-09-04T17:11:18","date_gmt":"2021-09-05T00:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=117826"},"modified":"2021-09-04T17:11:18","modified_gmt":"2021-09-05T00:11:18","slug":"a-challenge-to-sri-lankas-sovereignty-and-self-respect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/09\/04\/a-challenge-to-sri-lankas-sovereignty-and-self-respect\/","title":{"rendered":"A challenge to Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty and self respect"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rohana R. Wasala<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

A\nsmall country like Sri Lanka with no economic or military power has only two\nthings to its credit – sovereignty and self respect. If we lose sovereignty and\nself respect, we lose everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • The\n late Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-2001), quoted\n in\n THE CAKE THAT WAS BAKED AT HOME: SNAPSHOTS OF THE MAN\u2019S LIFE BY HIS\n DAUGHTER AJITA KADIRGAMAR\/<\/strong>August\n 2015,\n <\/strong>Colombo, p. 216<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    The\nlate great Lakshman Kadirgamar was the most efficient, the most professional\nand above all the most patriotic, and hence the best, foreign affairs minister\nthat Sri Lanka ever had. At no time will his absence be more keenly felt than\nnow. The appointment of a person who is by no means his match in the same\ncapacity at this juncture is problematic to say the least. But the appointing\nauthority seems to have faith in his ability to learn and fine-tune his\nperformance. Let\u2019s hope he won\u2019t disappoint the latter. Of course, the Lankan\ndiplomats who are already in Geneva must be laying the groundwork for the country\u2019s\ndefence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nIsland\/August 27, 2021 reported TNA MP MA Sumanthiran as having asked for US\nmediation in Sri Lanka: Sumanthiran wants US as mediator here\u201d by Dinasena\nRatugamage. This is astonishing. It is as if Sumanthiran is unaware of what is\ncurrently unfolding in Afghanistan as a result of two decades of US mediation\nin that country. (In a later clarification the paper published Sumanthiran\u2019s\ndenial of that claim. He had not asked for US mediation in Sri Lanka. But it is\ncommon knowledge that Sumanthiran has always wanted to mediate here. So, please\nlet me proceed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At\na news briefing held in Jaffna the previous day, he had demanded that the\ngovernment present a solution to the issues allegedly faced by the Tamil people\nin the North and the East, and that the US should study and approve the\ngovernment\u2019s solutions! Tamils living in that area accounted for only 11% of\nthe total population of the country, and less than half of all Tamils living in\nSri Lanka who formed 15% of the island\u2019s population in 2012; the rest 4%\ncomprised Tamils living outside of that area, including those in the plantation\ndistricts in the interior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sumanthiran\nbelieves that Michelle Bachelet occupying the post of UN High Commissioner for\nHuman Rights is a great advantage for obtaining support for the TNA\u2019s proposal\non Tamil issues. What advantage do they hope to get from Bachelet that they are\nnot hopeful of getting from a different UN human rights chief? Why does he\nthink that she will extend preferential treatment to a portion of one ethnic\ncommunity over the rest 89% of Sri Lanka\u2019s population? Does he expect her to\nviolate  UN\u2019s founding principles such as the equality of member\ncountries, respecting the sovereignty of fellow members, and non-interference\nin their internal affairs, in her handling of Sri Lanka? What other world body\n(than the UN) is there to which Sri Lanka could turn  for succour in a\ncontext where she is being punished for having lawfully defeated a lawless\nterror outfit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sumanthitan\u2019s\nmention of Michelle Bachelet reminded me, as it would have done any observer\nwithout something lacking upstairs, of how all of his ilk reacted to the\nconclusion reached by the Beta Analytical Testing Laboratory in Florida, USA,\nin March 2019 (still during the yahapalanaya regime) that the skeletal remains\ndiscovered at a construction site in Mannar in 2018 belonged to the period\nbetween 1499 and1719: The TNA and their separatist allies and sympathisers in\nWestern countries and certain biased officials of the UNHRC were thoroughly\ndisappointed by this result given by the reputed scientific institution based\non carbon dating. They had already arbitrarily concluded that the bones were\nthose of Tamil victims of an army massacre allegedly committed during the civil\nwar. Bachelet seemed to surmise that other grave sites containing incriminating\nevidence against the Sri Lanka army would be found in the future, and she\nwanted the capacity of the forensic sector, including the domains of forensic\nanthropology and genetics enhanced for carrying out proper\ninvestigations! