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AI's Access to Sri Lanka deniedAsoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . CanadaFebruary 19, 2008 Ms. Irene Khan Dear Ms. Khan: I chuckled reading THE HINDU news item of February 17, which said, “The situation in Sri Lanka has deteriorated and both government and the LTTE stand accused of serious human rights abuses. All parties should immediately stop targeting civilians and uphold their commitments to international human rights laws,” Amnesty International’s Secretary-General Irene Khan said in a statement. And I got choked chuckling, thinking ‘O-me-God, here comes another human rights joker’. My immediate reaction was, “This woman doesn’t get it, does
she?” The ground reality is that the elected Sri Lankan Government
is at war with a non-elected tribal band of ‘Made in India’
Tamil Tiger terrorists. The fact is, what the AI radar has completely missed is that if the Sri Lankan government hadn’t made human rights their top priority, they would have never, ever gone after the LTTE in July of 2006 when they cut off the water supply at Mavil Aru denying 30,000 Sinhalese farm families the most important element to sustain life – WATER, as ‘Water is Life’, or else they would have died of water starvation within weeks, within months. What is discouraging is that this incident which upholds the commitment on Human Rights by the Sri Lankan government missed AI and Irene Khan completely. Are you not giving the Sri Lankan government platinum credits to work towards a nomination for a prestigious International Human Rights Award, like the Nobel Peace Prize, the one that you all were given for pointing out governments around the world that you all alleged to be human rights violators and providing a cloak of respectability to non-governmental combatants at war, like the LTTE terrorists who are violating human rights like recruiting children as soldiers, massacring innocent, unarmed civilians like infants whose heads are bashed against rocks having snatched them from their mothers arms? But please spare me your defense saying “Yes, AI has criticized the LTTE”, just because you all managed to squeeze in a line or two on the LTTE in your reports when writing an essay on the Sri Lankan Government saying that they are the human rights abuses in this feud. Not good enough Irene! You couldn’t even charm me with such a response for me to break into song with glee singing “Irene good night Irene, Irene good night, Good night Irene, good night Irene, I’ll see you in my dreams”. If not for the Sri Lankan Government making human rights their priority,
they would not have liberated thousands upon thousands of Tamil people
who had been under the Pol Potish control of LTTE leader Prabhakaran
in the Eastern Province for two decades, and now plans are afoot for
democratic elections as well as development projects to normalize their
lives. The latest news just hot off the press is that the “Sri
Lanka government allocates 500 million rupees to develop the Eastern
Region. People are willing to resettle in the East now. We are providing them with the necessary infrastructure, houses, roads, jobs and safety.’ The word from Batticaloa says, “Contrary to early concerns on the chances of a free and fair poll in the Batticaloa district, the pre-election campaign in the local Government election in the initial stages appeared to be proceeding without a hitch.” These are the ground realities how the Sri Lankan government protect Human Rights of its peoples. You sure can’t penalize them for their concerted efforts and their honesty, Irene. In the AI’s scheme of things, doesn’t this liberation of people by the Sri Lankan government get Brownie points towards nomination for a prestigious international Human Rights award like the United Nations Human Rights Award, the one AI received in 1978? I am not sure why AI is belly aching about the Sri Lankan Government being a human rights violator, when they are fully committed to uphold the ‘right to life’ for all their citizens even during these trying times. And they are doing a marvelous job at that, and I don’t get it why you are complaining, Irene. “Amnesty International’s role is to monitor and report on human rights abuses by all parties” THE HINDU report said. Not to have incentives for groups who, like the Sri Lankan government which has made human rights a top priority, are a bit cynical, isn’t it? So what do they get for all their efforts to safeguard the basic human rights of a person – their right to life? Scorn from AI! Durrrr! Don’t you all recognize these efforts at all? That also puts your AI within a negative frame as a Human Rights watchdog for the lack of honesty, for being a bunch of hypocrites, and pretty well as a bunch of arrogant biased humbugs hoping that your Nobel Peace Prize would sanitize AI from this negativism. But pleeeease spare me your defense again, saying that AI’s mandate does not