Sunday 28 October 2012

HRW International Justice Director Richard Dicker is looking at Sri Lanka from the wrong side of his binoculars.




(Is there a Universal Periodic Review for USA and the International Community  ?)

International Justice Director at New York based Human Rights Watch  Richard Dicker had said, “While war raged in Sri Lanka, Russia and China’s strong support of the government in Colombo thwarted almost all efforts to even discuss the known horrors committed during the war by both sides,”

This Richard Dicker unfortunately speaks with blinkers on.  He looks from his comfortable room in a stately building in New York through the wrong side of the binoculars only at Sri Lanka.   He does not see clearly what had happened in Sri Lanka three years ago nor what is happening in Sri Lanka now.  He only knows that America wanted to see the end of Russia after its dissolution in December 1991, and end of China  after Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.  To his surprise both Russia and China has risen above America in Global influence.  What he sees in the  blurred  image of Sri Lanka is his own stupid imagination playing pranks with his vision.







Richard Dicker you are an outmoded man looking at far away countries through the wrong side of binoculars  and digging into their past, without looking with your naked eyes what is going on around you in America.  The Daily Mail reported on the 5th October, that the American anti war Code Pink Campaign   manifested against killing of civilians in Pakistan in the bombardment by American drones. “Medea Benjamin, one of the group’s founders said yesterday: ‘We are here to say, on behalf of those Americans with a conscience, that we apologize to the people of Pakistan for the killing and suffering (caused by the drones).’
America and its Agents like Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, only see the negative side of developing countries, and depend not on  facts but on what those anti government persons, Agents and Organisations say about  these countries. HRW depends to a great extent on  the representatives of the   Anti Sri Lanka pro terrorist organisations in America and other Western Countries.  Hence Richard Dickers’ views about Sri Lanka are lopsided.

China and Russia should present to the UNHR Council in Geneva a Universal  Periodic Review on America and the International Community on their  mass murders in Libya, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is fortunate that the world has China and Russia to counter the reactionary forces of America with its Agents  like, Richard Dicker, Louise Arbour, Navi Pillai and the rest.

There are  quite a number of  foreign government representatives who begin to see that Sri Lanka is not a monster that it is made out to be by people like Richard Dicker, but a forward looking Nation trying its best to reconcile its Communities to march forward towards the goal of peace and progress.

What happened in Sri Lanka at the last phase of its military operations against a ruthless terrorist group is what happens at the last phase of any “war” but  even then that end in Sri Lanka cannot be compared to what happened in wars conducted by the  western world.

But Dicker trying to come to conclusions from what he had heard and read in reports   written by people who were unaware of ground realities of  what took place in Sri Lanka  sees only a distorted  picture of the events. Dicker speaks from his inane prejudice against China and Russia as Governments that help only counties like Sri Lanka carrying on “ inhuman wars”. 

He does not see that China and Russia could be just and realistic and help developing countries rise above their suffering caused by terrorism, and  intervention of foreign enemy countries to help disgruntled citizens to start armed rebellions against the lawful regimes. China has also helped America to raise its head from the financial morass  into which it was sinking.

Inhuman wars are committed elsewhere Dicker,  not in Sri Lanka.  In order to see  where inhuman wars are being committed Dicker should turn his binoculars looking through it from the correct side, at Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.  Then he will see that the Human Rights Watch is  and had been accusing the wrong country for war crimes.  The Sri Lanka Armed Forces carried out military operations against its own “home made” terrorists.  Sri Lanka did not go outside to other countries to kill terrorists and say that the deaths of civilians were collateral damage.

The Government of Sri Lanka Air Forces practiced precision bombing targeting specific objects  and avoided killing civilians.

America in their wars against terrorism has gone to foreign countries and they are killing not so many terrorists but Civilians  who are not Americans but poor  Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, and in the past the Vietnamiens.  Are those killings not crimes in your evaluation wise Mr. Richard Dicker ? 

Now speaking frankly Richard Dicker who should be taken to a tribunal for war crimes, is it America or Sri Lanka ? 

While there is no eye witness or any other  evidence of war crimes committed against  the Tamil  Civilians in the last phase of the Sri Lanka military operations against the terrorists, the crimes committed by America, its allies  along with NATO forces are well documented and there is no difficulty in finding proof, and  even eye witnesses of their crimes.

It is America and its Allies with NATO Armed Forces that kill and  maim  civilians using drones.  If Richard Dicker wants to refresh his mind, he should read the following excerpt from a  recent  report by   Ben Emmerson, the UN special rapporteur on counter-terror operations.  “ He has  told an audience at Harvard law school this week that a sub-section of the international organization will begin focusing next year on the Obama administration’s extrajudicial killings of suspected insurgents and the innocent civilians all too often executed in the process.
Speaking before a room of students Thursday afternoon in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Emmerson told the crowd that he will be launching an investigation unit within the special procedures of the [UN] Human Rights Council to inquire into individual drone attacks.”  (http://rt.com/usa/news/us-drone-emmerson-un-256/ )

In the mean time The Washington Post has revealed that the US government has compiled a database called the 'disposition matrix' to "augment" the existing "kill lists", which will focus on suspects beyond the reach of American drones.

