{"id":99086,"date":"2020-02-18T18:01:54","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T01:01:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=99086"},"modified":"2020-02-18T18:01:54","modified_gmt":"2020-02-19T01:01:54","slug":"defeat-western-conspiracies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/02\/18\/defeat-western-conspiracies\/","title":{"rendered":"Defeat Western Conspiracies"},"content":{"rendered":"

By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The victory achieved by the people of this country\non November 16th<\/sup> by installing Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the\npresident of this country and ending the rule of the western servile shameless\nand spineless Ranil Wickremasinghe has intensified the antipathy to this\ncountry by the tyrant western nations (TWNs). \nAs such there could be continuous activities against Sri Lanka from\nthese western tyrants as what happened in Iran when Prime Minister Mussadeg\nnationalised oil industry of his country, President Gamal Abdel Nasser\nnationalized Suez Canal, President Fidel Castro deposed American backed\nmilitary dictator FulgencioBatista, Salvador Allende became the elected President\nof Chile,  Hugo Chavez became the\nPresident of Venezuela and similar to what happened in Algeria, Tunesia, Egypt\nand Libya in the name of regime changes. The government should take all\nprecautions that TWNs will not get the slightest opportunity to reverse the\npeople\u2019s victory of our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The travel ban\nimposed by the shit head nation United States on the Chief of Defence Staff\nShavendra Silva and his family should be considered as the tip of the iceberg\nthat may be imposed on this country these by shithead countries, the TWNs.  General Shavendra Silva is a War Hero of whom\nall Sri Lankans should be proud and thankful of for being one of the Commanders\nto vanquish terrorism from the soil of this country.  . \nHaving joined the Army in 1984 he served as the Commander in the terminal\nwar against the terrorists.  He is one of\nour Commanders together with Kamak Gunaratne and Jagathe Jayasuriya hated by\nthe terrorist diaspora and racist separatists. \nOur proud Hero has declared that he doesn\u2019t want to go to U.S. now or in\nthe future.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Terrorist\nNational Alliance (TNA) issuing a message has hailed the U.S. action and stated\nthat the U.S. ban confirm that Shavendra Silve was responsible for war crimes\nand crimes against humanity and urged thatthe government should take immediate\naction to investigate the relevant allegations and mete out due punishments.\nThe racist Wigneswaran f who all these years happily lived among the Sinhalese eating\nkevum kokis as both his sons are married to Sinhalese ladies and after becoming\nthe Chief Minister of the Northern Province and started eatingThose and Itli and\nbecame staunch Tamil chauvinist has also welcomed and expressed happiness about\nthe U.S.ban.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also\nreported that Quisling Mangala Samaraweera, the old hag Chandrika and the\nforeign funded NGO bitch Nimalka Fernando have given adversary information continuously\nabout the Commanders of our  Security\nforces and this travel ban has been imposed based on these information.   Nimalka\nFernando is one of the worst enemies of Sri Lanka and she should be charged for\ntreason and banish from the country or subject Kandyan Kings\u2019 roual punishment\nsince she attempted several times during Mahinda Rajapaksa presidency to get\nSri Lanka condemned internationally as a Failed State\u201d Ranil Wickremasinghe\ngovernment rewarded her by appointing her as a member of the Office of Missing\nPersons (OMP).  Her son is working as the\npolitical advisor to the Swiss Embassy in Colombo  and is reported to be facilitating those who\nattempting to flee the country to get political asylum in Switzerland.  It is queer to understand why these quislings\nstay in this country if they have no love for the country.  It is better that they go somewhere without\nacting as pimps prostituting the country. \nThey deserve to be stoned by the people whenever they come across them\nlike the stray dogs are stoned to chase them out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The steps taken\nby the Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardene against this travel ban must be\nappreciated.  He has summoned the\nAmerican Ambassador Alina B. Teplitz and warned that the US decision to impose travel\nrestrictions on Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and acting Chief of Defence\nStaff Shavendra Silva and his immediate family had unnecessarily complicated\nthe US-Sri Lanka relations and has asked the United States government to review\nits decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister has reiterated that Lt.\nGen. Silva had been appointed the Commander of the Army by former president\nMaithripala Sirisena, taking into account his seniority and that there were no\nsubstantiated or proven allegations of human rights violations against him.