Who or what made Navi Pillay conclude Sri Lanka is heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction ?

 

At her meeting with the press  before leaving Sri Lanka after visiting it  with the  complete freedom of movement for seven days she said, “ I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.”

That was a very strange statement from the United Nations High Commissioner  for Human Rights, who came to the country in quest of the truth of  violations of human rights of which she had heard, without reliable evidence.  She had at the end decided to pass judgement, again  from what she had heard,  without attempting to separate facts from fiction, believing what see heard without ascertaining their reliability, or whether they are verifiable facts.

She spoke at length on the media freedom, and governments repression of free speech, for which she had perhaps depended not on her own personal evaluations, but going on a petition handed over to her  by the media organisations, namely, “ …  the Free Media Movement of Sri Lanka (FMM), the Sri Lanka Working Journalists’ Association (SLWJA), the Federation of Media Employees’ Trade Union (FMETU), Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum (SLMMF), South Asian Free Media Association – Sri Lanka Chapter (SAFMA) and Media Movement for Democracy (MMD).”.

Some of these Media Movements are known for coming forward to make manifestation at every opportunity no matter whether they manifest for the correct issues or the wrong, mostly they manifest for the wrong issues , merely because  they discredit the government which is their principal motivation.

It was reported, that they had made :

 “ a strong case for foregrounding media freedom, the right to free speech and the right to information among the priority areas in post-war Sri Lanka.  Though Sri Lanka guarantees the right to free speech in its Constitution and is a signatory to all relevant international covenants, the seven media organizations informed the UN delegation, these rights have been under severe threat since the past many years.” 

They had pointed out that, “…. 114 media practitioners and other citizens being killed since 1981, in retaliation for their exercise of the right to free speech. The trend has in fact been escalating, with 34 journalists being recorded as killed since 2005.

Had Navi Pillay accepted these accusations on the face value, or had she made any attempt to verify the truth , or the reasons behind such accusations ?
If not she should have examined into the petition before the  facts are accepted or see through them  through objectivity to find out whether they are exaggerations to discredit the government to fit into certain agendas of groups of persons, or countries?

Some of these allegations may have been investigated, or are in the course of being investigated by the relevant authorities in Sri Lanka. But they by themselves cannot be attributed to a Government  “showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.” 

A government has a right to control certain media reports when they are made deliberately  to incite people against the government, groups of people, religious institutions etc.

A country specially a developing Country expects its local media to support the government in its development process without projecting a wrong image of the country to the outside world,  which is more  interest in itself, rather  than in the progress and development of  developing countries.

In that respect the  press in Sri Lanka lacks patriotic sentiments, more critical of the government than appreciative of its contribution to development and progress of the country.

Many Journals of Sri Lanka are well known for “slanting” news  to suit their purpose political or  otherwise.  One of the journalists whose house was burgled recently herself  speaks of false reporting by the media. The journalist Mandana Ismail Abeywickrama  says: 

“…The past week has been a nightmare. Apart from the trauma experienced by my family and myself due to the pre-dawn break in at our residence on Saturday (24), the biggest disappointment has been the actions of certain sections of the media and their false reportage of the incident.”

The Media Movements had added in their petition, “ With the climate of intimidation being pervasive, Sri Lanka’s journalists are compelled to adopt the survival strategies of exile or severe self-censorship.”   This is highly exaggerated as there is no climate of intimidation. 

 
The Udayan paper for instance is inciting racism without hesitating to give false information to discredit the government and the Armed Forces. Such journals should not be tolerated even in a democracy, let alone in a Dictatorship.

The JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva pretending to be a patriotic politician, criticises the Government for political benefit to JVP without caring that such unfounded criticism allow the foreign enemies of Sri Lanka to find  confirmation of  their prejudices against Sri Lanka. 

He had said, that, “ …the international community has been interfering in Sri Lankan affairs in the recent past and the visit by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to Sri Lanka was part of that interference…..and that “ … the government, at the same time, is violating human rights in Sri Lanka … the government should protect human rights and democracy to prevent outside interference, and that “ … the JVP does not support either the government or Pillay.

Another person on whom Navi Pillai may have relied upon to make her uncalled for remark is   Veerasan Yogeswaran, a 60-year-old Jesuit priest who runs the Centre for Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, who had told AFP from his home in Trincomalee,  that five or six plainclothes policemen visited him at midnight and before dawn, just hours after the meeting with Pillay.  He had added that ,  “The concern is that they are going to homes at midnight and questioning people". 

That was just his statement without any verifiable evidence.

The other source of interest that  may have provoked  Navi Pillay’s  comment about Sri Lanka heading  in an increasingly authoritarian direction ” in other terms “a Dictatorship” is perhaps the result of her “pow-wow “ with our erstwhile champion of  the “ West” Ranil Wickramasinghe,  being carried away  in a political flood water is trying to  hold onto any “ straw” to  escape into a safe haven.

 

It was reported  that, the “….Discussions between UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay and the main Opposition last afternoon had focused essentially on post-war erosion of democracy.

 Ranil Wickramasinghe had also said, that the United National Party  has “a draft bill to re-enact 17A (it)was ready and could be passed in Parliament as an urgent bill since it would be certain of obtaining the necessary support.” 

He had said to the reporters, that “We spoke a lot about the freedom of the press,”.  The UNP officials who participated in the discussions had said that they, “raised recent incidents of attacks on the independent media, including the attack on the residence of a senior Sunday Leader journalist and the blockade on the website Colombo Telegraph.”