Well Richard Dickers , you are far behind “news”, and accusing wrong people on unfounded “crimes”, allowing real “criminals” to go unchecked.

We do not want any UN Monitoring Mission in Sri Lanka, you should ask such Missions  opened in Mali, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq, Libya (a little too late though), and Syria to control the human rights violations and war crimes being committed by the American Army  and the  Armies of its allies.

Is  Richard Dicker  aware of thousands  of Christians burnt alive by the Muslims in Nigeria ? Why do not you propose a UN Mission in Nigeria and open invzestigations for war crimes ?
These are matters that have to be attended to if you represent a really honest organisation looking after the human rights of the people. In Sri Lanka there is no more war against terrorism. It is three years ago that terrorism has been eliminated in Sri Lanka and now the country is developing and the people are living in  peace and their social and economic progress is being taken care of by the Government.

If there is a problem in Sri Lanka it is with the interfering of the Tamil National Alliance, a local political party seeking to divide Sri Lanka, the so called pro terrorist Tamil diaspora abroad-Global Tamil Forum, the Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Amnesty International, and few Western Governments who interfere in to Sri Lanka craving to have the votes of the pro terrorist Tamil expatriates settled down in their countries.

If there had been death of civilians in the last phase of the military offensive against the terrorists, it had not been deliberate  and no court of law with intelligent independent judges  would  hold Sri Lanka Armed Forces guilty of war crimes, for that.

The terrorists,  Richard Dicker for thirty long years committed innumerable violations of human rights and  war crime. They were no “ choir boys” to respect life, they killed every thing that moved in the last pitched live or die  battle to save their lives. There was no Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International or the Crisis Group to intervene with the terrorists to stop their brutalities.

It is only “brainless” fools who will accuse the Armed Forces of Sri Lanka , for brutality against the innocent Tamil civilians , if they take time to understand  what it is to evacuated  300000 Tamil Civilians  kept as human shields by the  terrorists, in the din of screaming people running in terror , crying children,  and  shooting  from heavy machine guns by the terrorists and small arms by the armed forces.  The Sri Lanka Armed Forces used small arms to avoid killing Civilians running away from the terrorists.

It is  imperative that Richard Dicker who is for  justice  against human rights, should understand that it is not  China or Russia which will put developing countries into financial difficulty like America had done to Cuba with a trade embargo for more than 15 years or  issue sanctions against sale of oil to Iran, which cause financial, difficulties to developing countries like Sri Lanka.

Dicker should also know that  no one can  dictate to Sri Lanka where it should deploy its armed Forces within Sri Lanka.  Sri Lanka has the right to open military bases any where in Sri Lanka to protect its people.  It knows better because it is the people of Sri Lanka that went through 30 years of suffering from brutal  terrorism that  began in the North and East.

But by what right USA  has 179 US Military bases out side USA. (http://askville.amazon.com/military-bases/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=60159)

These   are the matters that should concern the Human Rights Watch if they are a genuine Group of people really concerned with the human rights of the people.  They have no right to single out Sri Lanka for violation of human rights when violation of human rights in the worst form are committed  by America, and the International Community with its NATO Armed Forces. 

Mr. Richard Dicker you have jumped on to the  wrong side of the fence to accuse Sri Lanka for war crimes, when you should really occupy America and the State Department of United States of America to see what it had been doing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Pakistan, Vietnam and now in Syria.


Friday 26 October 2012

Tissa, Vasudeva and Dew have become reactionaries, while Gotabhaya Rajapakse with foresight explains danger of 13 Amendment.



Today  the LSSP  and the Sri Lanka Communist Party cannot even speak for the working class which has unfortunately been taken over by Lal Kantha of JVP.  Their failure in the Trade Union Sector is seen in Bala Tampoe of the Mercantile Union, handing over Rs.500,000,00 to FUTA – a Trade Union of University Professors who are the most destructive, egoist, reactionary,  and unpatriotic elements in Sri Lanka today.

The Lanka Samasaja Party is  represented today by the  two of its “remnants” Tissa Vitharana and Vasudeva Nayakkara. They represent nothing  but a shadow of what Lanka Sama  Samaja Party was  in the past.

Lanka Sama Samaja Party  is the  oldest socialist political party of Sri Lanka founded as far back in  1935.  It was a Trotskyite  moment and fitted into the Colonial State Council system  of the day. It divided the mass of people into the proletariats and the bourgeoisie, and became a Party of the urban working class. It left out the essential sector of the mass of people the peasants, and the farmers therefore  failed to become a political Party of the people when the country gained independence.

Even today,  its phantoms  Tissa Vitharana and Vasudeva Nanaykkara  are still trying to keep what remains of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party  an  urban workers party of yesterday far away from the aspirations of the people.

Despite its erstwhile beginning as the  Marxist party of Sri Lanka, Mr.SWRD Bandaranayake who  broke away from the capitalist UNP which the Lanka Sama Samaja Party opposed, formed the Sri Lanka Freedom Party in 1956.  He  became  a popular leader of the people of Sri Lanka almost overnight. His popularity came from his ability to have  identified from where the real political power comes from.