\nSilva\u2019s appointment as the acting Chief of Defence Staff by President Gotabaya\nRajapaksa was on account of his being the senior most serving military officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Foreign Ministry has stated that\nSilva had played a major role in combating terrorism and it was disappointing\nthat a foreign government should question the prerogative of a democratically\nelected President to call upon persons of proven expertise to hold key\npositions on national security related matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Minister Gunawardene has also stated\nthat the travel ban was not based on independently verified information, but on\nthe much disputed Darusman Report of 2015, the Minister has requested the\nUnited States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information. It was\nrecalled that the report made clear that it was “a human rights\ninvestigation and not a criminal investigation”, and that “the names\nprovided in the description of the chain of command do not imply criminal\nresponsibility for those particularly alleged violations listed in this report,\neither as direct responsibility or under command or superior responsibility.\nIndividual criminal responsibility can only be determined by a Court of Law\nwith all necessary due process guaranteed,” the Minister has pointed out.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ambassador Teplitz has informed the\nMinister that she would convey the concerns of the government of Sri Lanka to\nthe US government, and reiterated the continued commitment of the US government\nto all aspects of ongoing collaboration with Sri Lanka in the field of defence,\netc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile the Acting Chief of\nDefence Staff (CDS), and Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva has denied\nall allegations of human rights violations made by the US to bar him and his\nfamily from entering that country. He has said that everyone now knows the truth\nabout these allegations and he will not personally respond to them since the\nForeign Ministry will take necessary action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has refused to comment on\nthe impact of the US decision would have on the ongoing military cooperation\nbetween the two countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n


\n
\nPicture\nof the meeting held by the Minister of Foreign Relations eith the U.S.Ambassador\n Alina B.Tepliz at the Foreign ministry\nOffice.  Foreign Secretary Ravinatha Aryasinha,\nDirector General\/ North America, Dharshana M. Perera, and officials of the\nMinistry of Foreign Relations were associated with the Minister at the meeting.\nMartin Kelly, Deputy Head of Mission, accompanied the US Ambassador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sri Lankan patriotic\norganizations, foreign and local as well as many parliamentarians have\nvehemently condemned the unwanted issue that had been created by the U.S.\nshithead government.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Minister Dr. Sarath\nAmunugama has said that although there is much discussion about the travel ban\nimposed on Army Commander Shavendra Silva by the US Government, it should not\nbe construed as a serious diplomatic issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has pointed out that it\nhas been the usual practice as and when presidential elections are held in the\nUS, where the Tamil diaspora uses these trends to force the American Government\nto take such decisions. However, this type of incident fails to gather momentum\nto interfere diplomatic relations that exist between Sri  Lanka and the\nUS. This action can be termed as an act of political interference in the face\nof the forthcoming presidential election in that country. It is a well-known\nfact that the UNHRC in Geneva is a den of thieves as once said by US President\nDonald Trump. Dr. Amunugama has further stated that the international human\nrights organisations cannot interfere in Sri Lankan affairs. It cannot\ninterfere outside the Constitution of our country. There are many declarations\nsaying foreign judges are scheduled to hear cases against acts of any human\nrights violation. There is no possibility of such steps being taken as our\nConstitution does not allow those efforts. In this context, it is advisable\nthat there should be a serious study of the 19th Amendment to our Constitution.\n19A has curtailed the powers of the executive by not allowing him to hold even\na ministerial portfolio thereby weakened the President completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Global Sri Lanka\nForum  based in U.K and the Spur of\nAustralia and many organisations of Sri Lankans resident in Europe, Japan and\nthe Middle East have also severely condemned the U.S. government for attempting\nto create various issues and hinder the progressive measures being taken by the\ngovernment.  . <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leader of the Pivithuru\nHela Urumaya, Attorney at Law MP Udaya Gammanpila ondemned the United States as\nthe No.\n1 war criminal.  He questioned as to which Court of Justice\nconvicted Lt. Colonel Shavendra Silva as a war criminal based on the hearsay\ncharges of the ignominious Darusman report? \n Further he stated that\nAmerica is the world\u2019s biggest war criminal; and posed the following questions\nto the United States as the only known crime committed by him was\nwholeheartedly contributing to defeating the tiger terrorists which America\nsaid is a ruthless terrorist outfit that cannot be defeated:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  • Was\nit a false pretention that America declared a global operation called War on\nTerror\u201d?<\/li>
  • Isn\u2019t\nit America that dropped a Hydrogen Bomb on Hiroshima of Japan and killed 80,000\ninnocent people and injured more than 70,000 people?<\/li>
