{"id":48776,"date":"2015-10-17T15:39:32","date_gmt":"2015-10-17T21:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=48776"},"modified":"2015-10-17T08:36:07","modified_gmt":"2015-10-17T15:36:07","slug":"geneva-process-can-be-reversed-ven-bengamuwe-nalaka-thera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2015\/10\/17\/geneva-process-can-be-reversed-ven-bengamuwe-nalaka-thera\/","title":{"rendered":"Geneva process can be reversed – Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka thera"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island <\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

October 16, 2015, 9:45 pm<\/span><\/p>\n

\"article_image\"<\/div>\n

Ret. Maj calls for campaign against UNP, SLFP<\/strong>
\n Dr Bandara reiterates US wants vassal state
\n<\/span>Mohan Samaranayake counters govt propaganda
\n<\/span>Dr Amarasekera questions US motive in backing war<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka thera Wednesday called for a united effort to reverse what he called the Geneva process meant to divide the country on ethnic lines.<\/p>\n

The Ven thera urged those who genuinely loved the country to resist the on-going Western project and also to be aware of the persistent Indian threat. The outspoken monk was addressing a meeting at Abayaramaya, Narahenpita organised by the National Freedom Front (NFF) to highlight the growing danger posed by UN intervention here.<\/p>\n

The Thera compared the Western destabilisation project directed at Sri Lanka with Indian intervention in Fiji and emphasised that the Maithripala Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government couldn\u2019t be allowed to pursue strategies inimical to national interests.<\/p>\n

The NFF called the meeting in the wake of attorney-at-law J.C. Weliamuna confirming foreign participation in the proposed domestic war crimes investigating mechanism. The confirmation was made at a media briefing jointly organised by the Information Department and Rupavahini last Monday.<\/p>\n

Abayaramaya meeting was told now that the government position had been made clear those opposed to the Geneva process should adopt a two-pronged strategy. While protests should continue against Western intervention by way of a hybrid court, the need to effectively challenge unsubstantiated war crimes allegations was of pivotal importance, the meeting was told. Among the audience were Dr Gunadasa Amarasekera, Dr Wasantha Bandara, MP Jayantha Samaraweera, former MP Mohammed Muzammil, former MP Rear Admiral Sarath Weerasekera, Gevindu Kumaratunga and several other activists. Gevindu Kumaratunga played a pivotal role in organising Billo Avith\u00a0(Bogeymen are here) to highlight the Geneva threat.<\/p>\n

Maj. Ajith Prasanna called for a campaign to discourage members of parliament from backing the required amendments to pave the way for proposed hybrid mechanism. Prasanna, formerly of the Sinha Regiment said that protests should be directed at individual members in accordance with an overall plan to scuttle the Geneva project. Referring to a recent media report, attorney-at-law Prasanna alleged that the SLFP parliamentary group would cooperate with the UNP action plan on the pretext of the proposed court being a domestic mechanism. The retired combat officer pressed the forum to adopt a tangible plan to challenge the Geneva move.<\/p>\n

Dr Wasantha Bandara warned that the US intervention in the guise of addressing accountability issues wasn\u2019t meant only to punish members of the war winning military. Had that being the case the military would have made the sacrifice to safeguard Sri Lanka\u2019s interests, Dr Bandara said, alleging that the West wanted to transform the entire country to a vassal state.<\/p>\n

Foreign affairs specialist and former President Mahinda Rajapaksa\u2019s media spokesperson Mohan Samaranayake alleged that the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe government was propagating lies to justify its partnership with Western powers. Samaranayake accused the government of making a despicable attempt to portray a joint statement issued by former President Rajapaksa and UNSG Ban Ki-moon in Colombo soon after the conclusion of the war to justify the Geneva project.<\/p>\n

Samaranayake said that there was absolutely no basis for claims made by the President, the Prime Minister as well as the Justice Minister that the Rajapaksa-Ki-moon agreement paved the way for war crimes probe.<\/p>\n

Referring to a statement made by Minister Lakshman Kiriella recently, Samaranayake said that the minister seemed to be unaware of the difference between a joint statement and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Samaranayake strongly criticized Kiriella for claiming that Rajapaksa had reached an MoU with the UN Secretary General to facilitate war crimes probe.<\/p>\n

The one-time media spokesman for the UN in Colombo said the previous government had earned the wrath of the US and its allies for being too close to the People\u2019s Republic of China at the conclusion of the conflict.<\/p>\n

Samaranayake asserted that the US exploited the situation here to its advantage in line with its political, military and economic objectives. The US operation here like other interventions in various parts of the world was with the focus on regime change as in Iraq and Libya. Samaranayake warned of dire consequences unless the country adopted tangible measures to neutralise the danger.<\/p>\n

However, the meeting was also told of Sri Lanka receiving substantial US military support to bring the LTTE to its knees in May 2009. The US provided a warship (formerly with the US Coast Guard), 30 mm Bushmaster cannon, radar and shared its experience in addition to helping the Sri Lanka Navy to hunt down four LTTE floating warehouses. The US giving expert advice to Sri Lankan military after having conducted a comprehensive survey on the capabilities and weaknesses of the armed forces, too, was brought to the notice of the audience with a request to explore ways and means of effectively challenging unsubstantiated war crimes allegations propagated by the West. The US provided unique support throughout eelam war IV though the relationship hit a new low after the former President declined to call off the offensive at the behest of the US.<\/p>\n

The audience was reminded that the accusations pertaining to deliberate use of heavy weapons on civilians leading to the deaths of over 40,000 persons as well as denying Vanni population food and medicine (Aug 2006-May 2009) could be easily countered with official UN, Amnesty International, ICRC and US statements\/documents.<\/p>\n

Dr Amarasekera asserted that the US had backed the Sri Lankan military drive against the LTTE consequent to the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. The academician pointed out that the US might have felt that Prabhakaran wouldn\u2019t succumb to even US pressure hence the need to remove him from the scene. Dr Amarasekera said that the US wouldn\u2019t mind working with anyone, Prabhakaran, Mahinda Rajapaksa, Ranil Wickremesinghe or Maithripala Sirisena as long as they could achieve objectives regardless of consequences.<\/p>\n

Responding to a query, the panel explained the circumstances under which various embassies had provided substantial amount of funds to NGOs over the years. The audience was told of a revelation made by the Norwegian government in September 2011. Norway said that Sri Lankan NGOs backing its project here were given a staggering $ 28 mn for a period of three years beginning 2001. Norway identified Dr Kumar Rupesinghe as the largest recipient of funding amounting to $ 6 mn though he subsequently switched his allegiance to former President Rajapaksa. Norway reacted angrily by denying funds for the NGO guru who unsuccessfully moved court against Norway seeking Rs 100 mn in damages.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Shamindra Ferdinando Courtesy Island October 16, 2015, 9:45 pm Ret. Maj calls for campaign against UNP, SLFP Dr Bandara reiterates US wants vassal state Mohan Samaranayake counters govt propaganda Dr Amarasekera questions US motive in backing war Ven. Bengamuwe Nalaka thera Wednesday called for a united effort to reverse what he called the Geneva […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-forum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48776","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=48776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48776\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}