They said they had also focussed, on, “ the deterioration of democratic values, the breakdown of the rule of law and the increase in religious intolerance. The violence in Weliweriya also came up in the discussions.”

 

The UNP Deputy Leade Karu Jaya suriya had told the reporters, “the party had emphasised the need to re-establish democracy after the defeat of the LTTE. “As the party that ushered independence to Sri Lanka, the UNP has every right to speak of the current democratic crisis in the country” The people of Sri Lanka specially those who vote UNP should see through the falsity of UNP as a National PoliticalParty and reject them at the next general elections.

However, that was enough grist to the mill, and Navi Pillay  perhaps made use of  UNP sounding of a democratic crisis to crown her prejudices by stating that “…Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.”

However, in another development elsewhere with Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha meeting the US Ambassador Michele Sission (another Robert O’Blake), they had an hour long discussion on a  10-point proposal by the National Movement for Social Justice (NMSJ) for reforms, including the abolition of the Executive Presidency. 

The 10 points have similarities to the discussions UNP had with Navineetham Pillay, and this too would have been reported to  Navi Pillay for her overall conclusions after visit to Sri Lanka.

Reading through Pillay’s report,  it appears that  she could have made it  without any visit to Sri Lanka as she has apparently  learnt nothing  from her visit that could have changed her pre-conceived ideas about Sri Lanka, except that she has developed a new notion of Sri Lanka heading towards a Dictatorship.

Navineetham Pillai had learnt nothing from her visit, she goes back with the same prejudices she came with.

Navi Pillai has gone. She made a statement to the press.  But from her statement , it appears that after seven days in Sri Lanka she has learnt nothing  new. She goes back with the same notions and prejudices with which she came.

There are different ways of listening, one is  as one who knows nothing- a neutral objective listener, and the other as one who already knows, therefore listen to find evidence to confirm what one already knows. In the case of Navi pillai, she had listened only to confirm her prejudices against Sri Lanka.

After a short introduction of  who and  what she had seen,  and that she will make a further statement  later to the Human Rights Council in Geneva, and  a written report in March next year, she said:

 “I will today confine myself to a few key issues that crystallized during the course of the mission. I will divide these human rights issues into two parts: those related to the vicious and debilitating 27-year conflict between the Government and the LTTE, and its aftermath; and those that relate to the whole country.2 Some media, ministers, bloggers and various propagandists in Sri Lanka have, for several years now, on the basis of my Indian Tamil heritage, described me as a tool of the LTTE. They have claimed I was in their pay, the “Tamil Tigress in the UN.” This is not only wildly incorrect, it is deeply offensive. This type of abuse has reached an extraordinary crescendo during this past week, with at least three Government Ministers joining in.”

From her first statement to the media, we may perhaps absolve her as being in the pay of the LTTE, but nevertheless we cannot completely absolve her from her sympathies to the LTTE. (She wanted to offer flowers to Prabhakaran). We see from her statement to the press that she has veered away from the Government’s points of view to accept those of  the  LTTE sympathisers who are still promoting the  agenda of the terrorists, but in a different form, and those who had been recommended  by them , and the parties opposed to the government.

Then she professed her  South African Nationality, of which the apartheid regime had tried to deprive her.  She said, “I am a South African and proud of it.”

But she should have said this to her Tamil interlocutors in the North and East of Sri Lanka who are refusing to mix with the Sinhala and Muslim Communities and say that  “they  are  Sri Lankans and proud of it”. They want to be the  Nationals of a Tamil  Eelam State they are still hoping to create.

The  message Navi Pillai should have given to TNA and others seeking separation, is that it is more important to be a part of the whole, than be a part separated from the whole. 

She  as the UN Commissioner of Human Rights  should seek to establish unity among a divided people instead of fostering it. Therefore, while seeking  evidence of violation of human rights against the government, she should have  also told the Tamil people that it is not in their interest to be separated from the other Communities in Sri Lanka,  but  they should  instead seek  integration. 

Then she says no doubt to prove that she is not the  “Tamil Tigress in the UN”, that  “…… the LTTE was a murderous organization that committed numerous crimes and destroyed many lives. …….. Those in the diaspora who continue to revere the memory of the LTTE must recognize that there should be no place for the glorification of such a ruthless organization.”

Then she paid her respect to those families which  have lost some one they can never replace. She said, “  It is important everyone realizes that, although the fighting is over, the suffering is not.” 

She should know that suffering continues because it is kept alive.  However, it is normal that those who have lost some one or other at one point of time accept the fact of loss and go on living, leaving aside the lamentation.  We cannot go on grieving for the dead, because we have to live for those who are living.

In the holocaust  millions of Jews died a cruel death , so did the Japanese in the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It did not end there but those powerful, blind to the suffering of the feeble and the  weak  killed in Vietnam, Korea, Libya and continue to kill in Iraq, Afghanistan,  and proposing to continue the same killing  in Syria. In Chile unknown numbers are still missing. Nevertheless, those “who have lost some they can never replace” all  continue to live without complaining about those who have died or gone missing. 

