Friday, September 23, 2011
Statement by H.E. Mahinda Rajapaksa President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka at the General Debate of the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly United Nations, New York. 23rd September, 2011,
Mr. President of the Sixty Sixth Session of the General Assembly
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is with great pleasure that I congratulate Your Excellency Nassir Abdul Aziz Al-Nasser on your assumption of the Presidency.
I must also congratulate His Excellency Ban Ki-moon warmly on his re-election as Secretary-General and we look forward to working with him constructively. As we gather here today, it is appropriate to reflect on the values and ideals which inspire the United Nations system. One of the principal attributes is the spirit of flexibility which has always been a feature of the United Nations.
We must acknowledge the need for that spirit of openness and adaptability today, more than at any other time. This is because the foundations of the world order are being transformed dramatically and fundamentally. At the heart of these changes is the need to protect smaller countries in the developing
world and to advance their interests vigorously.
In the midst of uncertainty, there are some things which must remain constant. These reflect our esteemed beliefs and convictions. Despite repeated references in this Assembly by many member countries, on the right of the Palestinian people to a State of their own within secure borders, we still have not been able to make it a reality.
It is a matter for profound disappointment that this has not yet happened. There is a window of opportunity now and we must make use of it before it is too late. It is time for decisive action rather than more discussion. This will be in the interest of the security and the well being of the entire region including Israel.
The need for sustained support for countries of the African Continent at this critical time is also worthy of mention.
It is important to remind ourselves that every country cherishes the values and traditions, and deeply held religious convictions it has nurtured over the centuries. These cannot be diluted or distorted under the guise of human rights, by the imposition of attitudes or approaches which are characteristics of alien cultures.
If this were done, it would amount to a violation of human rights in a fundamental sense. It must also be pointed out that even where sanctions are imposed, extreme care has to be taken to ensure that the people at large are not harmed by such action.
I would also express, once again, my solidarity with the people of Cuba and I wish them all success.
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Whilst clash of ideas, opnions and values continues, we have clearly to recognise that dialogue, deliberation and consensus offer the only viable means for resolving differences. The might of powerful nations cannot prevail against justice and fair play.
In the troubled times in which we live, we can derive guidance from the wise words of Gautama the Buddha who advised the Lichchavi Princes, whose energies were being consumed by bitter disputes among them, that the way forward consists of meeting, discussing and departing in an atmosphere of amity and goodwill. This represents the essential spirit of the United Nations, particularly relevant today.
The most significant challenge to stability and progress in the modem world is posed by the menace of terrorism. Recent experience the world over amply demonstrates that inconsistent standards and discriminating approaches can unintentionally give a fresh lease of life to the forces of terror. An explicit and
uniform response which refuses to recognize political shades of terrorism, is necessarily required.
Terrorism presents a threat from which not even the wealthiest and most powerful of nations are immune. It must be remembered, as well, that terrorist groups frequently operate under the guise of front organizations. Conferring legitimacy on these has the inevitable effect of providing comfort and encouragement to the merchants of terror.
As the leader of a nation which has paid a heavy price due to terrorism over a quarter of a century, I would underline that we must firmly resolve to rid the world of terrorism. We need to have solid practical action on the ground, and send out our collective message on this issue, loud and clear universally.
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
The interest of the developing world needs to be protected in another significant respect. It is vitally important to insist that the structures and procedures of multilateral organizations are uniform and consistent and devoid of discrimination.
My country has reason for concern with approaches tainted by an unacceptable degree of selectivity, which we have brought to the notice of the organizations in question in recent weeks. The developing world must keep a vigil against these irregular modalities which should be resisted through our collective strength.
After three decades of pain and anguish, today, Sri Lankans of all ethnicities, living in all parts of Sri Lanka, are free from LTTE terror and no longer live in a state of fear.
However, I am deeply mindful that the battle for peace is every bit as important and difficult as the struggle against terror. After the eradication of terrorism, my government has turned its undivided attention to building anew, the foundations of a unified and vibrant nation and drawing upon the inherent strengths of our country and in particular, the unique caliber of our human potential.
It is justifiable for us to be proud of our nation's achievements during the brief span of thirty months which have elapsed since the beginning of the post conflict phase. The resettlement of more than 95% of internally displaced persons, who constituted the largest number of civilians forcibly held by a terrorist group at any time, while continuing even today to clear the mines laid by terrorists in extensive areas is a proud achievement.
Today, in the Northern Province, the Armed Forces are engaged in development of the infrastructure which were destroyed by the terrorists during a period of three decades. Contrary to malicious propaganda, the numbers of the Armed forces personnel present in the Northern Province is at a minimal level.
