Friday, 4 May 2012

Please Mr.President Tamara Kunanayakam’s place is in Geneva and should not be removed elsewhere to satisfy whims and fancies of others.

If the Ambassador in Geneva Ms.Tamara Kunanayakam is to be removed from Geneva now it would be a great injustice.  Sri Lanka in such a move will have much to loose.  Tamara Kunanayakam had brilliantly demonstrated of what calibre she is made in defending Sri Lanka against the most unconcerned violator of human rights and war criminals the United States of America paradoxically of President Barack Obama, man who presented himself  as one who had been working for the underpriveldged poor Americans and stood for justice and against war.

Sri Lanka has been falsely accused for the sake of a few million dollars coming from the pro-Terrorist “Tamils’ for Obama ” campaign, by the American State Department, for  discriminating against the minority Tamils and for killing  Tamil civilians during the last phase of the elimination of terrorists. 

In that campaign of false hood, engaging the UK Channel 4 to “ prepare” false evidence, the symbolic contradiction of that falsehood was the presence of our Ambassador to Geneva Tamara Kunanayakam coming from the very Tamil Community Sri Lanka is being accused of denying their rights as citizens along side the Sinhala majority.

If Tamara Kunanayakam is removed now it  would be the greatest weakness of this government who is unable to use appropriate personalities to counter attack false accusations levelled at it. 

We see how  USA is using every available material  turning it to a seemly evidence for accusing a sovereign state.  For instance America  had been for long using Aung San Suu Kyl against the Burmese government, and now using the Blind Chinese dissident Chen from Shandong province who is supposed to have campaigned  against forced abortions under China’s “ one Child ” policy, as a means to accuse the Chinese Government for violation of human rights.

And we unfortunately are unable to use our own Ambassador who did not mince her words in attacking the falsehood of American  accusations levelled at her motherland, her country Sri Lanka, as a symbol of the Governments treatment of all its citizens without distinction of colour, race, or language. 

The presence of  Tamara Kunanayakam as the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Geneva ridicules the TNA’s accusation against the Government of Sri Lanka that it   denies the Tamils their rights and aspirations.

If the Defence Ministry of  Sri Lanka wants to make Tamara Kunanayakam a  scapegoat to escape from the responsibility of the failure to have lost the battle against the American Resolution against Sri Lanka, the reason for the debacle is to be found else where.

The choice of the Sri Lanka delegates  for the 19th Session of the Human Rights Council was wrong and not made with any foresight of the end result.  The Minster of External Affairs Professor G.L.Peiris should have been given his rightful place to lead the Delegation.

The Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe was a wrong choice, his only qualification seems to be his ability to articulate well.  But that is not what was necessary at the Council. Professor G.L.Peiris may  not be a forceful speaker but he is able to present his case more appropriately, more convincingly  and with confidence.  He was relegated to the back seat in the Council. 

Mahinda Samarasinghe was out there to get the credit if the American Resolution was defeated.  If he was the Government’s choice why could not it have been Dayan Jayatilleke or Rajiva Wijesinghe.  Either of them could have done a better job than Mahinda Samarasinghe. 

What was Shenuka Seneviratne  doing their in Geneva and to what extent was her contribution, if there was any useful to the Delegation?   She must have been Mahinda Seneviratne’s choice, and may have been present to destabilise Tamara Kunanayakam. A better choise  would have been Dr. Shudharshini Fernandupulle

The correct person to have presented the arguments against the resolution at the last  session at which the voting was taken should have been the Ambassador of Sri Lanka to Geneva Her Excellency Tamara Kunanayakam and not the Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe.  She was a forceful speaker, she was sincere, determined, and had a convincing way of presenting the facts against the American resolution.

Tamara Kunanayakam  is one of our Sri Lankan Tamils- a woman we could all be proud of.  Why should she be sacrificed  when the cause  for the loss of the resolution is to be found  else where ?

It was carefully prepared by India .  India was sure that Sri Lanka was going to win and India knew that some member states were still undecided which way to vote.  India also knew that those member States   could be made to abstain from voting by an appropriate diplomatic move by India.

It was at the precise moment India declared its intention to vote with America.  If India waited  till the last minute to  vote in favour of the American resolution , the member states who were wavering would have already voted against the resolution, hence India declared its intention to vote against Sri Lanka  well  in advanced.

We lost because of the back stabbing of India and not because of Tamara Kunanayakam.  It is in the interest of the Government to give credit to all Sri Lankans for their efforts without discriminating against race, colour, or religion. 

Therefore the President should intervene without delay in the case of the Ambassador Tamara Kunanayakam before an administratrive error is committed in the External Affairs Ministry to transfer Tamara Kunanaykam out of Geneva. 

If she were to continue to work in Geneva she will be a more mature and a clever diplomat later, an  asset to Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council when China and Russia, two of our friends, have completed their terms.


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