Nearer home in the South of Sri Lanka too there are families who have lost some one they can never replace.  But their grief is not kept alive as it is in the North by the Tamil National Alliance and the Catholic Priests. Thousands of Sinhala police officers and civilians  have been tortured and killed by the terrorists and thousands have gone missing. Navi Pillai did not have a word for them

Navi Pillai had said, “Wounds will not heal and reconciliation will not happen, without respect for those who grieve, and remembrance for the tens of thousands of Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims and others who died before their time on the battlefield, in buses, on the street, or in detention. As one wife of a missing man put it poignantly: “Even when we eat, we keep a portion for him.”

There is a time for grief and lamentation, and then there is a time to  accept the reality of  impermanence and continue to live. It is only then that the  wounds will heal , and the reconciliation will happen .  Sri Lanka has come out of a thirty years of tremendous “grief”, in which practically every one of its citizens had  suffered. Should theycontinue their grief for another thirty years ?

Then she says  how she was moved by  the , “…profound trauma I have seen among the relatives of the missing and the dead, and the war survivors, in all the places I have visited, as well as by their resilience. This was particularly evident among those scratching out a living among the ghosts of burned and shelled trees, ruined houses and other debris of the final battle of the the war along the lagoon in Mullaitivu.” 

These traumas she has evidenced may be several fold in places she had not visited,  like those civilian men women and children being killed by constant drone attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan, killed by  bombardments in Libya, Syria and Iraq.  Because in those places there is not even a Government to look after them, and they continue to live in the debris left after bombardments.

In Vietnam after the use of Agent Orange by the US Armed Forces, 400,000  Vietnamese were killed or maimed, 500,000 children born with birth defects. According to the Red Cross of Vietnam 1 million people are disabled  or have health problems due to Agent Orange. (Wikipedia)

This is not to minimise the suffering of the people in Sri Lanka, but to point out that  in Sri Lanka the Government is making an effort to lessen the suffering that had been caused to them, showing that they are not alone handicapped by their loss, but there is a government to listen to them and make amends as far as it can, and make the life agreeable for those who are living. 

Sri Lanka is after all just four years after eliminating terrorism.  In order to overcome grief and for progress and development every one- the Sinhala , the Tamil, the Muslims and the rest  have to close ranks with each other  and unite to build peace and make Sri Lanka a better place to live together.

Then Navi Pillai says with a touch of sarcasm, “ Throughout my visit, the authorities, at all levels, have been keen to demonstrate to me how much has been achieved in terms of resettlement, reconstruction and rehabilitation in the relatively short period since the conflict with the LTTE ended in 2009. ”

 

That was in fact why Navi Pillai was invited.  It was for her to see for herself that Sri Lanka government not only eliminated terrorism, but it also  resettled  the displaced  providing them with an  environment far more developed and comfortable than what it had been before,  giving them  renewed hopes of  a future for their children  and peace and security for themselves.

That “ keenness of authorities every where to demonstrate the achievements” was not to distract Navi Pillai from what she had been claiming for the last four years  that Sri Lanka violates human rights and the Armed Forces have committed war crimes without even seeing the reality of Sri Lanka, but to make her understand that  image she had formed of Sri Lanka from what she had heard from others is different from the ground reality.

It appears Navi Pillai grudges saying this, but she had nevertheless said, “And the reconstruction achievements, made with the help of donor countries, UN agencies and NGOs, are indeed impressive…………As a result, the great majority of the more than 450,000 people who were internally displaced at the end of the conflict have now gone home.”

But she adds, “These are important achievements, and I understand the Government’s concern that they have perhaps not been sufficiently recognized. However, physical reconstruction alone will not bring reconciliation, dignity, or lasting peace. Clearly, a more holistic approach is needed, and I have repeated my previous offer of OHCHR’s assistance in these areas. ”

Does Sri Lanka really need assistance from OHCHR , “ to provide truth, justice and reparations for people’s suffering during the war” ?

Navi Pillai had failed to see what exactly the  Government is trying  its best to do. The Government is making all efforts  to bring the Tamil people into the main stream of  politics in Sri Lanka, without  a concept of a majority and a minority, but just a nation of Sri Lankans, just like  the Tamils of South Africa are no more a minority but a part of the Nation of South Africa.  What more holistic could it be ? 

It is the Tamils, the TNA MPs and the Catholic Priests in the North that obstruct a holistic approach to a genuine reconciliation of Communities.

Since the elimination of terrorism much progress has been made in Sri Lanka in many field, and the people are benefiting from  those developments to  improve their standard of living . Perhaps Navi Pillai did not pay adequate attention to that fact when she says:

“ There are a number of specific factors impeding normalization, which – if not quickly rectified – may sow the seeds of future discord. These are by and large to do with the curtailment or denial of personal freedoms and human rights, or linked to persistent impunity and the failure of rule of law. From the very beginning, I have placed great hopes in Sri Lanka achieving true peace and reconciliation after the war.”

In reality  the desire for  true peace should come from the people themselves,  and it is with that desire for peace, that  the desire for   reconciliation would arise.

She did not hesitate to repeat her oft repeated  accusation about war crimes, while she was  welcoming the LLRC report, though  criticising it  for  side stepping  transparent impartial investigation  of “ a conflict that  saw numerous war crimes and  other violations….”

She could take credit for all that if it is only Sri Lanka that is committing all the violations and war crimes, but unfortunately  she is blind to real war crimes in the other parts of the world committed by “ intruding” forces coming from the USA and the West.

She of course has consulted the likes of the Tamil diaspora  who are the first hand informants to form her prejudicial image of Sri Lanka.

