{"id":58595,"date":"2016-09-10T22:26:38","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T04:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=58595"},"modified":"2016-09-10T15:06:43","modified_gmt":"2016-09-10T22:06:43","slug":"unsg-ban-ki-moons-comments-in-sri-lanka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2016\/09\/10\/unsg-ban-ki-moons-comments-in-sri-lanka\/","title":{"rendered":"UNSG Ban Ki-Moon’s comments in Sri Lanka"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe\u00a0Ottawa, Canada<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester. Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada<\/strong><\/p>\n

9 September 2016<\/p>\n

Rt. Hon. Maithripala Sirisena: President of Sri Lanka,
\nPresidential Secretariat, Galle Face, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Hon Ranil Wickremasinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka,
\nPrime Minister\u2019s Office, 58 Sir Ernest De Silva Mawatha,
\nColombo 7, Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Hon. Karunarathna Paranawithana, MP.
\nDeputy Minister of Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media.
\nFife Road, Colombo 5, Sri Lanka<\/p>\n

Honourable Gentlemen:<\/p>\n

Sunday (4 Sept.16) \u00a0THE ISLAND\u2019s<\/strong> news item bylined Maheesha Mudugamuwa regarding the UN Secretary General (UNSG) Ban Ki-Moon\u2019s comparison of civilian deaths during \u00a0the Vanni war with acts of genocide in Rwanda and Serbia in 1994 and 1995,\u00a0 \u00a0was commented on for the GoSL by the Deputy Minister Karunarathna Paranawithana.\u00a0 He, \u2026said the GoSL would not seek clarification as UNSG\u2019s remarks were not mentioned in his prepared speech made at the Colombo Hilton during Moon\u2019s recent visit to Sri Lanka, and therefore UNSG\u2019s personal comments would not be accounted as that from the UN.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is claptrap, this is poppy cock, and this is insane.\u00a0 Didn\u2019t Ban Ki-Moon visit Sri Lanka in the capacity of being the UN\u2019s Secretary General?\u00a0 If he indeed did, then the GoSL\u2019s position is a cop-out. And reducing Sri Lanka as a door-mat to be treated as a door-mat by this arrogant western-lackey UN official.\u00a0\u00a0 Letting Ban Ki set his feet on Sri Lanka\u2019s charnokite-kabook soil, and let him Moon Sri Lanka one more time without seeking an explanation is being gutless on our part and deplorable.\u00a0 His comment should have been challenged by asking for an explanation, as his arrogant twin-Mooning was an outrageous insult on yours and my sovereign nation, but importantly was vulgar and disingenuous tarnishing of the dignity of our valiant armed forces that annihilated the most\u00a0 ruthless\u00a0 terrorists in the world, the Tamil Tigers, on 19 May 2009.\u00a0\u00a0 He also showed his disrespect to the poor village Mothers and Fathers who had inculcated their sons to be true patriots and let them march into battle with the Tamil Tigers to save our island nation from being decapitated and give you three back, and 20 million other Sri Lankans your right-to-life <\/em><\/strong>which had been hijacked by the Tamil Tigers for 30 bloodying years. \u00a0\u00a0And Ban Ki-Moon was so cocky and sure of himself when he insulted those parents who greeted their sons with chest-thumping wailing when they returned home in plywood caskets.\u00a0 For God\u2019s sake don\u2019t you three see through all this? That is a reality check for you three. Take a deep breath, sit in a half-lotus, clear your minds and ponder!<\/p>\n

And you all let this UN official get away that easily providing him with another window of opportunity to Moon at Sri Lanka one more time, without having rapped his knuckles as protective-rulers of our beautiful sovereign nation.\u00a0 Gentlemen, this is not acceptable. This is asinine!<\/p>\n

And you, Deputy Minister Paranawithana continued with your statement which was tantamount to covering-up the UNSG\u2019s twin-moons. This was sick. You said, The government has no intention of taking up that issue as it was not the way to handle diplomatic relations.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Phew! Man, come again Mr. Paranawithana.\u00a0 My question to you is, did your official visitor from the UN, Ban Ki-Moon, cross the sacred line of good diplomacy when he made that calculated oblique comparison of genocide in Rwanda and Serbia with the Wanni war that was not acceptable to our dignified sovereign country and our disciplined armed forces. Come on, Deputy Minister, let\u2019s be real.\u00a0 Don\u2019t you understand that Ban Ki-Moon caused considerable harm to Sri Lanka with his comment?\u00a0\u00a0 This was well calculated as he made it happen just prior to the judicial inquiry into War crimes allegations against our valiant armed soldiers.<\/p>\n