Revival of the economy has enhanced incomes and improved livelihoods, excombatants and other cadres after exposure to programmes of vocational training and counseling have been re-integrated into society, electoral process has been restored after decades making possible the emergence of a democratic
leadership. These are among our valued accomplishments.
The remarkable growth of 22% of the economy of the Northern Province is a clear indication of the success achieved by the government's initiatives with regard to development in that part of the country. The GDP growth of the country has been consistent at 8 percent, unemployment at a record low of 4.5 percent and it is also worthy of mention that in the assessment by the World Economic Forum in its Global Competitiveness Report for 2011 - 2012, Sri Lanka shows dramatic improvement, moving up to 52nd from 79th rank over a span of two years.
It is worthy of note that all these developments have taken place within the brief space of 30 months - an achievement all the more significant because of our strong emphasis on reconciliation. Important as economic development is, we have attached the highest priority to fostering the spirit of inclusivity and removing any remnants of bitterness from the hearts and minds of all our people.
Over the last two years, we have recruited 669 Tamil police officers bringing the total number of Tamil officers to 1143, while plans are afoot to recruit more this year.
After more than two decades, a census is being conducted in the Northern Province as a part of the national census, to provide a firm basis for our initiatives.
As a result of these achievements what we see in Sri Lanka today is a selfreliant nation, with robust hope for the future, and a strong economy, strengthened by inward investment flows, unprecedented expansion of tourism and significant growth of volumes of international trade.
Towards consolidation of these trends, leaving behind us, the trauma of the past, we ask of the international community the hand of friendship and goodwill, based on understanding of our nation's determination to confront with courage the challenge of a new era in our history.
We ask our friends in distant lands to drop pre-conceived notions. We strongly believe in home-grown solutions for them to be sustainable. It is clearly impractical to conceive of universal remedies for problems which afflict our societies.
My country, as it comes out of the darkness of the last three decades into the light and promise of the future, must be afforded the time and space to seek its destiny in accordance with the wishes of its people. It is in keeping with the values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and the whole body of international law which governs us.
A further consideration that the international community should take into account is the vulnerability of developing nations and make provision, by means of appropriate institutional arrangements, for their protection. As I observed when inaugurating the fiftieth anniversary meeting of the AsianAfrican
Legal Consultative Committee in Colombo three months ago, dumping of commercial and industrial goods manufactured in developed countries imperils the economies of many Asian and African countries represented here.
Mr. President,
Excellencies,
In conclusion, let me say that the use of substantial subsidies by Treasuries and Reserve Banks to support agricultural production in the developed world, and other forms of protectionism, cause serious distortion of the interplay of market forces, and reduce to a great extent the ability of farmers in many developing
countries to access international markets for their export products on an equitable basis.
The disproportionate pollution of the environment by industrialized countries, and the resultant impact on global warming and climate change, cannot be remedied with any semblance of justice by imposing harsh restraints on developing countries which have contributed very little to aggravation of the problem. These circumstances heighten the importance of social equity at the international level.
May the Noble Triple Gem bless you all.
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Sri Lanka - Crucifixion of a Country for Defeating Terrorism?
By Mathias Keittle, Colombo
AsianTribune.com
September 05, 2011
Sri Lanka eliminated a dreaded terrorist group, with intricate global links, but receives little credit for it!
Unlike elsewhere in the world, Sri Lanka has succeeded in resettling 300,000 IDPs. There are no starving children for the NGOs to feed but this gets ignored!
Sri Lanka has avoided mass misery, epidemics and starvation but the West takes no notice of this.
Sri Lanka has attained enviable socio-economic standards for a developing country while eliminating terrorism but gets no acknowledgement!
The Government of Sri Lanka and its President continue to enjoy unprecedented popular approval through democratic elections but this is dismissed!
The economy continues to boom, but remains unencouraged by the West.
Background
After 27 years of bloody conflict Sri Lanka’s internal mayhem came to an end with the comprehensive defeat of the Tamil Tigers. In an Alice in Wonderland scenario, the country changed from an environment of unconstrained fear and uncertainty to peace and utter relief overnight. Thousands poured out on to the streets to celebrate in an outpouring of incomparable joy and restaurant keepers spontaneously distributed food to all passersby along busy thoroughfares. Over the following months approximately 300,000 IDPs were returned to their own towns and villages, admittedly not to the best of living conditions.
But one has to remember that their circumstances were hardly comfortable under the iron rule of the LTTE for close to 27 years or as they were herded from one tent camp to another as a human shield and a bargaining chip by the retreating LTTE. The retreating LTTE had also removed roofing material from houses to prevent the return of their human shield to their homes. The captured child soldiers (approximately 600) have undergone rehabilitation and have returned to their communities. The UNICEF documented 5700 child recruits by the LTTE. Of the 11,700 former LTTE combatants, over 7000 have been returned to their communities after rehabilitation despite the real risk of some returning to the only profession that they had been trained in – that of being trained killers.