“ I was concerned to hear about the degree to which the military appears to be putting down roots and becoming involved in what should be civilian activities, for instance education, agriculture and even tourism. I also heard complaints about the acquisition of private land to build military camps and installations, including a holiday resort. ………… Clearly, the army needs some camps, but the prevalence and level of involvement of soldiers in the community seem much greater than is needed for strictly military or reconstruction purposes four years after the end of the war.”

The TNA, the Catholic Priests of the North and even the Civil society  in Jaffna may be concerned about the presence of the Armed Forces in the North and the East.  But it is the government that has to face the ruthless terrorists and sacrifice large numbers of its youth –the soldiers, maim many others, if there were to be a recurrence of terrorism once again in the North. The government has the duty to protect and provide security for  its people, even if the Tamils of the North do not seem to realise it.

Therefore,  it is the Government that has to decide whether or not to maintain military camps in the North and East. Neither Navi Pillai nor the International Community was their to help the government end that cancer of terrorism.

The Tamil people may have forgotten that period of suffering but the Government and the Sinhala people who made the major sacrifice cannot and will not forget it. 

Navi Pillay says that the, “ presence of the military and other security forces is seen by many as oppressive and intrusive, with the continuing high level of surveillance of former combatants and returnees at times verging on harassment.”  It is like some prisoners released from prisons in the West, with an electronic band  placed round their ankles, for the authorities to keep check of their whereabouts .   It is a safety measure. The government of Sri Lanka is not resorting to such an electronic devise in the case of “former combatants and returnees”.

Those Tamils who have complained to her are those who have already forgotten what it was to live under the constant surveillance and the dictates of the terrorists.  They should be thankful that the Soldiers are protecting them and keeping them safe, and make sure that their children are not kidnapped to make suicide bombers, or child soldiers.

Sexual harassment against women is an oft made accusation , but where such reports have been made the Government had taken legal action against those concerned.  Any responsible  Government and  an Armed Force  have to be aware of that necessity, without a high level official from the UN comes to point it out.

The NGOs had been  causing immense damage to Sri Lanka during the period of  terrorism and interference after terrorism levelling accusations of violation of human rights against the government and the Armed Forces. Navi Pillai says:

“Because of the legacy of massive trauma, there is a desperate need for counselling and psychosocial support in the North, and I was surprised and disappointed to learn that the authorities have restricted NGO activity in this sector. I hope the Government can relax controls on this type of assistance.”

The Government cannot allow access to NGO’s to please Navy Pillai or the International Community.  NGOs may be allowed but there should be strict control of the type of activities in which they engage.  They come for supposed humanitarian services but engage themselves in activities against the Government. Should that be tolerated ?

Sri Lanka is suitably equipped for counselling and psychological support in the North.  But the hitch about the North is the non-cooperation of the Tamils with the government sponsored aid due to the constant interference of the Tamil politicians with their separatist agenda.

She spoke about religious violence as one of her concerns.  This is some thing that the government is unable to suppress as the understanding the  reasons for religious violence  and need to resort to peaceful means of resisting such violence,  has to come from the people concerned.  It is not unique to Sri Lanka.  It is happening in UK, France, Germany, and USA itself.  It is also the  new forms of religious fundamentalism such as Wahabism coming from outside.

If there is extremism coming from one group of religious believers,  it is normal that there is  resistance  from the other.  It is not a human rights violation by the government, but perhaps it may be the failure on the part of the government to take a  firm decision  for political reasons that  aggravates such situations. The Government has a Ministry of Religious Affairs  which has to settle some of these problems but for the moment there is a marked inaction by the Ministry which the Government may take into account.

Then she has spoken of the disturbing  aspect of her visit where, “I have received reports that people in villages and settlements in the Mullaitivu area were visited by police or military officers both before and after I arrived there. In Trincomalee, several people I met were subsequently questioned about the content of our conversation. This type of surveillance and harassment appears to be getting worse in Sri Lanka, which is a country where critical voices are quite often attacked or even permanently silenced…….”

Navi Pillai should not come to hasty conclusion on what she had heard, because many things are said by interested parties to discredit the government and the Armed Forces and  these information are not always correct and cannot be relied upon.  Some of these accusations of “permanently silencing the critics” have not been confirmed and a finger of accusation cannot be directed at the government.

After  speaking of several such concerns of hers, she sadly made a statement  which  can hardly be expected to come from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as she knows well the difference between democracy and  dictatorship ( increasingly authoritarian direction). 

She  said, “ I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided by the end of the war to construct a new vibrant, all-embracing state, is showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction.”

But Sri Lanka is far from being a democracy “showing signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction,” as she puts it.  This shows to what extent she  is determined to maintain her prejudiced image of Sri Lanka. 

There is no sign what so ever that justifies her statement, and her being the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights does not give her the privilege of making statement without sound reason against a country, which invited her to see for her self at her own convenience what is going on inside the Country.  

If this is what she is capable of stating  to the media before leaving the country which received her, we can imagine what her statement to the UN Human Rights Council is likely to be.

Navi Pillai  came to Sri Lanka with plenty of prejudices having learnt about the country from the Darusman Report,  and listening to the pro terrorist Diaspora. She goes back with those same prejudices with which she came, confirmed by selective evidence she may have collected.  