SWRD Bandaranayake appealed to  the five great  powers ( panca maha balawegaya) the priests, the  teachers, the physicians, the  peasants , and the  farmers and formed  the first SLFP Government.   The villagers and peasants of Sri Lanka did not even know the  Lanka Sama Samaja Party other than from what the UNP had told about it as a Marxist political party that calls comrade to every one including one’s own parents .

Following the same old  Marxist political theories, it is no wonder that Tissa Vitarana and Vasudeva Nanayakkara  the phantoms of the old LSSP even today turn their backs to the people of  Sri Lanka, and quite opposed to the will of the people,  demand that 13A imposed on Sri Lanka by  the reactionary India should not be removed
The Communist Party of Sri Lanka was no better it was a party feared by the ordinary people , it was only some of the white collar workers  that joined the Communist Party. It was  only Pieter Keunaman speaking in Sinhala to the people who was liked and was able to  attract the attention of the intelligentsia. Yet the Communist Party of Sri Lanka was not a popular party of the people.
Hence Dew Gunasekara  the remnant of the old  Communist Party  has  not changed  and is reported to have bragged, “….that he was the first opposition MP out of  all the Opposition MPs who voted for the 13th Amendment in 1987. …..I stand by it. There is no reason to oppose. But if there are any more constructive alternative available, then I am prepared to concede. “
SLMC the Party of the Muslim’s are opposed to the removal of the  13Amendment  on the ground that it does not want rural development projects being initiated by the central government without giving powers for such projects to the Provincial Councils.  SLMC General Secretary M. T. Hassan Ali, MP,  has said, “We will defend the 13th Amendment. It is unethical to hold a referendum at national level as the majority community would vote en-bloc in support of the move to repeal the 13th Amendment introduced as a panacea for the longstanding grievances of the minorities following the signing of the Indo–Lanka Accord in 1987."
Ali  forgets that the Majority has not failed to protect the minority and give them their due rights.  The protection of minorities had been assured by the majority sacrificing their youth to fight against any one who takes arms against the country and the people.  Hassan Ali cannot forget so soon that the cancer of the nation that was terrorism was removed by the Sinhala youth willing to fight against it en-mass, while the Muslim community except for a few individuals, were mere spectators, ready even to sign MoUs with the terrorist Prabhakaran to have a Muslim Eelam, without caring for the safety of the majority community. The Majority Community has the right, and it is its duty  to see how the country should be developed to face the future.
Of course we should  pay homage to Muslim sons of Mother Lanka who fought along side the Sinhala soldiers to eliminate the terrorist menace. My thoughts go to late Lieutenant Colonel Fazley Lafir the son of my friend Dr.Lafir of Madawala, Wattegama, who gave his life trying to save the  soldiers  of the Special Force.
“Lieutenant Colonel Fazly Lafir, a 37-year-old veteran special operations soldier and one of the founding members of the Special Forces. Lafir and the first wave of SF landed under heavy fire on the exposed beach. The pilots of the SLAF’s No 6 Helicopter Squadron brought their Mi-17 transports suicidally close to the Tiger positions, one landing his SF “stick” practically on top of a Tiger .50-in heavy machine-gun, so close that the Tiger crew couldn’t bring their weapon to bear in time. Led by Fazly Lafir, who was by now in radio contact with 215 Brigade, the SF fought through the rest of the day and, after being reinforced by a second wave of SF at dusk, into the night to secure the beachhead, making repeated assaults on the Tiger positions that surrounded them, and losing thirty-six men killed and sixty wounded. Already shot several times, Lafir continued to lead his men until finally killed by shrapnel early on the 19th. At one point during the night, surrounded by battle and the continuous mortar fire of the Tigers, he was heard to say, “This is the most beautiful night of my life.” Lieutenant Colonel Fazly Lafir is the highest ranking member of the Armed Forces to receive the PWV.” (http://blacklightarrow.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/parama-weera/)

There were such great Muslim heroes  who fought along with the Sinhala soldiers. They cannot be forgotten , for they did not differentiate the minority from the majority like the SLMC Secretary General M.T.Hassan Ali who is a sad example of the Muslim Community.
Now coming to JVP  its Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath while blaming the defence secretary for waking up late to speak against the 13 th Amendment says, that “….the 13th Amendment that has been forced on the country as a product of the Indo-Sri Lanka accord of 1987 has compounded the ethnic issue. …… the people should stand against any solution that is forced on the country by an outside party. “
TNA has no positive ideas of their own, hence they follow  disastrous dictates of the expatriate pro terrorist  Tamils.  For instance the  Global Tamil Forum  spokesman Suren Surendiren, says, that, “…..As far as we know there is no credible Diaspora organisation that is currently in any talks with the Government of Sri Lanka. If (President) Rajapaksa wanted to resolve the Tamil National Question he could have easily done so by talking with the elected members of the Tamil people the TNA,” 

We have proof  here that TNA is an agent of the Global Tamil Forum

From what has been written  above,  one may  observe that all those who speak in favour or against the 13 th Amendment  are all politicians.  They have given their views on the 13Amendment to the Constitution. Some  of them had been silent on the issue and comes forward to express their views after the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse  came forward to speak against it. 