  • Dropped\nanother Hydrogen Bomb on Nagasaki and killed 40,000 people and injured over\n60,000 people.  <\/li>
  • When\nthe 2nd<\/sup> world war was over without taking back the remaining bombs\nto America as it was expensive, dropped them on the Dresden city of Germany and\nkilled more than 25,000 people? <\/li>
  • Killed\n3.8 million people in Vietnam by attacking them with chemical and biochemical\narms during the Vietnam War?<\/li>
  • Killed\nover 1.5million people in Iraq and Afghanistan saying that they carrying\noperations against terrorism?<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    In fact it America is the war\ncriminal.  Levelling war crime charges\nagainst Sri Lanka by the United States is similar to a pot blackened with soot\ntelling a silver pot that you are black. \nWe would like to tell America try to preach others after you are in the\nright form, MP Gammanpila said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Island editorial dated 17th<\/sup>\nFebruary said that the United States and its western\nallies cannot depend on their nukes and economic prowess to dominate the world\nany longer. Their rivals have matched their military power, and China\u2019s steady\nrise as an economic powerhouse is a worrisome proposition for them. Russia has\nalso bounced back, under Putin, and pitted itself against its traditional\nenemies. So, the western bloc has invented a new weapon to achieve its goal; it\nhas weaponised human rights and uses them selectively to force the developing\nnations into submission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


    \nThe editorial said that the US has banned Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt.\nGeneral Shavendra Silva and his family members from entering its territory and\nthe ban has come like a bolt from the blue with only a few days to go until the\nUNHRC sessions in Geneva. The State Department has said, among other things:\n“The allegations of gross human rights violations against Shavendra Silva,\ndocumented by the United Nations and other organisations, are serious and\ncredible. His designation underscores the importance we place on human rights\nin Sri Lanka and globally, our concern over impunity for human rights\nviolations and abuses, as well as our support for promoting accountability for\nthose who engage in such acts.” One is puzzled. The US must be joking! The\neditorial questioned whether the United States has forgotten what it did\nHiroshima, Nagasaki, Vietnam, Haiti, Diego Garcia, Chile, Iran, Iraq, etc.?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The editorial explained that none\nof the allegations against Shavendra Silva has been substantiated. The US has\nearned notoriety for its duplicity anent UN and other reports on human rights\nviolations. It has referred to some UN documents in a bid to justify the travel\nban at issue. But it once forced the UNHRC to retract a condemnatory statement\non Bahrain, an ally of the US and the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It said that when the\nGoldstone report (prepared by the UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict)\nwas issued in 2009, Richard Goldstone, who headed the mission, faced a\nvilification campaign and was forced to retract the findings unfavourable to\nIsrael and no Israeli military officer was banned from entering the US soil on\naccount of that damning report!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Reminding that the Trump\nadministration has famously called the UNHRC a \u2018cesspit of political bias\u2019 and\npulled the US out of it in support of Israel, the editorial said that the US  has no qualms about using the same \u2018cesspit\u2019\nagainst the countries that resist its attempt to hold suzerainty over them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It further stated that in\n2006, a study published in the Lancet medical journal revealed that the death\ntoll among Iraqis due to the US-led illegal invasion had reached an estimated\n655,000. It has proved beyond any doubt that intelligence dossiers were\nfalsified to provide the US and the UK with a casus belli to invade Iraq. Most\nof the civilians who perished in the US-UK attacks in Iraq were children.\nProperties worth billions of US dollars were destroyed and Iraq was plunged\ninto anarchy. The Chilcot report, based on a 2.5 million-word Iraq Inquiry,\nconfirmed that there had been no threat of weapons of mass destruction from\nIraq. Former US President George Bush and former British PM Tony Blair should\nhave been prosecuted for war crimes, but they have gone scot free. Worse, the\nUS and the UK are championing human rights and calling for action against those\nresponsible for war crimes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Referring to India and US\nrelations and highlighting the US hypocrisy, the editorial said that Narendra\nModi was denied a visa to visit the US on the basis of laws governing religious\nfreedom when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, where anti-Muslim pogrom\nhappened, on his watch. But the White House chose to roll out the red carpet\nfor him after he was elected Prime Minister because it needed India\u2019s backing\nfor its anti-Chinese campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The editorial emphasized that\nwhat\u2019s up Uncle Sam\u2019s sleeve is not difficult to guess and said that the travel\nban on Lt. Gen. Silva is another turn