Open letter to Navi Pillai, in order to make her mission to Sri Lanka meaningful

This listening to interested parties and civil society is an exercise which is not new to Navi Pillai having listened to the Tamils of the diaspora and the anti Sri Lanka NGOs, Human Rights Activists, members of the Darusman Committee,  and all that caboodle.  This exercise of listening unless she is calm and equanimous  will only confuse further her already confused mind about Sri Lanka.

But from what has been reported she seems to be asking the wrong questions, though she said at the out set that her visit is within the frame work of human rights.  However, she should be intellectually cautious  to  elucidate the psychological essence  from the answers the people give for the questions she poses.

Pillai should also keep in mind the American sponsored Resolution against Sri Lanka which begins:

That States must ensure that any measure taken to combat terrorism complies with their obligations under international law, in particular international human rights, refugee and humanitarian law, as applicable,

This is a strange statement inserted into the resolution by  America, as it is  the one Nation in the world today that leads the rest of the Western nation against “their” terrorism, which infringes  the above “principle”. 

It is in that light,   where  the  very perpetrators of crimes against humanity are the ones  who  sit on judgment against  Sri Lanka  which over came thirty years of suffering by  elimination a ruthless group of terrorists, that Navi Pillai should  make her investigation to understand  whether  there is any reason why Sri Lanka should be held accountable for the elimination of terrorism.

Therefore, when she is listening to the people  she should understand their mental attitudes,  whether they are expressing their own views, whether the message they try to give contain facts or whether they are made up, and fictitious , whether they are hateful  and baseless insinuations, they sham or lie, or  whether they are just and sincere,  etc.

The Sinhala majority are looked at by the Tamil people with bias and anger  without justifiable reason for accusation of racism, chauvinism, and their discrimination towards the minorities. In order to gain insight into the real situation that existed before terrorism and exists after, Navi Pillai should also study the mental attitude of the Sinhala people. For that  Navi Pillai should also meet the Sinhala civil society in the south.

Sinhala people despite all the accusations levelled against  them are generous, friendly, forgiving and sociable.  They have nothing against the Tamil people. They ask nothing of them other than to   accept the Sinhala people as their compatriots,  share with them the motherland which belongs to every one, extend to them an unbiased hand of friendship, and give up the notion that the Tamil people are different from the rest of the people and therefore they should have their own Tamil Eelam. 

The riots of Sri Lanka were not begun by the Sinhala, but  they were brought into to it through  provocation by the Tamils of the North acting on their own or instigated by others with vested interest, meaninglessly murdering  Sinhala police men and a businessman. 

The ambitious Political leaders of the North in order  to win over the  Tamil voters portray  the Sinhala people in the South as racists, against Tamil people, and that they deprive the Tamil people of their rights.

This bias began with some Tamil  politicians asking for equal rights when Sri Lanka had just won  Independence and was trying to build a nation of the people dispersed and communally separated by the Colonial rulers practicing divide and rule policies.  The high caste Tamil political leaders  who were mostly Western educated lawyers, liked this separation as it gave them a political leadership amoung the Tamil people  and enhanced their social stature.

But after the elimination of the Terrorists Sri Lanka has evolved, and there is no discrimination against the minorities. The Tamil people cannot any longer complain that they cannot communicate with the Government in their own language as Sri Lanka follows a

tri-Lingual policy.  Tamils  have equal opportunities with the rest of the people in  Sri Lanka.  They have been provided with equal education opportunities.  There are Tamil men and Women recruited to the Armed Forces.

The Tamil  people are not segregated from the rest of the people.  But now the TNA is trying to segregate the Tamils from the Sinhala in the North. In the South the Tamils  live side by side with the Sinhala and the Muslims. They have acquired land and property in the south and have their own business premises.   They work as doctors, teachers, engineers, scientists, businessmen and administrators every where in Sri Lanka.  They have Kovils and religious places in the South as much as they have them in the North.

But yet the Tamil political leaders have brain washed the poor Tamil civilians to believe that they will continue to suffer as long as they are with the Sinhala and other Communities in a unitary state of Sri Lanka, therefore  the Tamil civilians are trapped into demanding  a separate Tamil Eelam State.

It is here that Navi Pillai should look closely  into the 1^st Clause of  the US sponsored Resolution against Sri Lanka:

Calls upon the Government of Sri Lanka to implement the constructive recommendations made in the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission and to take all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations and commitment to initiate credible and independent actions to ensure justice, equity, accountability and reconciliation for all Sri Lankans;

The difficulties of the implementation of the LLRC is not due to laxity or disregard for its implementation by the government, but the main obstacle for its implementation comes from the Tamil politicians- mainly the TNA and its supporters like  Pakiasothy Saravanamuttu. 

Therefore, it should not be taken as an unwillingness on the part of the Government.  It is necessary that Navi Pillai does not  give too much importance to  what the TNA,  and the Tamil Catholic Priests have to say about the government and their demand for a separate Province for the Tamils.  None of them are interested in a genuine reconciliation of the Communities as they are the stake holders for a separate Tamil Eelam State.   

The Catholic Priest Fr. Emmanuel has no interest what so ever for the reconciliation of the Tamil and Sinhala Communities, and the Catholic Priests in the North follow him and they are all for separation.  Therefore, Navi Pillai cannot get anything important for her search for the truth of what happened or is happening  in the North. All what they do,show or speak about  are with a view to separate and not to reconcile.

Outwardly the Tamil politicians will say they do not want a separate Sri Lanka, but a separate  Provincial area for the Tamil speaking people, amounts to separating the Tamil people from the people of other Communities. 