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse is not a politician, but one of us   with great patriotic feelings for his motherland.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse  was a Military man who was able to  forget his military past to become an ordinary citizen.  He does not boast of  his military successes for his prestige and self aggrandisement.

He was a soldier-Commander of the Gajaba Regiment.  He fought against the terrorists and helped to drive them from Jaffna to the jungles of Killinocchi.

He retired from his military service after being  the Commandant of the Kotalawala Defence Academy. He was the Administrator of the Loyola law School in Los Angeles , when he was called to enter the President’s Cabinet as the Secretary of Defence of the Government of Sri Lanka. He is a dedicated patriot for the cause of his mother land.

In this new role as the Secretary of Defence, Gotabhaya did not mix politics with military activity. He, as an experienced Serviceman, coordinated the three defence forces, the Army, the Air, and the Navy,  leaving them the responsibility of planning strategies and the execution of the plans.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse  had enabled the Security Forces to conduct its military offensive effectively by  modernising the army by providing them with necessary modern equipments. He also served as the spokesman of the Army, to the President and the Government.

The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse keeps the politicians away from interfering with the activities of the armed forces. That was an important contribution which  resulted in the unprecedented success of the Security Forces. Even the Foreign Governments interfering to contact the terrorists at the height of the offensive were kept at bay by the Defence Secretary, which was the right thing to do,  but which made him unpopular with them, and the UK Channel 4

Whatever is said by the media and his political enemies, he is not corrupt, and as an experienced former soldier, he is dedicated for the cause of the Armed Forces. His larger vision is to make a success of his service as the Secretary of Defence, to allow the government and the people of Sri Lanka regain the lost pride and prestige of the beloved motherland. He has given up a lucrative post, to take over a risky task as the Defence Secretary, in which capacity he narrowly escaped death from a terrorist attack in which an auto-rikshaw laden with explosives was driven on to his vehicle.

After the war he did not abandon the  Armed Forces, the men and women that helped to eliminate terrorism. He used them in various activities, even as salesmen selling vegetables,  others to renovate buildings destroyed by the terrorist, such as the Catholic Church in Madhu.  He built Hospitals for the disabled Soldiers and special homes for them. He put up memorials for the soldiers who sacrificed their lives in the defence of their motherland ( which the terrorist lover the Old and dying Karunanidhi had recently condemned) .  He built houses for the families of the dead and disabled soldiers.  He made use of the  strong and healthy to construct roads and bridges and renovate old  city of Colombo and its vicinity.

But in contrast  USA that condemns the war effort of our soldiers and wants to take them before a International Tribunal accused for war crimes,  did not treat their own veteran soldiers coming from Vietnam in the same way as  Gotabhaya Rajapaksa treated the  Sri Lanka soldiers who fought against the terrorists.  Many of the Vietnam Veterans  came home with psychological wounds, but USA gave them scant recognition.

“ How were Vietnam Veterans treated after the war ?

The neglect and resentment of  veterans was an unfortunate social effect of the war. Whilst after other wars, the soldiers were welcomed back with parades and open arms, the Vietnam veterans were shunned, demeaned and booed. Since it was such an unpopular war, Americans held veterans responsible for the war, although many of them did not approve of the war either. The veterans' situation was a tough one, especially with little or no support. About 150,000 veterans came home wounded, or amputated, and at least 21,000 were permanently disabled, unable to work for the rest of their lives. Many developed illnesses after the war such as cancers liver disease and rashes, mostly due to exposure to Agent Orange. Having seen the horrors of Vietnam, many veterans were psychologically scarred. Nightmares, anxiety causing flashbacks, and fits of terror from loud noises were common behaviors reported amongst veterans. Approximately 830,000 survivors of Vietnam suffered mental and emotional disorders and showed symptoms of  Post traumatic stress disorder.

However many were unable to get the help they needed and deserved, because they were perceived as crazy and dangerous, and even deserving of their circumstance. Economic medical and educational aid were not made available to them right away, and many veterans felt abandoned by the country they served. In trying to deal with this situation, some veterans developed drug or alcohol habits and many felt driven to suicide.”Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_were_Vietnam_veterans_treated_after_the_war#ixzz2AOeYn6lr

But the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajpakse who did not foresee a similar end to our  soldiers looked after them in a most exemplary way.  Hence  Gotabhaya Rajapakse is a man to be trusted and followed for his good sense.

If the Defence Secretary speaks of the removal of the 13Amendment we can safely assume that he does not do  that for his personal benefit, for any other ulterior motive,  or least of all for his political ambitions, but because he is a patriot who is  able to see through what would be dangerous to the country he helped to save from terrorism..  He knows what damage  the 13Amendment did to  Sri Lanka,  and how it affected during the war and will affect Sri Lanka now after the elimination of the terrorists.

