If we are to continue to remain a sovereign nation it is mandatory that new laws should be enacted to make any attempt of separation either in word or in deed to amount to ‘high treason punishable with loss of civic rights, confiscation of property and death. The State must act swiftly. The present laws to curb traitors such as some Tamil politicians and others, is totally inadequate.
US Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega warned his countrymen. He has urged his Government not to resort to double standards and to stop bullying a country strategically important to the US, unnecessarily antagonising 21 million Sri Lankans by catering to a few thousand criminal LTTE diaspora agents.
Quoting the Sunday Times of 21/2/2021 under the caption ‘Lord Naseby slams Bachelet’s report’, “The tenor of the writing almost has overtones of martyrdom of the Tamil Tiger”. He says the report “glosses over the full extent of the war when a group of vindictive terrorists tried to create a Tamil Quasi Neo Socialist Revolutionary state by first murdering all the moderate Tamil leaders, then assasinating President Premadasa and Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, and countless Ministers, Parliamentarians, civil society leaders and finally using violence to wage war against the armed forces of the democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka. All this was in the name of Eelam”.
Britain is the lead member of the Core Group on the UNHRC Resolution 30/1, 34/1, 40/1. There is little in Bachelet’s report to help move reconciliation forward.
Bachelet is not paid a stupendous salary by the member countries to suppress the truth and blindly side the core group.
Panel of experts
It is sickening to think of the ‘holier than thou’ attitude of the Western countries who are attempting to probe human rights violations of Sri Lanka while they violate human rights with a vengeance. This mock panel of experts have been very pliable and yielded to the influence of the Tamil diaspora. They have by their shallow report proved that they are a set of insignificant people picked up from nowhere by the partial Ban Ki Moon. They have proved that they are not worthy of their standing in any bar of any country. Their report is based on hearsay, unsubstantiated video clips and not based on any rational law followed in any civilised democratic country; not English Law, not Roman Dutch Law, not American Law. In short, they have followed the law of the jungle.
The standard and quality of US and UK politicians have deteriorated to such an extent that they will also compromise their honour for the LTTE diaspora vote they can secure at elections.
This is a recent trend in the West and these political leaders have now become a national disgrace. Honourable politicians of the calibre of Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Harold Macmillan Truman and Eisenhower et al are a dying breed.
In our conflict, the corrupt and foolish Western politicians by taking the side of criminal gangs and their diaspora, are steadily and surely inviting hatred towards their nations. The Arabs detest them. The South American countries spurn them. So do Afghanistan, Pakistan, the African Union, Sri Lanka and a majority of Indians. Almost all Non-Aligned countries do not approve of their ways and their interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states.
It appears that the EU Parliament has now become wiser and realised that the LTTE diaspora is a fraud. Quoting the CDN, “The European Parliament on May 13, 2011 defeated an attempt to seek the immediate establishment of an international justice mechanism on Sri Lanka during an urgent debate called by the Socialist Green Parties at the Strasbourg Plenary Sessions, to draw attention to the so called UN Panel report, on accountability issues in Sri Lanka”. However, the remarks made about the Sri Lankan judiciary were baseless and unwarranted.
Extremist elements
Geoffrey Van Orden heading a group in the EU parliament said, “We regret that we are having this debate today. I suspect that it has been prompted by extremist elements in the Tamil diaspora – the same people who have helped to sustain the LTTE terrorist campaign over many years, through political activities and funding, often from the proceeds of crime. Instead of trying to bring together the people of Sri Lanka, there are those that seek to continue a campaign of hatred and division. They see this Darusman report as a weapon in this campaign and just want to put the SL government in the dock. This approach is malicious and counterproductive.”
He said, “let us do all we can to support the government of Sri Lanka, instead of attacking them.” He urged the EU Parliament to remain vigilant concerning those that seek to re-ignite the embers of LTTE terrorism. “I call on the EU and European governments to be more active in dealing with extremists in our midst,” he added. This position was confirmed by the German MEP, Thomas Mann.
