{"id":56261,"date":"2016-07-05T14:03:09","date_gmt":"2016-07-05T20:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=56261"},"modified":"2016-07-04T15:12:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T22:12:50","slug":"there-was-no-war-in-sri-lanka-therefore-there-were-neither-war-crimes-nor-violation-of-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/07\/05\/there-was-no-war-in-sri-lanka-therefore-there-were-neither-war-crimes-nor-violation-of-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"There was no War in Sri Lanka therefore there were neither war crimes nor violation \u00a0of human rights."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

The Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain, as an intelligent man if using his unbiased mind may understand why Sri Lanka has neither committed war crimes nor violated human rights. It was because there was never a war in Sri Lanka. Wars are between countries and bombs and gunfire from the warring parties \u00a0may kill innumerable number of civilians and violate human rights. It happened in the World War I and World War II. It happened in USA and Iraq war.\u00a0 There was a tribunal \u00a0in Nuremburg to \u00a0try the war criminals. In a war there are two sides or more countries may join one or the other. The warring parties of both sides kill civilians as well as the soldiers from each side.\u00a0 Both warring parties are equally responsible for the deaths in war. Those killings are the war crimes and violation of human rights.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka never had a war.\u00a0 War\u201d is a wrong word to use in the military operations of Sri Lanka Armed Forces against the terrorists.\u00a0 In Sri Lanka there was terrorism, the terrorists came from amoung its own people. They were\u00a0 Tamil youth. These young people\u00a0 were taken over by India and trained in the jungles of South India as terrorists and released later in the North of Sri Lanka to carry out terrorism to divide the country to establish a Tamil Eelam.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka used its Armed Forces to eliminate the terrorists. In this military operation it was fighting against the terrorists, not against the Tamil civilians, or not in a country away fro Sri Lanka. It was an internal military operation to stop continued ruthless terrorist activities for thirty years within the country .<\/p>\n

Unlike in a conventional war, in a military operation by the armed forces of a country \u00a0against\u00a0 terrorism within the country, it is to stop \u00a0crimes being \u00a0committed by the terrorists against its people. Therefore the Armed Forces of the Government were fighting to remove terrorism which was causing damage to human life and property.<\/p>\n

The military operations of the Armed Forces of the Sri Lanka government was a means to protect its people and the country. If there had been deaths\u00a0 to civilians, \u00a0it was in the course of eliminating a great danger to the country-terrorism, which would have \u00a0caused greater number of deaths in the future as it had \u00a0been in the past.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a conventional war\u00a0 there are certain regulations and agreed conventions such as the Geneva convention the breach of which would be interpreted as war crimes or violation of human rights. After the World War II there were military tribunals\u00a0 held by allied forces for Nuremberg trials\u00a0 for the prosecution of the members of\u00a0 the political, military and judicial leadership of Nazi Germany who planned and carried out the Holocaust and other war crimes.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka needs no\u00a0 tribunals in the lines of those established for Nuremberg Trials to try our soldiers and the political leadership that carried out the military operations to eliminate terrorism in Sri Lanka. Our soldiers\u00a0 and those who gave leadership to carryout the military operations against the terrorists, did a necessary service to stop a thirty years of suffering\u00a0 and massacres of innocent civilians by the terrorists. <\/strong><\/p>\n

If there were civilians deaths \u00a0in the course of those military operations it was unfortunate. They were \u00a0collateral and our Armed Forcers cannot be tried for war crimes for the deaths caused during the military operations, in the aftermath of the elimination of terrorism as it was in the course of carrying out their military duties in the protection of the country and the people. Such courts may be acceptable in a conventional war between countries and not in\u00a0 military operations to rid the country of terrorism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain despite being the Commissioner of UN Human Rights Commission, should use the intelligence of the man he is, \u00a0to see through the ridiculous move of USA to pass a resolution against Sri Lanka for war crimes and human rights in the elimination of a ruthless group of terrorists.<\/p>\n

If there had been deaths to\u00a0 civilians caught in the cross fires between the government Armed Forces and the terrorists in the course of that military operation the responsibility for those deaths fall wholely on the terrorists who held the 300,000 Tamil civilians as a human shield for their own protection, and the Sri Lanka Armed forces cannot be called upon by any one to face a tribunal to answer for those deaths. The Armed Forces in fact saved the lives of those 300,000 Tamil civilians kept as human shields by the terrorists in a remarkable humanitarian rescue operation.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lanka Armed Forces were carrying out their duties in the service of the country to bring peace and security for all communities in Sri Lanka including the Tamil Community which now take exception for the elimination of terrorism.<\/p>\n