It is obvious that your knife cuts only one way reducing Sri Lanka into a door-mat for this arrogant, I-know-Sri Lanka-is- not-going-to-touch-me cocky UNSG, and you bet, \u00a0he will treat Sri Lanka as his door-mat.\u00a0 \u00a0You know what Deputy Minister; my knife has cut both ways on such issues always in Canada.\u00a0 Did I get results?\u00a0 Of course, I did, always, upholding the dignity of my Motherland, Sri Lanka.\u00a0 And, then, I was not a paid employee of the GoSL. I did my part\u00a0 as an expatriate Sinhalese-Sri Lankan for the love of my Motherland.<\/p>\n

But to be honest, I thought that you three honourable gentlemen had at least 75 years experience between you of international- diplomacy having dealt with foreigners who interfered in Sri Lanka\u2019s internal affairs. It would have been a cake-walk for one of you to have dealt with Ban Ki-Moon as a class act and taught this UN official a lesson in Diplomacy 101.\u00a0\u00a0 I am disappointed, I am stymied and flabbergasted.<\/p>\n

Gentlemen, think for a moment.\u00a0 Did you not realize that Ban Ki-Moon succeeded well with his statement to tighten the screw on Sri Lanka\u2019s neck \u00a0one more time,\u00a0 by shocking the pro-Sri Lankan international conscience, thereby strengthening the process for a UNHCR War Crimes Probe?\u00a0 Don\u2019t tell me that you three are na\u00efve not to see through Ban Ki-Moon\u2019s successful, cunning endeavour.<\/p>\n

Let us not forget that Ban Ki-Moon was the UN\u2019s point hitter for his western government clients against Sri Lanka to bring her down to her knees for getting rid of the Tamil Tigers when they demanded from the Rajapaksa government to stop firing bullets at Prabhakaran and his gang of terrorists and declare a ceasefire. \u00a0And the response they got quite rightly was We are not your colony anymore\u201d, Why don\u2019t you go fly a kite\u201d, and why don\u2019t you go home and jump in the river\u201d and leave us to deal with our troubles that you all created in the first place, by aiding and abetting these Tamil Tiger terrorists.<\/p>\n

It was Ban Ki who \u2018Mooned\u2019 at Sri Lanka once again by appointing the anti-Sri Lanka Darusman Gang<\/strong> to investigate the alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka. \u00a0\u00a0Remember?\u00a0 Most of us questioned the UNSG of the impartiality of the panelists.<\/p>\n

Marzuki Darusman<\/strong>, the former Attorney General of Indonesia who was heading the panel was also a member of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIEGP).\u00a0 This Darusman left the panel with a huff disagreeing with the Sri Lanka Government and made hostile observations about Sri Lanka, and yet signed the report without paying a single visit to Sri Lanka to ascertain himself the actual ground situation.\u00a0 And Ban Ki-Moon, who you all have decided to cover his twin-Moons over his comments on \u2018genocide\u2019 is unbelievable. Durrr\u2026! What impartiality did you expect from your friend Ban Ki-Moon?\u00a0 Do I trust him?\u00a0 \u00a0Na! Not even for a bushel of Roasted Korean Coffee Beans.<\/p>\n

The second panelist who Ban Ki-Moon appointed was Steven Ratner, <\/strong>an adviser to the NGO, Human Rights Watch<\/strong> (HRW) that had been very critical of Sri Lanka from the inception of the Tamil Tiger terrorists\u2019 Eelam War.\u00a0 Ratner had also-authored a book, with Jason Adams titled Accountability of Human Rights: Atrocities in International Law beyond the<\/strong> Nuremberg Legacy<\/strong>\u201d.\u00a0 On page 123 he had stated that the convention on banning apartheid should be invoked in relations to countries such as Sri Lanka\u201d. \u00a0<\/em><\/strong>With that backgrounder Steven Ratner should have been dismissed instantly as a panelist by your friend Ban Ki-Moon, but he didn\u2019t.\u00a0 So he turns the screw tight on Sri Lanka\u2019s neck one more time.\u00a0 So you trust this UNSG to the point of making an effort to cover his twin-Moons from flying angry darts.\u00a0 Durrr!<\/p>\n

What a thing!<\/p>\n

The third panelist was South African Yasmin Sooka<\/strong> who was a close associate of South African Tamil, Navi Pillai, the Head of the UNHRC in Geneva, \u00a0who was the patron of the Sooka Foundation, and also responsible for the failed resolution that was brought against Sri Lanka before the UNHRC in May 2009.\u00a0 In the world of \u2018you scratch my back and I will scratch yours\u2019, what impartiality did UN\u2019s Ban Ki-Moon expect from Sooka?\u00a0 Durrr\u2026\u00a0 This was stupid wasn\u2019t it?\u00a0 Not smart but was the appointment of an anti-Sri Lanka panel deliberate!\u00a0\u00a0 I won\u2019t trust Ban Ki-Moon even for a stick of Korean candy- floss from a Seoul carnival stall.<\/p>\n