India Imposed the 13Amendment on us to allow the Indian Peace Keeping Forces to be deployed in one area-the North and East making it a single Province. India  was hoping to bring the terrorists under their control . If Prabhakaran had given in to India’s Secret Agenda,  the Indian Armed Forces would have established a Provincial Regime- a Tamil Eelam for the Tamils  and  stayed on as a Peace Keeping Force cutting the North and East from the rest of Sri Lanka. 

That was what they were proposing to do but failed because of the stubbornness of Prabhakaran and the demise of JR Jayawardhana.  Subsequent governments too failed to subdue and eliminate terrorism.

It had to be the President Mahinda Rajapaksa who very wisely got his brother  to reorganise the Armed Forces to vanquish the 30 year old  terrorism.  The Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse was perhaps  well aware  of the danger of the 13th Amendment, and he may have waited hoping the  TNA will finally fall in line with the government to reconcile the communities and work  together with all the communities for the peace and prosperity of Sri Lanka.  

It is the continued  attempt of the TNA to form a Tamil Eelam at any cost that Gotabhaya Rajapakse  saw through in the TNA’s  continued efforts to get India to support their cause. He also understood that the TNA is planning to  disable the government’s  own attempts to reconcile the Communities. 

It seems, it is only then  that Gotabhaya Rajapakse  decided to speak out against  the 13 th Amendment demanding it to be removed to stop TNA and other pro-terrorist elements from dividing Sri Lanka despite  its heroic Armed Forces  had eliminated terrorism to let the dawn of peace and progress.

Tuesday 23 October 2012

Is it not to antagonise the Forces against Sri Lanka that we should not remove 13A ?



In removing 13 A , “ We are playing into the hands of the forces that are conspiring against the country…” says Tissa Vitharana of LSSP.

If  Tissa Vitharana means  the International Community, why should we be frightened of it?  International Community has been and continues to be the most undemocratic , reactionary, and  discriminatory  foreign power working against developing countries.  The International Community has committed more war crimes, and  violation of human rights, than Sri Lanka  and no body has so far submitted a resolution at the UNHRC asking its  accountability for war crimes.

Let’s see a short list  of their nefarious activities.  Can any intelligent person understand why USA continues a trade embargo  against Cuba  since October 1960 , codified into Law in 1992 ?  It is not acceptable in the  21st century. What wrong has  Cuba done against America or the civilized world ? Cuban revolution drove away Batista an egocentric dictator who made Cuba the play ground of the rich Americans  mafia, setting up casinos, gambling houses and prostitution.  Cuba organised its own system of government, without following the pseudo western democracy ?  Should Cuba be prosecuted for that by an American trade embargos ?

USA accuses Iran and North Korea for  their nuclear programmes, but Cuba has nothing of the kind.  This is nothing other than its discriminative methods invented for regime change in developing countries not following its system. The International Community wants to draw these countries away from the influence of China and Russia,  keeping them financially and politically under its control grouped as dependent  satellite States.

International Community led by France treated  a group of  disgruntled Libyans in Bengazy, as rebels and helped them giving, arms and ammunitions and sending military advisers for an armed rebellion  against Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.  It used NATO to bomb Libya obtaining   the Sanction of the UN Security Council  falsely pretending  that  it  would  only survey the air space over Libya. 

USA and UK fooled the UNO about Iraq, lying to it that Iraq was having weapons  of mass destruction, and went to war in Iraq and assassinated Saddam Husain. USA   let their special security forces, the Navy  SEALs to trespass into  the Sovereign State of Pakistan to assassinate an unarmed Osama Bin Laden.  The war  against the Government of Syria had been ”sponsored” by USA and the International Community, arming  a group of rebellious  Syrians making out of them armed rebels against the regime.

USA withdrew its budgetary contribution to UNESCO because the General Conference of UNESCO  accepted Palestine as a member State.   Is that not  undemocratic, inhuman , and  a violation of the human rights of a people who had been displaced from their lands to  be  asked to be recognised as a  Nation ?  Is it correct to sanction an International Institution like UNESCO for accepting the decision of its General Assembly to accept Palestine as a member State ?

In Sri Lanka too the International Community led by the nose by Robert Blake, David Milliband, Bernard Kouchner , and Hillary Clinton, wanted to contact the terrorists  when they were being cornered in the  no-fire zone by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces, undoubtedly to recognise them as a rebel group,  arm them and backed by NATO allow the terrorists to capture power to  Balkanise  Sri Lanka .  It was  what it  did in Libya, handing  over power to a group of rebels to eventually assassinate Gaddafi.

What ever Sri Lanka does will not be appreciated by the International Community as long as  it is detrimental to its own  interest.  It will blame the Government of Sri Lanka  for what ever positive action it takes with good intentions for the betterment of its people   When Sri Lanka announced that it had resettled the remaining IDPs, the American Embassy    made a statement , “We remain concerned about the rushed resettlement of the final internally displaced persons (IDPs) to close the Menik Farm camp,"

If Sri Lanka continues to do things to please India and the International Community, it will fail in its  endeavour to reconcile the Communities and build a nation out of them and bring them peace and prosperity.