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But\nthe US laboratory dating of the 308 skeletons unearthed in 2018 (However,\ninvestigations had been going on there from 2013) which included those of\nchildren provided evidence for the historical truth that local historians know\nabout that period of Lankan history: In 1544, the Hindu king Cankili I of\nJaffna marched to the island of Mannar (a part of his kingdom) leading a force\nof some 5000 soldiers and massacred 600 Catholic converts including children\nfrom the \u2018paravar\u2019 caste; he put to the sword all those who refused to \nforsake their new faith. (Incidentally, a little less than a century before\nthis time in 1450, king Parakramabahu VI of Kotte (1412-1467) conquered the\nrebel Jaffna kingdom and brought it under his rule. That was the last time a\nSinhala king unified the country. However, just ten years after this, Jaffna\nand Kandy broke away again. The country remained divided till the British\nunified it in 1815.) Ill-informed foreign officials should not make pronouncements\non the country\u2019s internal problems unless they are equipped with facts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Can\nSri Lanka expect equitable treatment at the UNHRC in these circumstances? The\nLTTE carried out many massacres during its existence. Probably, the most\nheinous of these was the killing of 600-774 unarmed policemen and 10 soldiers\nin the Eastern province on June 11, 1990. Has the UNHRC ever raised any concern\nabout such crimes by separatist terrorists on behalf of whose allegedly\nviolated human rights it is so preoccupied with? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    MP\nSumanthiran said that the TNA had asked for an appointment with the president\nto discuss their proposals with him ahead of the UNHRC session (scheduled for\nSeptember-October 2021), and also to talk about implementing the\nrecommendations made during previous sessions. But the incumbent Sri Lankan\ngovernment withdrew from the co-sponsorship of Resolution of 40\/1 on Promoting\nReconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka in February\n2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It\nseemed that Sumanthiran was following on from TNA leader R. Sampanthan, who had\ncomplained to US Ambassador Alaina B. Teplitz that the provincial council\nsystem was not enough to resolve the issues of the Tamils in the North and\nEast, and that the two provinces should be merged and administered by the\n\u2018Tamil people\u2019. He had also discussed the UN resolution against Sri Lanka and\nthe UNHRC recommendations with Teplitz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    I\ntold the Ambassador that all governments were not sincere in their proposals to\nresolve the grievances of the Tamil people in the North and the East.\nTherefore, this issue had been dragging on for decades,\u201d Sampanthan was\nreported as telling the ambassador. He urged the international community\u2019s\nintervention on behalf of the struggle of the Tamils\u201d in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Concerned\nordinary Sri Lankans have some serious issues to raise with the likes of\nSampanthan and Sumanthiran. Why do they run to international civil servants\npleading with them to solve what you call issues faced by the Tamils of the\nNorth and the East, which must be sorted out through debate among the elected\nrepresentatives that constitute the august assembly called the Parliament,\nmaintained at great cost by the self respecting sovereign people of Sri Lanka?\nAre those provinces devoid of other communities? How can Tamils there have\nproblems that are not shared by those including Tamils living in other\nprovinces of the country? (Tamils living outside the North and East outnumber\nTamils living in those two provinces). What exactly are the problems faced by\nTamil people in the North and East or for that matter Tamils living anywhere\nelse in the country? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why don\u2019t\nSumanthiran and his colleagues talk about the Muslim and Sinhalese people\nliving in the two provinces? Why doesn\u2019t Sampanthan get the consent of the\nSinhalese and Muslims also inhabiting the East who together form a majority\nthere, before asking for a merger of the two provinces? Why don\u2019t these leaders\ntalk about the problems faced by the Sinhalese who form 75% of the population?\nAren\u2019t they human and don\u2019t they too have a claim to human rights?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Rohana R. Wasala A small country like Sri Lanka with no economic or military power has only two things to its credit – sovereignty and self respect. If we lose sovereignty and self respect, we lose everything.\u201d The late Lakshman Kadirgamar, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1994-2001), quoted in THE CAKE THAT WAS BAKED AT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rohana-r-wasala"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117826\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}