What got my goat most about Ban Ki-Moon was that \u00a0he let his Commissioner in Geneva, Navi Pillai use the Darusman Report as the Bible of Sri Lanka\u2019s \u00a0alleged Human Rights violations during the last phase of the Eelam War when the Report was explicit in saying on the opening page: Due to the scarcity of objective reporting from the conflict zone, it was difficult to determine precisely what had happened during the final military assault,\u201d <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0You honourable gentleman\u00a0 should take off your rose-coloured glasses, and you would see what I see. There is an anti-Sri Lankan vindictive rat in the UN office in New York.<\/p>\n

Mr. President and Mr. Prime Minister, although your Yahapalanayos<\/em><\/strong> have got better at playing Cops and Robbers<\/em><\/strong> with the Rajapaksa and Company watching them traipsing in and out of revolving doors at Magistrate Courts, you have shown your pathetic servile-diplomacy when dealing with the United Nation\u2019s and western \u00a0government personnel and allowing them to tighten the screw on Sri Lanka\u2019s neck. \u00a0It\u2019s just too bad.\u00a0 It is time that the Yahapalanayos <\/em><\/strong>snap out of the silly season of servile-diplomacy when Sri Lanka is been thumped with \u2018genocide\u2019 allegations and clawing at the dignity of our kaki, sky-blue and Indian Ocean-surf white uniformed heroes of the Army, Air Force and Navy who gave the 20 million peoples their dignity and their right-to-life<\/em><\/strong> by ridding the last Tamil Tiger terrorist with a live bullet on the beach of the Nandikadal lagoon.<\/p>\n

It is time you draft a press line-manthra <\/em>in your choice diplomatic words which your Deputy Minister of Mass Media is quite competent to write, something to this effect: But it is unfortunate that no government or Sri Lanka Human Rights Watchers who are ever ready to charge Sri Lanka with \u2018genocide\u2019 during the final three months of the Eelam War, acknowledged that by 19 May 2009, the Sri Lankan armed forces, had rescued \u00a0295,873 Tamils from the clutches of the Tamil Tigers who used them as a human-shield and herded them for 30 months from the West to East \u00a0in the North under a scorching sun like unwashed cattle, and\u00a0 that even soldiers \u00a0participated in preparing a million healthy meals a day, to feed these Tamil refugees \u00a0a hearty breakfast, lunch and dinner, to keep them alive.\u00a0 This amazing humanitarian Class Act, a major rescue Mission in modern times, surely cannot fit into your charge of \u2018genocide\u2019, will it?\u00a0 What has been your problem to acknowledge publicly this fact that does not fit into any creative formula or definition of the word \u2018genocide\u2019.\u00a0 There lies the disingenuous hypocrisy of the Sri Lanka bashers.\u201d<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Let\u2019s use this as a manthra<\/em> and drum it into every thick skull of the Sri Lanka bashers like that of Ban Ki-Moon.\u00a0 Let every Head of our Foreign Missions memorize it and spit it out at every charge directed at Sri Lanka and her armed forces heroes.\u00a0 Gentleman, the silly season of servile-diplomacy is over.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be smart and be on the offensive.\u00a0 The screw around Sri Lanka\u2019s neck is getting tightened by the day.\u00a0 And Ban Ki-Moon did his bit with his statement on the Wanni killings and the massacres in Rwanda and Serbia<\/p>\n

There is a wee bit of advice that I wish to pass on to you. \u00a0Please stop challenging the intelligence of persons who question what your \u2018Yahapalanaya Good governance\u2019<\/strong> is up to. It is their prerogative to question and it is your responsibility to respond, without being uppity or having a hissy-fit.<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Asoka Weerasinghe<\/p>\n

Ottawa, Canada<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asoka Weerasinghe\u00a0Ottawa, Canada Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester. Ontario . K1J 6G1 . Canada 9 September 2016 Rt. Hon. Maithripala Sirisena: President of Sri Lanka, Presidential Secretariat, Galle Face, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka Hon Ranil Wickremasinghe, Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Prime Minister\u2019s Office, 58 Sir Ernest De Silva Mawatha, Colombo 7, Sri Lanka Hon. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asoka-weerasinghe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58595","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=58595"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58595\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}