Therefore , we cannot do things with  “pleasing the International Community”,  in mind.   The Government of Sri Lanka has to take actions which is  necessary for our people and our country as a whole.  Those opposition political parties  that accuse Sri Lanka of an ethnic problem , and discrimination of the government against the Tamil people are concerned with their own future as politicians, and are using the Tamil people as a means to attain  their own political objectives.

TNA is the present “phantom” of the terrorists and they do exactly what Prabhakaran the terrorist did .  Prabhakaran was not interested in his Tamil people.  He was interested in setting up a Tamil Eelam to satisfy his own ego. He  originally “brain washed “ and trained by India became its “ Frankenstein” let loose in Sri Lanka. 

Prabhakaran was using Solheim of  Norway  as an intermediary to arrange negotiations for peace talks with the Government representatives.  Prabhakaran was  arranging these  negotiations to be held outside Sri Lanka to give the negotiations  the maximum publicity. He  knew that he was not going to settle any thing through  negotiations and he had plans to scuttle each one of these peace negotiations.  He was determined to have the Tamil Eelam his way; not through negotiations, but through terror.

It is exactly what  the TNA is doing.  TNA is using Manmohan Singh and  India for the purpose, as Prabhakaran used Solheim and Norway.  Sampanthan and his TNA cronies know very well that they do not want  to work democratically along with the Government.  They have their own idea how to scuttle negotiations and use India as a spring board to bring discredit to Sri Lanka.

TNA will fool the International Community, just like Prabhakaran the terrorist.  TNA will get various human rights activists on to their side to force them to get the Sri Lanka  government to create the Tamil Eelam . The idea is to get the SLArmed Forces to leave the North and East, and stop any one from the Sinhala and Muslim Communities settle down in the North and East.  They want to fuse the North and East into one Province  and have their Tamil Ealam with only the Tamil speaking people. Their terrorist Thalaivar  Prabhakaran failed to do this. But TNA wants to do it  their way.

As Solheim of Norway helped Prabhakaran the terrorist, Manmohan Singh of India is helping Terrorist proxy  Sampnathan and TNA.  As much as Solheim of Norway was  at the same  time working with the International Community; Manmohan Singh of India is also with the International Community.

How long will it take the Government of Sri Lank  to understand this ?

But Sri  Lanka continues to pay homage to India and gives more and more  means to infiltrate into  Sri Lanka, politically, economically and socially.  India has set  up its Consular Offices in the North  and the South. The latest is that,  “..Under the Slave Island Area Redevelopment Project the UDA will provide 8 acres of land bordering former Education Department site, Malay Street, Justice Akbar Street, and Railway line on a 99-year lease to the Indian company. …… TATA is entrusted to build 456 decent housing units with all facilities for the current residents in alternative lands in the same area within two years.”

It is in the interest of Sri Lanka to stop further influence of India in Sri Lanka and  instead build stronger ties with China and Russia.

Observing the number of countries and NGOs who are seeking to accuse Sri Lanka from- White Van kidnapping  to elimination of terrorism  at the next UNHuman Rights Council one wonders whether Sri Lanka would not have been better off suffering under ruthless terrorism instead of having got rid of terrorism under most difficult circumstances with the sacrifice of a generation of youth.

Sri Lanka carried out military operations to eliminate terrorism  through necessity and neither the Government of Sri Lanka nor the Sri Lanka Armed Forces wanted to deliberately injure or  cause death to Tamil Civilians.  If their were any deaths in that military operation it was because it was  forced upon the SL Armed Forces by the ruthless terrorists, it was definitely not a deliberate violation of the rights of the Tamil Civilians by the SL Armed Forces for which nobody could  on hear say give it a false interpretations to accuse the Armed Forces.

But the deaths of Civilians by the American Armed forces and by the NATO bombardments  were far greater. But unlike the Armed forces in  Sri Lanka,  in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan , and Libya,  America and its NATO allies were fighting an unnecessary war.  Every time the UNHRC meets in Geneva Sri Lanka is in the front line of attack.  It appears that it is being deliberately done by the International Community to take the attention away from its  own  war crimes, and violation of human rights.

It is time Sri Lanka and other countries that  are being targeted by the International Community for  violation of human rights and war crimes, turn tables on the International Community by presenting a resolution at the UNHR Council in Geneva against the International Community calling it  to account for the Civilian deaths , violation of Human Rights and war crimes in different parts of the world.

All their war crimes, and violation of Human rights are well documented and we need not get the UK Channel 4 to make a special film like they did to falsely accuse Sri Lanka Armed Forces “ deliberate shooting blindfolded  Sri Lanka terrorists”.  There are many war crimes committed by the Armed forces of the International Community , such as  in Afghanistan   the  deliberate shooting of civilians by American Soldiers and  taking fingers of the dead as mementos. 

There are numerous other cases  such as:
( i)  torture  of Iraqi prisoners  in    Abu Grhaib,
(ii)  use of Napalm in Vietnam.
(iii) the US  Navy SEALs entering Pakistan  and assassinating unarmed Osama Bin Laden.  (iv) Deaths of civilians by NATO bombardments in Libya.
(v)Civilian deaths from bombardment by US Drones in the boarder villages of Pakistan.
 