provide you all with an opportunity to recognize Sri Lanka government’s Human Rights initiatives like saving the lives of Tamil peoples by kicking out the LTTE from the East. Kicking the LTTE out from the east has provided relief to Tamil parents not having to hand over one of their family members, generally a child to the LTTE to fight this unnecessary adult war which is a fertile ground for human rights abuse, which AI doesn’t seem to notice when the culprits are the LTTE. It looks like you are pulling your hair complaining every morning that the Sri Lankan government is not allowing access to AI to monitor and report human rights abuses. What the heck did you expect after trying to stir up emotions last summer at the Cricket World Cup tournament, which you had no business to be there, with that fuzzy cricket ball dunce-cap shenanigans, trying to embarrass Sri Lanka and her cricketers in front of millions of around the world cricket enthusiasts? Well, all I can say is, “This Irene Khan has the nerve even to ask for access to Sri Lanka, after that juvenile cricket ball campaign at the Cricket World Cup tournament in the Caribbean trying to paint Sri Lanka as a Human Rights violator. It is obvious people at AI like you Irene, haven’t learnt a lesson from that stupidity of AI. I was amused to read the AI web-page promotion where you proudly say, “With more than 1.8 million activists and volunteers in over 150 countries, Amnesty International is the world’s largest human rights operation”. AI certainly hasn’t been honest with this expose. What was missing in your promotional statement was, “Amnesty International which unlike any other Human Rights Organization was able to pick up 10 million critics and enemies within 24 hours from our cricket ball campaign against Sri Lanka at the World Cricket Cup tournament in the Caribbean in the summer of 2007. This excellent effort in the name of human rights which won enemies in the millions within such a short period of time should have been an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.” AI’s poor strategy of picking on Sri Lanka to embarrass that little island in a world arena, failed miserably as you all were so arrogant and cocksure of yourselves refusing to believe that you all were taking on an army of 10 million Sri Lankan cricket enthusiasts who turned against you all as enemies within minutes with that stupidity. Didn’t you all know that cricket is a religion in Sri Lanka? And now you want access to Sri Lanka to monitor human rights abuses, when AI violated the emotions of every single Sri Lankan cricket enthusiast, especially that of the young cricket loving girls and boys, I certainly won’t forgive AI for that stupidity violating the right of thousands of school children from enjoying their cricketing heroes at play, nor I am sure would the Sri Lankan government. I understand now why U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave AI a body blow when he said, “Free societies depend on over sight and they welcome informed criticism, particularly on human rights issues. But those who make such outlandish charges lose any claim to objectivity or seriousness.” Well, I could hear Sri Lanka’s President say to you lot, “Ditto”. I now understand why AI was treated like a pariah by Sudan, Israel and Singapore by refusing to let AI come into their countries for you all to make your biased findings and report to the world like a bunch of human rights prima donnas. Remember how Singapore defended its decision to bar an AI researcher by saying, “We do not need a foreigner to lecture us on our criminal justice system”. There certainly was a reason why the Sudanese government kept you all away from Dafur, and you all sounded dismayed. And when Israel refused to cooperate with your fact-finding mission you all looked stunned as you all thought that the Nobel Peace Prize would open every entrance door to a country to go and do your little thing on Human Rights. Surely there must have been a reason why all these countries have quarantined you lot away from their countries like a plague. And now I understand why Sri Lanka is refusing to cooperate with you all and I don’t blame them one bit. When the Sri Lankan government spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella said the human rights watchdog had failed “to utter a single word” against recent bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, I could well believe him. I almost wonder whether there is a clause in your Field Manual Guide directing you all thus “….AI should show bias in favour of non-governmental insurgents who very likely are human rights violators and report only the human rights abuses by legitimately elected governments. The insurgents like the LTTE should be off the limits of our ‘Human Rights Violators’ radar at all times and provide them a cloak of respectability.” Sincerely, Asoka Weerasinghe
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