The Tamils of Sri Lanka and their kith in the Tamil diaspora are under the delusion that they are not a minority Community in Sri Lanka, \u00a0despite they being just a 11 percent of the population as\u00a0 against a 75 percent of the Sinhala population. \u00a0They presume they have the same rights as the Sinhala population. Not satisfied living in a Sinhala country as a minority they have even begun re-writing the history of Sri Lanka to claim that they had been in Sri Lanka even before the advent of the Sinhala.<\/p>\n

USA seems to be giving credence to this false assertion of the Tamils as they the Americans in USA as well as Canadians, and Australians \u00a0have intruded into countries that did not belong to them and decimated\u00a0 its original inhabitants \u2013the Native Americans in USA, First Nation in Canada and Aboriginals in Australia, to claim ownership to those lands and now have become nations of their own of those countries.\u00a0 Perhaps USA thinking of\u00a0 its \u00a0own experience wants to establish the Sri Lanka Tamils as a Nation in Sri Lanka by decimating, weakening or\u00a0 dispersing the Sinhala population, as they have done to the native Americans.<\/p>\n

How else could we understand the willingness of USA and the West going all out to demand\u00a0 the Government of Sri Lanka for reconciliation with the Tamils, accept even their terrorism in Sri Lanka justifiable, and call the Government of Sri Lanka to set up a Tribunal with foreign judges and prosecutors to put our Armed Forces on trial for war crimes as they did to the political, military and judicial leadership of Nazi Germany ?<\/p>\n

Incidentally, \u00a0AlJazeera had a discussion with A Sri Lanka Minister D.M.Swaminathan, Sivanathan, Subramaniam Sentilkumar of the British \u00a0Tamil Forum and Bhavani Fonseka of Centre for Policy Alternative about \u00a0reconciliation and distribution of land occupied by the Armed Forces to Tamil owners. Thousands of acres of land that had been occupied by the Armed Forces have\u00a0 already been given back to the people.\u00a0 The British \u00a0Tamil Forum representative wanted more lands to be handed back to the people and claim that \u00a0about 150000 Army personal in the north should be removed.<\/p>\n

This is how the Tamil diaspora is using the Western media for their purpose to\u00a0 wrench off more benefits to the Tamil Community minimizing \u00a0the importance of all the benefits the Sri Lanka Government \u00a0had been giving to the Tamils of North and East since the elimination of terrorism. The Tamil Diaspora that creates most of the \u00a0problems feeding false information to the International Community has contributed\u00a0 nothing \u00a0for the development or the welfare of the Tamil Community in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

What prevents reconciliation of Communities in Sri Lanka is this interference of Western Media and the Tamils of the diaspora who are for the most part going on information received from third parties without having any idea about the ground situation.<\/p>\n

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain should now evaluate the situation independently as he is the one who presented \u00a0the special report, titled “Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka”,\u00a0 \u00a0without first\u00a0 discussing it\u00a0 with the Government of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

The matter as a whole should not be the concern of the UN as the elimination of terrorism cannot be considered a war. It is against the principle on which first the League of Nations and then the UNO was set up. UNO was set up to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war\u2026 to re-affirm\u00a0 faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person,in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most disastrous than war is terrorism, because terrorists show no respect to fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person\u2026\u201d No rules could be set as \u00a0to how to conduct terrorism.\u201d And agreements cannot be entered into with terrorists as to how to carry out terrorism !!!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0 terrorism is \u00a0out side the Charter of UNO which came into effect in June,1945 , therefore it is wrong for the UNO to interfere in the settlement of terrorism \u00a0within\u00a0 a country. The fundamental human rights referred to in the Charter of the UNO is in respect of breach of human rights in the conduct of wars and not terrorism.<\/p>\n

The wars as referred to above are between countries, and terrorism is against governments by a group of armed men who act on their own. Therefore the UN should not\u00a0 misinterpret the UNCharter to interfere into sovereign states \u00a0in the settlement of terrorism or to call for accountability for the consequences in the elimination of\u00a0 terrorism\u00a0 which is a sovereign State\u2019s \u00a0internal problem.<\/p>\n