These are only a few of them. We can prepare a resolution against the International Community against its  war crimes and violation s of human rights of Nations and Individuals running to several pages.

All  these war crimes committed by the International Community which have not been so far questioned by any international forum cannot however be  covered-up   by pointing a finger of accusation at Sri Lanka. 

Therefore we need not be frightened of the International Community  in doing in our country what is necessary for our people who are the Sri Lankan Tamils, the  Sri Lankan Sinhala and  the Sri Lankan Muslims. 

In our country we  need not have the permission of India, or the International Community to set up our Military Camps where we want. 

Nor can India or the International Community question us whether we are going to keep the 13 amendment to our Constitution, or remove it if our people  want it removed.

Sunday 14 October 2012

Who stands in the way of Communal Integration in Sri Lanka ?




Outlook India.com reports that  according to the  TNA leader Sampanthan the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had said that,  “…India would never backtrack from its position that Tamils in Sri Lanka should lead a life of dignity and self respect in a peaceful environment, and  that India is fully with Sri Lankan Tamils and would continue to engage with TNA”.

 

If Manmohan Singh had said that,  India under the Premiership of Manmohan Singh is then a threat to Sri Lanka. The report  added  that, “… the Indian side also explained its position and how it was working with the Sri Lankan Government in implementing the 13th Amendment plus approach which envisage devolution of power to Tamil Dominated Provinces .”

India is definitely forestalling the right of the people of Sri Lanka  without whose accord even the government of Sri Lanka cannot implement the 13 Amendment despite it being law. We should not be disturbed by India’s threats, but ignore India on the issue of Sri Lanka Tamils, which is a matter for the government of Sri Lanka to decide. 

Cuba a little country under the shadow of the giant USA has withstood all threats and aggression of the USA.  We should learn a lesson from them and stop our stooging to India. 

To begin with we should stop excessive advancement of India in our economic development projects.

There were reports apart from India’s activities in the north building houses, and railway lines that the Government of Sri Lanka is ,on a proposal of the Minister of Industry and Commerce Rishad Bathiudeen, setting up  a joint task force representing public and private  authorities on both countries to  double the  present trade with India.  Sri Lanka’s export to India  stands around US$ 500 million while its imports from India is around US$ 4.5 billion last year.  Who stands to gain ?   
In addition to that it has been announced that  India has agreed to set up a special Economic Zone with facilities for skill development to promote exports to India,  in the Eastern Port City of Trincomalee.   Are we not binding ourselves to the needs of India’s own economic development ?
There are also reports that Sri Lanka is planning to invest in Indian port projects. But there are those that question as to whether there is an ulterior  motive in seeking such investment.  "The new transshipment hub in Cochin and Vizhinjam Port are seen as direct competition to Colombo Port which has been expanding largely due to the cargo from India. In such a scenario, there's no valid reason for Sri Lanka to invest in Indian port projects as it would only hamper their projects. There could be an ulterior motive behind their intention," said Hemant Bhattbhatt, senior director at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Though India is said to be  Sri Lanka’s biggest trading partner , China remains Sri Lanka’s biggest donor state.

However, despite all these economic issues India will not change its old political desire to dominate over Sri Lanka.  India will  never give us a “cadeau”. India’s intention from 1970s had been clear.  India wants to dominate Sri Lanka and divide  it Communally and make Sri Lanka another  Indian State.  Our accommodating India in our development projects amounts to the proverbial Camel’s head under the tent, or even better “ like taking a fox to guard a poultry farm.”

The International Community, and the UNHuman Rights Council want Sri Lanka to give  a rightful place to the Tamils. But they do not see that it is the Tamils led by the TNA and India ( along with the Tamil Diaspora) that do not allow Sri Lanka to treat its Tamil Community as a part and parcel of its own Nation of Sri Lankans.  It is they who stand on the way to communal reconciliation.

India, which has voted with USA against Sri Lanka accusing  it for violation of human rights, (which amounts to a discrimination against the Tamil people in Sri Lanka) , and the International Community and the UNHRC constantly accusing Sri Lanka for the violation of human rights against the Tamil Community only help to separates the Communities in Sri Lanka when the Government of Sri Lanka is doing its best to reconcile the Communities removing the distinction of separate communities in Sri Lanka in favour of a Sri Lankan Nationality.

What we want in Sri Lanka is a communally integrated nation of Sri Lankans, where we  are respectful, honest and friendly towards each other . It had always been  difficult for the majority Community to win the hearts of the Tamil people.  It had been  the problem that ended up in terrorism. Even after the terrible experience  of terrorism , the Tamils seem to still yearn for that  suffering, rather  than the emancipation and freedom that the President Mahinda Rajapakse has promised.

The Tamils have still not absorbed  the importance of what the President said  after the elimination of terrorism that, “ there is no minority and majority in Sri Lanka.  The major obstacle to the failure to  understand this simple logic by the ordinary Tamil people,  is the TNA, India, and the International Community with their  hypocrite interest in “human rights”, which they themselves do not observe and respect.