But why should the Tamil people in the North be separated from the rest of the people.  It is a retrograde idea, we in the 21^st Century, should have progressive ideas.  It is time that Sri Lanka which has come out of a ruthless terrorism because of the separatist idea of the past go forward.  The idea of a separate Province for the Tamils being inculcated into the minds of the Tamils of the North would be an impediment  for the Tamil people to  fall in line with the other communities for a progressive march forward.

Navi Pillai should also meet those Tamils who ran away from the terrorists who were keeping them as a human shield and came to the safety of Armed forces which rescued them.  She should ask them  who fed them when they were finally in the camps, ask them who gave them clothes, and provided other necessities .  

Because Ms.Navi Pillai, the 300,000 or so Tamil men women and children who were rescued by the Armed Forces had to be given three meals a day and provided them with other necessities of life.   The Sinhala people from the south prepared packets of meals  and handed them over to the Army, which had them  transported by air to the North, where the IDP camps were located. The Sinhala people collected clothes and other necessity for the IDPs and had them transported by air.

Everybody is asking for accountability, violation of human rights,  but nobody asks how these 300,000 IDPs were looked after.  While the people in the South were providing food and other amenities, the terrorists sent a suicide bomber who blasted herself in the midst of the rescued Tamil civilians killing many including the Soldiers who were helping them.

Ms.Navi Pillai,  during the week you will be in Sri Lanka , do not be  like a “detective” collecting  only evidence against  the Government of Sri Lanka and its Armed Forces as to how the   Tamil people were inconvenienced, put in danger, or how their human rights were violated by them,  because there were many  more acts of  humanity  done by the Armed Forces you accuse for war crimes. 

The Armed Forces helped the people they rescued by carrying  the old, the wounded or the children in their arms, and on  hand made stretches.   They fed them with their own rations going without meals themselves, some of them died shot by the terrorists when they were in the act of saving a disabled, or a wounded Tamil man , woman or a child running away from the terrorists.

Those acts and tragedies  have also to be taken into account when you finally make your report.  Those acts of kindness and humanity of the Armed Forces nobody will come forward to tell you.  Therefore, you have to seek out  such IDPs who  were rescued by the armed forces and ask them appropriate questions to extract the truth. It is important as those act are not compatible with the accusation of war crimes

The Armed Forces that the TNA says should not be in the North, are very much needed in  the North, to avoid another spate of terrorism.  That is probable only because the Tamil politicians like those of the TNA  fan the  fires of hatred against the Sinhala and keep alive  the anti Sinhala bias.  

After the World War  America and its allies have permanent armed forces(NATO)  stationed in Germany, Japan, and in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere, and the British have their Armed forces permanently stationed in Cyprus and Gibraltar. 

Sri Lanka after having suffered for thirty years from  terrorism that began in the North to carve out a separate Eelam State, should also have  permanent army camps in the North and the East to protect the country and the people against a recurrence of such a situation.

Ms.Pillai  should also ask the Tamil civilians how much they know of the Sinhala people, and how have they come to  know of the Sinhala people .  Because many Tamil Civilians in the North have not gone to the south and had no contact with the Sinhala to  know about them, they merely repeat what the Tamil politicians like those of the TNA keep telling them- brain washing them against the Sinhala.

Therefore, your visit to Sri Lanka will not give you the essential information to form a valid opinion, unless  you probe into  the thoughts, attitudes, and  the nature of the people who give you “evidence” . It is that which will give you a clue to understand why the Tamil people in the north are complex and unable to understand the reality of  living  together with other communities, as they do in the South, but parrot about a separate Eelam State because the TNA MPs had been telling them .

That is why it is necessary that in the North too there should be a mixture of Communities as it is in the South quite contrary to what the TNA MPs profess, which is  for their own political benefit and not for that of the poor Tamil civilians of the North.  The Tamil people of the North would be better off living side by side with the members of other Communities instead of the forced segregation proposed by the TNA.

Navi Pillai should not fall into the trap of  red herrings that will be  thrown before her  to distract her attention from real issues.  Media freedom is one such, if she were to collect one days publication of all news papers and tabloids, she will find all those journals carry items attacking the government,  the President and the Ministers. All news papers do that in complete freedom without any censure.  But yet they complain that the government denies press freedom.

Disappearance of persons, attacks on journalists, are the issue that are continually raised, and attending to those issues will not get you any where.  Navi Pillai should instead see the overall development plan, where no one is discriminated for religion, language or communal difference.

She should see who are really making the reconciliation process difficult. She may observe  that in Sri Lanka there is a climate of peace where all communities could live together happily and the difficulties for such unity come from the Tamil politicians and from the  Tamil Diaspora, and some Catholic Priests.

Lastly with regard to the last clause in the US sponsored  resolution against Sri Lanka:

3. Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant special procedures mandate holders to provide, in consultation with, and with the concurrence of, and the Government of Sri Lanka to accept,, advice and technical assistance on implementing the above-mentioned steps;, and requests the Office of the High Commissioner to present a report on the provision of such assistance to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session.

Navi Pillai  knows that Sri Lanka fought against a ruthless terrorism for three decades.  No one came to “ advice or give technical assistance” to Sri Lanka Government  or its Armed Forces in the difficult task of ending terrorism in Sri Lanka.  