of the screw aimed at coercing Sri Lanka\ninto signing the MCC, SOFA and ACSA agreements that are detrimental to its\ninterests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In conclusion the editorial\nsaid that the biggest disservice that can be done to democracy and human rights\nis to abuse them for political purposes. Punitive action taken against anyone\non the basis of unsubstantiated allegations is antithetical to justice and fair\nplay. The self-proclaimed defenders of democracy seem convinced otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It said that luckily, Sri\nLanka has not emulated the US in dealing with more than 12,000 ex-LTTE\ncombatants and the politicians who were openly supportive of Prabhakaran\u2019s\nterrorist campaign and are now championing democracy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meanwhile the Daily Mirror\neditorial under the title Hypocrisy and the blame game said that on 14\nFebruary, the US Secretary of State Pompeo officially announced that the United\nStates had designated Lieutenant General Shavendra Silva, current Commander\nof the Sri Lanka Army and his immediate family members no entry into the\nUS as it had \u2018credible\u2019 evidence of human rights violations in the bloody finale\nto the civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The editorial said that we\ndo not contest the right of the US to refuse entry to its shores to whomever it\nis displeased with Pompeo and his impeached boss Trump, are even now involved\nin driving away civilians from Latin American countries attempting to enter the\nUS. These people are fleeing persecution at the hands of dictatorial regimes\nbacked by the US and asked why this bellicose naming and shaming? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It said that the Daily\nMirror certainly does not subscribe to gross violations of human rights. In\nfact we have continued to stand up to numerous attempts to curtail this basic\nright, and numerous members of our staff have paid the ultimate price for\nstanding up for this very right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We agree human rights\nviolators should be punished for their crimes. Yet we owe it to ourselves, the\nvictims of these dastardly crimes and the world in general that it is the\nactual perpetrator of the crime who is punished and that public postures are\nnot merely to portray oneself as a human rights defender. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This editorial also referred\nto US war crimes related to World War II and said that US atom bombed civilian\ntargets in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was at a time\nJapan was on the brink of surrender. Official statistics show the bombs\nimmediately devastated their targets. Over the next two to four months, the\nacute effects of the atomic bombings killed between 90,000 and 146,000 people\nin Hiroshima and 39,000 and 80,000 people in Nagasaki; roughly half of the\ndeaths in each city occurred on the first day.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It said that even today, the\nUS refuses to even apologise to the people of Japan for this crime. To rub salt\nin the wounds, or spit in the face of the Japanese the US continues to maintain\nits largest military bases in Japan, despite the Japanese people themselves\nopenly protesting against the bases and demanding US withdrawal from the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


    \nIn Afghanistan, the Cost of WarProject estimated that the number who have died\nthrough indirect causes related to the war may be as high as 360,000. US\nmilitary action in Afghanistan continues to date. In Iraq, the Iraq Body Count\nproject documents 183,348 – 205,908 violent civilian deaths through April 2019.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    So why in the face of all\nthese mass killings of civilians by the US military itself, is the US imposing\nsanctions on General Shavendra Silva?  This in the face of the fact\nthat  just last November, the US president pardoned three US military\npersonnel who were convicted of war crimes in Afghanistan by US courts of\nlaw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Gen. Silva has as yet, not\nbeen charged in any court of law, leave alone being convicted in one, despite\nPompeo\u2019s pompous claims of \u2019credible\u2019 evidence. This so-called \u2018credible\nevidence\u2019 is as yet, mere statements issued by Non-Government Organisations. Be\nthat as it may, while condemning human rights violations by who-so-ever commits\nthem, we agree violators need to be tried for their crime. But a man\/woman can\nbe punished only after he or she is convicted in a court of law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Gen. Shavendra Silva has as\nyet not been convicted of a crime. If his crime is that he is responsible\nbecause of the line of command, surely the then military commander is more\nresponsible than him, or the then Defence Secretary perhaps? Or perhaps is the\nUS smarting from military defeats from Vietnam to Afghanistan, to Iran and Iraq\nlooking for a weak opponent. An opponent divided on the lines of race religion\nand ethnicity to prove to the world its \u2018super power status\u2019. Perhaps\nit is time our political leaders took a Durtete-like stand and tell the US to\ntake its SOFA, ACSA and MCC baggage and buzz off, the editorial concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Indian Express Writer P.K.Balachandran (PKB) who writes on Sri Lankan\naffairs said that the US move of issuing a\nTravel Ban on Army Commander Gen. Shavendra Silva is seen as arm twisting to\nget Sri Lanka to sign into the MCC compact and SOFA.  