India which is still in its pre-terrorist mentality of the 1970s, would pamper TNA that perpetrates the separatism in  Sri Lanka, for their own benefit, rather than advice the TNA to settle matters with the Government of Sri Lanka without running to them, as India has no moral right to interfere into the internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

The separatist Tamil National Alliance is reported to have told India, “  that the Tamils in Sri Lanka should be given an opportunity to lead a "dignified life" and there should be no effort to "cheat them again" .

The President of Sri Lanka and his Government have not waited until TNA  tells them  to provide a dignified life to the Tamil Community in Sri Lanka.  The TNA MPs -the so called representatives of the  Tamil people of Sri Lanka have not up to date taken any positive action towards ameliorating the condition of living of the  Tamil people in the North or East, except going round the world asking different Countries to help them get the Sri Lanka government to recognise them as the representatives of the Tamil people, and devolve political  power to them.  The poor Tamil people  are not asking for political power but they want a higher living standard,  employment, health facilities  and education  for their children which the Government is already engaged in giving.  TNA has not taken part in any of the development projects in the North and the East, other than raising their voice to talk about  devolution of political power to the North and East.

It was Prabhakaran and TNA that “cheated”  the Tamil people, though now TNA after Prabhakaran comes forward to represent the very people against whom TNA worked  along side the terrorists as their proxy, representing the terrorists in the Parliament of Sri Lanka, without defending the Tamil people oppressed by the terrorists.. 

What moral right has Sampanthan and his clique of the TNA MPs who have come into Parliament after duping the poor Tamils of the North and East,   not participating  democratically  as elected members of the Parliament and go to India to ask India to  help the Tamil people in Sri Lanka ? 

India on the other hand has no right as a sovereign State in the neighbourhood of Sri Lanka to take one community in preference to the other Communities for special treatment.  India should deal with Sri Lanka as a whole  nation composed of different Communities.

The only way TNA MPs have  to show their bona fides of their genuine interest in the Tamil people who voted them into power  is by actively participating in the Parliament of Sri Lanka of which they are members and  coordinate their efforts to the welfare of the Tamil people to give them  a “ dignified life”.

Sampanthan had said, "The TNA is prepared to join the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) process to find such a solution. But, unless I have a commitment from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, I cannot go the PSC with a clear conscience. I am not prepared to betray my people."  

But he cannot put forward   conditions to join the PSC .  It is their duty to join it if they are Members of Parliament representing the Tamil people.  In the PSC the majority vote prevails  as it is the case in a democratic system of government.  Therefore the TNA has to place their demands  before the PSC without a pre-conceived  prospect of  winning their demands.  They have to use “ toleration and compromise “.  In refraining to  nominate their representatives to the PSC,  TNA is becoming an obstacle to the democratic process of Parliamentary procedures.

TNA MPs harping of “ political rights” to the Tamil people is only  ploy  to make  the Tamil question an arm to win political power for themselves.  India understands that and keeps encouraging them as it fits into their Agenda against Sri Lanka.  The International Community and the  UN Human Rights Commissioner do not seem to take that into account.

On the other hand Naveneetham Pillai,  has an axe to grind, being a  Tamil herself, believs that the Sri Lanka Terrorists were freedom fighters who were  fighting to liberate the Tamil  Community from the  Sinhala Majority, who represented to her the White Regime of  South Africa.

 It was reported that Sampanthan the TNA leader had said, “"If we get assurances that we will not be cheated again and that our people will not be deceived once again, we are ready to walk towards the path of finding a (political) solution. The negativity has to be removed,"

This is the last thing that any Sri Lankan would expect a political leader representing the Tamil people would tell about a government that waged a war to eliminate the terrorists who for thirty years made the lives of the poor   Tamil people “ a hell”.  The terrorist made the Tamil people go  through untold suffering  allowing their children to be kidnapped and pay ransoms when ever they were called for, and usurped  their freedom and  their way of life. TNA who as a terrorist  proxy took  orders from the terrorists  did nothing to  stop the suffering of the Tamil people .  And it is this TNA that is now accusing the Government of Sri Lanka  as having cheated the Tamil people.

Tamil people may soon understand who really cheats them the Government or the  TNA.

India’s role is not to assert to TNA that India will  assure that the “Tamil people in Sri Lanka  lead a life of dignity and self respect in a peaceful environment,”  which is the role of the Government  of Sri Lanka, but to  pressure TNA to fully commit itself to the political process towards arriving at a viable solution.  India should not change its role from advisor, to protector.
If India makes those statements to please the Tamil Nadu, then India is not being wise.  In this respect an Indian political commentator  Shastri Ramachandran has said:
 “It may not occur to the DMK and AIADMK that their posturing may be driving Sri Lanka (away from India) into the arms of China. If these parties persist in their unfriendly campaign, Sri Lanka may be forced to not only hand over more projects to China, or even Pakistan, but even start sending their defence personnel to these countries for training. Then the fat would be truly in the fire.
Sri Lanka is in a zone of Indian influence and is of enormous strategic value. India is Sri Lanka’s preferred partner and the one country from which it would like all help. Instead of creating conditions that make Colombo approach Beijing or Islamabad, it is high time the national parties make the DMK and AIADMK see strategic sense…….”