Sri Lanka after elimination of terrorism, went through an unprecedented  period of  a development process , and came out of the state of a developing country to become a middle income country, all that was without “ advice or technical assistance” from any one.  And Sri Lanka  wants none of it now.

Therefore, Navi Pillai would have understood after her visit to this Island that Sri Lanka needs no ones advice or technical assistance now to develop the country, reconcile the people and progressively go forward as an Independent Sovereign State.

It is time that the UN Human Rights Council is told that Sri Lanka should be left alone to reconcile the people and implement the recommendation of the LLRC, and that it had not  in eliminating terrorism committed any violation of human rights and that its Armed Forces  have done a heroic job of work first in the elimination of terrorists,  and secondly in the Sri Lanka’s development plan.

Finally Navi Pillai should demand the UN Human Rights Council that it should  not allow US and its allies to systematically pass resolutions against Sri Lanka calling for accountability and accuse its Armed Forces for war crimes,  for which there is no evidence what so ever.

C.V.Wigneshwaran TNA's Chief Ministerial Candidate gives a new twist to 13 Amendment.

The TNA’s Chief Ministerial Candidate C.V.Wigneshwaran is supposed to be a jurist, but unfortunately he seems to have got every thing wrong. He has said in a statement to  Colombo Gazette,  referring to the Indo-Lanka Pact,  “This is an international agreement. This came about following an agreement between India and Sri Lanka. But if it is going to be changed then India must be consulted.”

Wigneshwaran has to read up his law books before making such a statements as the Indo-Lanka Agreement is a bilateral agreement, and it has not the character of an International Agreement.

The 13 Amendment  is no more a part of that Agreement , but  an Amendment to the Constitution  of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka need not consult  India to remove the 13 Amendment from the Constitution.

“International agreements too may lapse through war or denunciation, or when a fundamental change in circumstances occur”

The Indo-Lanka Agreement was entered into for a specific purpose of disarm the terrorists, and bring peace to Sri Lanka.  Since the circumstance have changed and India could not keep its part of the agreement the Indo-Lanka pact has lapsed.

The 13Amendment was entered into the Constitution of Sri Lanka  as Sri Lanka’s part of the Agreement, for India to fulfil its part of the agreement- which was to disarm the terrorist and bring about peace in North and East.  

As the Indo-Lanka pact is not valid any more as India failed to keep its part of the agreement the government of Sri Lanka is not bound any more to maintain the 13 Amendment in the Constitution or Consult India to remove it from the Constitution.

Wigneshwaran has said that the 13^th Amendment came about as a solution to address issues faced by Tamils.  He is wrong as the Indo-Lanka pact was not to address solution faced by the Tamils, but as a solution to end  terrorism and bring peace to  Sri Lanka.

He had further said that the Tamils have issues and it is “ shocking” if the Sinhalese Majority are not aware of that.”  But he does not seem to know that the  Sinhala Majority also has issues.

Wigneshawaran is living in a different Sri Lanka. The Sri Lanka of to-day we know has removed the cancer of terrorism and is on the way to reconcile the Communities to take the country forward as a nation of  united people not separated by narrow communal differences.

If this is the language that Wigneshawaran speaks, he will be another barrier for the reconciliation of Communities if he were to be the Chief Minister of the North Provincial Council. It would be unfortunate not only for the Tamil people of the North, but also for Sri Lanka as a whole.

His political views are hackneyed and out of date. They are not different from that of the dead terrorist Prabhakaran.  It is no surprise that the TNA has selected him to be its Chief Ministerial Candidate.

If these are the types of Jurists we have it was no wonder that the Sri Lanka Constitution was wrongly interpreted by the  Supreme Court on the question of the impeachment of Shirani Bandaranayake.

Sri Lanka welcomes Navi Pillai as a visitor and an open minded fact finder.

Navi Pillai has said that she does not come to criticise Sri Lanka, and that her visit is within the framework of human rights. 

But there is a small hitch in her statement,

“I frame myself within the human rights standards set for the whole world by all the governments of the world including the government of Sri Lanka. So I’m not writing my statute. I’m looking at the framework that was also developed by Sri Lanka. So if I raise criticism its whether they are complying to those standards,”

It is with regard to the human rights itself. The human rights standards set for the whole world cannot be applied to Sri Lanka. Unlike other countries in the world Sri Lanka is the only country that went through  thirty  years of  utter misery instilled by a ruthless group of terrorists. 

How can those who have not gone through that intense suffering for thirty long years ever understand what it was like ?  Any sacrifice it seemed worth just to end that unbearable mental agony the Nation was going through.

The elimination of that terrorism cost a lot in lives and material leaving many maimed, the memory of that thirty years of suffering will remains for ever embedded in the history of the Nation. Under such circumstances what accountability can any one ask Sri Lanka to give for the elimination of that terror, and bringing back peace.

No one member of the International Community through out that period sympathised with Sri Lanka and its people and helped the successive governments to eliminate  terrorism, but instead helped in aggravating the terrorist situation, demanding from the government a political solution, by the  foreign  NGOs stationed in Sri Lanka, human rights activists, and foreign Ambassodor and governments.

Through out that period, though there had been a steady flow of foreign Ambassadors, government representatives, NGOs into the areas controlled by the terrorists eating and dining with them, none of them raised the question of human rights with the terrorists, or demanded the terrorists to give up terrorism and negotiate with the government for a peace settlement , though such demands were made to the government which was then the victim of terrorism.