Representing the European Conservatives and Reformists the MEP for UK, Dr Charles Tannock said, “the report is a far cry from reality and was heavy on criticism but light in substance.” This appears to be a direct hit on the intellectual capacity of the mediocre former Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, and also a hit on the other two panellists, Yasmin Sooka of South Africa and Steven Ratner of the USA.
Dr Charles Tannock said, “Sri Lanka has finally achieved peace by defeating a ruthless terrorist organisation such as the LTTE, which had rejected all peace bids made by the government. The word genocide is being mentioned by some, even without knowledge of its meaning.” He questioned the Socialists and Greens, asking, “How anyone could accuse the Sri Lanka Army for genocide, of crimes against humanity, when the same army rescued more than 300,000 Tamil civilians from the LTTE, and has now helped re-settle most of them.”
However, some of those within the European Parliament – influenced by the LTTE diaspora, have still not given up maligning Sri Lanka. This is a damning indictment on the intellectual capacity and integrity of not only Ban Ki moon, but also his so-called expert panel, Darusman, Sooka and Ratner. They are no experts than the man in the moon.
Sri Lanka is being accused by the Western powers and their corrupt stooges in the UN, regarding human rights violations.
A mock panel was appointed by Ban Ki Moon without the sanction of (a) the General Assembly, (b) the Security Council nor, (c) the Human Rights Council. This was a unilateral decision of Ban, in consequence of being pressurised by some Western powers. For such people, human rights is only a façade.
They blindly go on the basis that “Friendship with the West can be revoltingly rewarding while enmity could be revealingly reviling.”
Highly principled forces
Excesses are an accepted reality in war, but on the contrary, the humanitarian exercise by the Sri Lankan Forces to save 300,000 Tamil civilians from the grip of the LTTE proves their bonafides. They were a highly principled forces, with no intention (mens rea), to inflict harm on unarmed civilians.
As regards violation of human rights by the US targeting and killing thousands of unarmed civilians by unmanned aerial vehicles – drones, in Pakistan and Afghanistan, this is what a Judge of the US Federal Court said in his judgment, “There is a painful conflict between human rights and national security. Fundamental human rights have to be sacrificed at the altar of national security”.
This is now settled law in the US and is often cited regarding the killing of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan and the killing of Libyan leader Gadaffi’s son and grandchildren.
Hillary Clinton must apply the same principle enunciated by the US Federal Court as regards the Sri Lankan conflict which took place 12 years ago and was a forgotten chapter till some Western countries prodded their stooge Ban Ki Moon to appoint a panel of so called experts. By the actions of a few leading politicians in the US, UK, France and EU, these leaders are inviting hatred towards their countries.
Navaneethan Pillai, the Tamil UN Human Rights Chief influenced by the Tamil diaspora has obviously been an enormous influence in securing this laughable report. Her outlook is entirely communal.
If Sri Lanka’s Security Forces wanted to kill the Tamils, all they had to do without wasting their bullets was to watch Velupillai Prabakaran and his men massacring the Tamils when they were running away from the clutches of the LTTE to the Government side. These Tamils were herded like cattle with no food or medicine and forcibly moved from place to place, using them as human shields.
Ban and his mock panel have not had a word of praise for the Security Forces saving the lives of these 300,000 Tamils when the SL Forces put their own lives in harm’s way to save them. This was perhaps the only massive humanitarian exercise in the whole world, which cost the lives of hundreds of SL Security Forces.
After the death of Prabakaran and his cohorts, the Government fed the refugees, provided them shelter, medicine and other sanitary facilities to prevent an outbreak of cholera.
Every conceivable precaution was taken for their wellbeing, while the Tamil daispora contributed nothing to look after their own displaced people for whom they now shed crocodile tears.
At the the 17th UN Human Rights Council Session held in New York, Cuba, Pakistan and China among other countries vehemently opposed any intervention in Sri Lanka. The Western countries, US, UK, France and the EU had a major setback. These western countries are clearly influenced by the Tamil diaspora and their filthy lucre. Human Rights is only a façade to justify their conduct.
The writer is a President’s Counsel.