He says that it is an indisputable fact that\nthe United States uses human rights not for humanity\u2019s sake but to further its\nstrategic interests across the world. It\u2019s recognition of human rights\nviolations or its blindness to them is determined by its strategic needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example,  he says to retain India as a strategic partner\nin its fight against emerging eastern power China, the US is turning a blind\neye to Narendra Modi\u2019s oppression of the Kashmiris, the lynching of Muslims and\nthe anti-Muslim citizenship law in India. Modi, who was barred from the US\nafter the Gujarat anti-Muslim carnage in 2002, was white washed after he became\nIndia\u2019s Prime Minister and signaled a pro-US tilt. The US ignored the 2002\ncarnage and lifted the ban on him. That the US is highly biased in its\napplication of human rights principles is evident in the way it tolerates gross\nviolations by the Saudi and Israeli governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On Thursday, the US Secretary of State\nMike Pompeo banned the entry of the Sri Lankan army chief Lt.Gen.Shavendra\nSilva into the US, for allegedly committing war crimes\u201d when he was one of the\nfrontline commanders of the army in the last phase of the war against the\nLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It is noteworthy that the ban should come\neleven years after the war and when there is a government in Colombo which is\nbranded in the West as pro-China\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Though the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)\nin Geneva was seized of the issue of war crimes\u201d in Lanka from 2009, there was\nno punitive action against Lanka between 2015 and 2019 when there was a\npro-West government in Colombo headed by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.\nIn fact, between 20015 and 2019, the annual resolutions of the UNHRC on Lanka\nbecame progressively mild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Balachandran states that the US got the\nWickremesinghe regime to seriously consider entering the Millennium Challenge\nCorporation Compact (MCC) to digitalize land records with the ultimate aim of making\nprivate land saleable to foreigners. But this was bitterly opposed by Lankan\nnationalists. Despite opposition, the Wickremesinghe government got cabinet\napproval for the MCC. However, it could not implement the decision because it\nlost the November 2019 Presidential election to the nationalist candidate\nGotabaya Rajapaksa. The Gotabaya government put the decision on hold and set up\na committee to study the MCC\u2019s compact from the Sri Lankan angle and also its\nperformance in other countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PKB poinrs out that the other pact which\nthe US tried to push down Lankan throats was the Status of Forces Agreement\n(SOFA) and an expanded version of the already existing Access and Cross\nServices Agreement (ACSA). When the details came out, Sri Lankan nationalists\nwere up and arms. SOFA and the new ACSA severely abridged Sri Lanka\u2019s\nsovereignty. US troops coming to and operating in the island were to be\ngoverned by US and not Sri Lankan laws. The Gotabaya government completely\nrejected SOFA leaving the US peeved.He says the US State Department then sent\nAlice Wells to apply pressure on President Gotabaya to accede to the MCC and\nSOFA in toto, but the Lankan President stuck to his guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    With the UNHRC to begin its session in\nlate February, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thought the moment was\nopportune to manifestly and tellingly twist Colombo\u2019s arm by announcing the\ndesignation of Lt.Gen Shavendra Silva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PKB claims while the majority Sinhalese\nare irked by the ban on a war hero\u201d who rid the country of terrorism, the\nminority Tamils have welcomed it. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) issued a\nstatement recalling that it had, in August 2019 itself, condemned Lt. Gen.\nSilva\u2019s appointment as Army Commander due to allegations of war crimes, crimes\nagainst humanity and human rights violations against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The TNA said that it hopes that the ban\nwill open the eyes of the Lankan Government, which had opposed taking\naccountability measures even ten years after the war. We consider this as a\nminor improvement as a result of continuous protests by the war-affected Tamil\npeople,\u201d the TNA said<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, the majority Sinhalese and the\ngovernment deplored the ban as a violation of Lankan sovereignty and that too\non specious grounds. US Ambassador Allaina B. Teplitz was summoned by Foreign\nMinister Dinesh Gunawardena on Sunday to be told about Lanka\u2019s displeasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A press release from the Foreign Ministry\nsaid: The Government reiterates that Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva was appointed as\nthe Commander of the Army by the then Head of State, taking into account his\nseniority and that there were no substantiated or proven allegations of human\nrights violations against him. His elevation as the Acting Chief of Defense\nStaff by the current Head of State President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, was on account\nof his being the senior most serving military officer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While the timing of the imposition of this\ntravel restriction 6 months after Lt. Gen. Silva\u2019s appointment as Army\nCommander is of concern, it is disappointing that a foreign government should\nquestion the prerogative of the democratically elected President to call upon\npersons with proven expertise to hold key positions on national security\nrelated matters.