It was when the situation was getting dangerously out of control of the Government that in 2005 the President elected by the people realised that the International Community was  working to a secret Agenda. The Western Governments while  demanding the government to come to a peace settlement, were helping the terrorists to form themselves  into  a “military force” allowing them to purchase arms, telecommunication material, and even preparing  airstrips for a terrorist Air Force. 

The President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse  understanding  the dubious role that was being played by the International Community demanded the Norwegian mediators to arrange with the terrorists for peace  negotiations.  The terrorists wanted such negotiations held in  foreign venues  and agreed to send delegations.  After attending one or two sessions of negotiations in venues desired by them the terrorists themselves abandoned the negotiations and made it an occasion to purchase arms and military material to strengthen their  terrorists forces.

The Government of Sri Lanka observed that the terrorists were only marking time preparing themselves for a major armed attack against the Government Forces. It was then that the Government  took a decision to give up the peace solution, and decide on a military solution when the terrorists closed the sluice gates of a tank depriving the farmers of water.

That was the beginning of a military operation against the terrorists that resulted in their elimination.

It was after the elimination of terrorism that the International Community  which  failed in its  secret Agenda commenced  accusing the Government of Sri Lanka for violation of Human Rights, and its Armed Forces for war crimes.

Navi Pillai from a Tamil Community  which suffered segregation under  South African  Apartheid  Government, may have undoubtedly  at some period of her life, hero worshipped Prabhakaran the terrorist leader as a Tamil  rebel leader seeking freedom for the Tamil people of Sri Lanka segregated by an apartheid Sri Lanka Government.

The memory of that  prejudice against the Sinhala Government of Sri Lanka,  against which Prabhakaran  had taken up arms may still be lingering  in her mind. 

It is  therefore important that Navi Pillai on the first day or two of her visit see Sri Lanka  comparing it  with the sordid conditions of apartheid in South Africa, and immerse herself in the breath of fresh air of freedom and peace every body in this Island paradise of Sri Lanka without distinction of  race, colour, religion  or  communal difference  enjoy.

It is only then  she will understand that violation of human rights, and accountability are a far cry from the reality of  peace, freedom of moment  and progress that Sri Lanka has offered to its people be they Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim or other, after the elimination of a brutal terrorist group.

This reality of peace, freedom and on going  development and progress are after a ruthless terrorism which it  eliminated with the  minimum loss to civilians  in air strikes and tactfully using small weapons to protect civilians , and shoot at the terrorists, while  the terrorists were using heavy guns planted amoung the Tamil Civilians held as a human shield.  

The Sri Lanka military offensive against the terrorist was not like the irresponsible air strikes by the  USA and allied forces to eliminate  a “dictatorship” in  Libya , which began by shooting 110 Tomahawk Cruise Missiles by US and British Naval forces into Libya.  NATO would not give the number of bombs dropped in Libya, but one American  Website makes a comparison:

 “NATO bombed the inhabited part of Libya, which is just about the same size in square miles as Massachusetts, and with just about the same population of 6,700,000 human beings. So if you want to imagine what happened to Libya, imagine 14,000 bombs and rockets raining down on Massachusetts.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/03/27/1197266/-14-000-Bombs-on-Libya-Massachusetts.

In the boarder villages of Pakistan the number of civilian deaths resulting from US Drone attacks have been reported as :

 “The secret government document was quoted by the London Bureau of Investigative Journalism (LBIJ) in a report and reveals: “Of 746 people listed as killed in the drone strikes outlined in the document, at least 147 of the dead are clearly stated to be civilian victims, 94 of those are said to be children,”

These are just two cases of civilians killed by the US and the Western Countries in their  theatres of war which need not be repeated for which Navi Pillai as the UNCHR has not demanded accountability.

Navi Pillai at the end of her visit to Sri Lanka is to make a report of her findings to the UNHRCouncil in Geneva.  When making her report she should think twice about  Sri Lanka’s accountability, and violation of human rights in its military operations to eliminate terrorism, as ,

(i) she has failed to raise the question of  accountability  from the USA and its Western allies for  far greater number of recorded  killing of civilians, violation of human rights and  war crimes. 

(ii) the Sri Lanka’s military operations against the terrorists were justified and was an urgent necessity to arrest the continuous massacres of innocent men, women, and children, through every imaginable methods of murder, assassinations, massacre and destruction.

(iii) In that war Sri Lanka made many sacrifices, and  any  civilians deaths   cannot be with any stretch of imagination be called  planned or deliberate acts of  criminality by the Armed Forces.

(iv) The Armed Forces which rescued nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians kept as human shields by the terrorists had no reason, necessity or desire to kill or maim the Tamil Civilians escaping  from the terrorists seeking their help.

(v) Navi Pillai should also understand after seeing for herself the cordial existence of  different Communities, that the Government of Sri Lanka protects and serves all its people providing facilities without discriminating against one Community  or  another, whether Tamil or Muslim.

(vi)  Navi Pillai should also understand that there are always in any country or community disgruntled elements who are never satisfied with what they have, compare their circumstances with those of others and grumble, complain and make difficulties.  They are not saints without faults.

Fact that there are so many organisations working freely criticising the government is proof of respect for media freedom, which interested parties project as denial of such rights by the Government.

Navi Pillai should take all these into consideration when making her final report, without harping excessively on violation of human rights, and accountability.