Therefore, USA has no moral right to move a resolution against Sri Lanka calling for accountability and accusing its Armed Forces for war crime and violation of human rights, and the report of the UN Commissioner Prince Zeid is equally uncalled for .<\/p>\n

The UN Commissioner for human rights Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain, instead of calling the Sri Lanka Government to set up a hybrid court to prosecute the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka for war crimes, should point out to the USA and the countries that sponsored the resolution against Sri Lanka, \u00a0that no country or the UN has the right to question Sri Lanka on the elimination of terrorism, therefore the USA should withdraw its resolution even at this stage, and that he will himself withdraw the report he presented.<\/p>\n

As it has been correctly declared in the preamble to the constitution of UNESCO, since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed . \u00a0Hence it is \u00a0the Government \u00a0and the people of Sri Lanka that should search within themselves\u00a0 the means to bring the Communities within the country together\u00a0 to find a solution to create unity amoung themselves to usher in peace for social welfare and economic development of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

UNO is not serving the purpose for which it was setup, but getting involved in internal affairs of Sovereign States which the UNO has no right to do unless invited by the Sovereign State.\u00a0 In the case of Sri Lanka UNO interfered to accuse Sri Lanka and \u00a0appointed a committee to make a report on Sri Lanka which the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said was for his personal use.<\/p>\n

But the document called the Darusman Report was finally made official accusing Sri Lanka on the finding of the report.\u00a0 The Darusman Report was not reliable as the report was made on evidence collected\u00a0 from third parties and which were biased and accused without eye witness accounts atrocities supposed to have been committed by the Armed Forces. It was highly improper to have released the report which was prepared for the use of the Secretary General as an official report of the UN.<\/p>\n

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain, should take note that under no circumstances a report should be accepted if\u00a0 the names of witnesses who provided information for the preparation of the report has not been divulged as such a document is not legal and raises doubt about the honesty of its intention-its bona fides. The same can be said of the report of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid , Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka \u201d.<\/p>\n

What is necessary is not to have hybrid courts to prosecute \u00a0the Armed Forcers of Sri Lanka for war crimes, but to tell the Tamil Community that reconciliation is not having separate rights within Sri Lanka according to the ethnicity of each community, but to live in communal unity with all Communities without segregation according to religion, language or race.<\/p>\n

Minority and Majority Communities in other \u00a0countries of the world are not a new phenomenon.\u00a0 But the minorities\u00a0 in other countries respect \u00a0the rights, customs, language, laws and religion of the majority community, and accept\u00a0 to live as citizens sharing the rights of the Majority without demanding the majority of that country to accept the language, laws and customs of the minority community. There is a mutual respect between the Majority Community and the minority community.\u00a0 It is how it should be and it\u2019s the role of the UNO and\u00a0 the UN Human Rights Commission to make the Sri Lanka Tamil Community understand that fundamental conditions of living as minority in a country where the majority is not Tamil.<\/p>\n

That is the role of the UNO, because we cannot accept the USA or the West to do it because they have political interest in dividing populations in countries either by war or by other subtle means using Human Rights as a tool for example to maintain their leadership.\u00a0 It is for that reason the forefathers of UNO set up that august Institution, which today \u00a0has been made what it should not be-an institution to divide populations in the interest of more powerful member States.<\/p>\n

It is perhaps now up to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain, to call to order what is in disorder, and demand USA and the sponsors to withdraw\u00a0 the\u00a0 anti Sri Lanka resolution they presented and passed\u00a0 at the UN HR Council. .\u00a0 The whole resolution against Sri Lanka presented to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva by the USA as well as the report , Promoting Reconciliation, Accountability and Human Rights in Sri Lanka \u201d of UNHCHR Prince Zeid. are based mostly on the Darusman Report an unofficial report made official by the Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in the interest of USA and the West to make Sri Lanka what the USA , the West and the Tamils of the diaspora want it to be- a communally divided failed state, dependent on USA and the West with part of it separated in the interest of the Tamil Community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles.S.Perera The Prince Zeid bin ra\u2019ad Al Hussain, as an intelligent man if using his unbiased mind may understand why Sri Lanka has neither committed war crimes nor violated human rights. It was because there was never a war in Sri Lanka. Wars are between countries and bombs and gunfire from the warring parties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56261","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=56261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56261\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}