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Government of Sri Lanka requests the\nUnited States to verify the authenticity of the sources of information and to\nreview its decision,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The Sunday Times<\/em> said that it was significant that\nthe ban should come days before the UNHRC was to issue its report on Sri Lanka.\nThe UNHRC report is expected to call for an International Court of Inquiry\u201d to\nprobe alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The US had designated Gen. Silva on the\nbasis of credible information\u201d of his involvement, through command\nresponsibility, in gross violations of human rights, namely extrajudicial\nkillings, by the 58th Division of the Sri Lanka Army during the final phase of\nSri Lanka\u2019s Civil War in 2009. Pompeo made the declaration under Section\n7031(c) of the Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs\nAppropriations Act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But the Lankan Foreign Ministry said the\ncharges against Gen.Silva were based not on independently verified information\nbut on unverified\u201d information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They had been compiled, not on the basis\nof a filed study by independent observers, but on accounts of refugees and\nTamil politicians with a vested interest. While the UN and Western agencies had\nsaid that 40,000 to 70,000 had been killed in the last phase of the war,\ngovernment censuses commissions of inquiry put the death toll at around 8000.\nThe latter estimate is more or less borne out by the fact that out of the\npopulation of 300,000 in the war zone, 290,000 had been evacuated and housed in\ncamps on the border of the war zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meanwhile, in the UN Security Council,\nLankan Ambassador Kshenuka Senewiratne said that the actions of the Sri Lankan\nsecurity forces during the conflict were against a group designated as a\nterrorist organization by many countries (including the US), and even described\nas ruthless by some. They were not aimed at any community in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    She spoke about the modus operandi of\nsuicide attacks adopted by the LTTE, which for the first time in history,\ndeliberately targeted civilians using its human bombs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In an email to the Sunday Times<\/em> the US embassy in Colombo\nsaid the ban on Gen.Silva does not place additional restrictions on security\nassistance or military engagement in Sri Lanka nor does it represent a shift in\npolicy or desire to limit engagement more broadly with the government and\npeople of Sri Lanka\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It will not have any impact on\nmilitary-to-military cooperation such as training and joint operations,\neconomic\/technical assistance and trade, the embassy added. But Sri Lankans\nwonder how cooperation is possible if their army chief was humiliatingly\ndesignated?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The designation of the Lankan army chief,\nwho is considered a war hero in the 30 year battle against Tamil terrorism, will\ngravely damage America\u2019s relations with Sri Lanka, where no political party of\nthe majority Sinhalese community will support a measure which will harm their\ninterests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Deemed as a hostile act, the designation\nwill nullify any prospect of the US succeeding in getting the Sri Lankan\ngovernment to sign the MCC SOFA pacts, which the US has been very keen on to\nget control over Sri Lanka\u2019s land and security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The designation will be counterproductive\nalso on account of the fact that it will drive Sri Lanka further into the hands\nof China which is America\u2019s Number One enemy in the Indian and the Pacific\nOcean region. And when Sri Lanka veers more towards China, it will be\ndisadvantageous to India also given its deep strategic interest in the island\nnation. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

     <\/h1>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By : A.A.M.NIZAM – MATARA The victory achieved by the people of this country on November 16th by installing Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa as the president of this country and ending the rule of the western servile shameless and spineless Ranil Wickremasinghe has intensified the antipathy to this country by the tyrant western nations (TWNs).  As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aamnizam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99086","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=99086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99086\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}