The risk is magnified by the fact that caches of buried weapons continue to be unearthed in the North and the Tamil militants in the West continue to drum up separatism and violence from their safe havens. The continued presence of the military in the North is naively criticized, but the above background factors are ignored. Only a fraction of the detainees will face trial as the evidence against the rest may not be adequate to satisfy the evidential requirements of the courts. A vast effort has been undertaken to restore the economy of the North and huge sums are being pumped in for the purpose.
All this receives hardly a mention in the West while an intense campaign is being orchestrated to pin down individuals allegedly guilty of war crimes and human rights violations. This must surely be the only case in history that a winner in a conflict has been hounded in this manner to account for alleged war crimes and breaches of human rights in the process of winning the conflict – leave alone defeating a ruthless terrorist group. There have been no such demands made following World War II, or after the Korean Conflict, after Vietnam, after Gulf War 1, the continuing occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq.
Remarkably, all sorts of people have flocked together to demand accountability from Sri Lanka, the Elders, Prime Minister Cameron, Hillary Clinton, the SG, Bernard Kouchner, David Milliband, the aging Ed Mortimer, et al. It cannot simply be that they all were encouraged by the sexiness of the subject or simply by the nobility of advancing humanity's highest ideals.
The Reasons
It is difficult to pin down one reason for this attitude of a number of key Western countries and some high profile individuals. Were pure principled attachment to humanitarian standards the reason, then Sri Lanka would, in their view, appear to be the one egregious offender in the whole world. This obviously cannot be the case. But Sri Lanka is certainly a developing country from the non-Western world and hence easier to beat up. Sri Lanka also was unusual in not responding positively to intense pressure when a number of Western leaders demanded a ceasefire towards the very end of the conflict and this refusal set an uncomfortable precedent. Bernard Kouchner, David Miliband and Hillary Clinton, all demanded a cease fire which Sri Lanka rejected. Both sides had good reasons for the approaches that they adopted.
Sri Lanka had the Tamil Tigers on their haunches and victory after 27 years of brutal bloodshed was temptingly within grasp. The Western leaders were under intense pressure to intervene from the Tamil diaspora, which wielded enormous financial and some political clout. Cities like Toronto, London, Melbourne and Sydney were brought to a standstill by massive Tamil demonstrations. During his visit to Sri Lanka in the middle of May 2009, David Miliband was told in no uncertain terms to butt out and mind his business by the Sri Lankan leadership and may not have forgiven this slight by the former colonial minion. The US proposed an evacuation of the trapped civilians and, perhaps the LTTE leadership, using its naval assets and this was rejected both by India and the Sri Lankan Government.
There were predictions of a blood bath and, at the time, no one claimed that it actually happened. (Subsequently and, suspiciously, evidence began to be produced by interested parties to establish that a blood bath did actually happen!). Interestingly, allegations of war crimes and human rights violations have emerged from countries that have provided refuge to massive numbers of Sri Lankan Tamils. Many have used the then existing violence as a basis for their claims for refugee status.
The LTTE raised large amounts of money from the diaspora to fund the war effort. Today these funds are used to advance their cause. Tamils for Clinton contributed substantially to her campaign until this was brought to public attention and the funds were returned. The LTTE has quietly funded politicians in many Western countries and continue to do so. The US lawyer, Bruce Fein, is funded by the Tamil diaspora. The liberal end of Western politics, ever ready to champion the underdog, was a willing champion of the Tamil diaspora cause. The shadow LTTE incessantly targets the media and the diplomatic community in Colombo.
The availability of funds, articulate advocates, the liberal tendency to take up the causes of apparent underdogs, horror stories, real or concocted, sympathetic journalists who were ever ready to use their privileged position in the Western media to support the cause, the sense of unhappiness with Sri Lanka among liberal political leaders in the West, the slow pace with which Sri Lanka countered some of the issues, were a cogent mix to activate the major humanitarian NGOS in the West. Many Western journalists unashamedly adopted the Tamilnet version of the conflict and were willing to use influential Western newspapers (London Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) to propagate the version fed by the Taminet.
It would also seem that a not so subtle campaign is being mounted against the Sri Lankan leadership, orchestrated by elements of the Tamil diaspora and picked up by the Western media. The settling of scores by using the international community, now that the battle on the ground has been lost, appears to be the major objective. Efforts persist to pin charges of war crimes and human rights violations, on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo. This powerful surge is further augmented by allegations of abuses, corruption and nepotism. If these allegations stick, it would be a short step to drag Sri Lankan leaders before international tribunals. Recent history suggests that some allegations get a life of their own by the simple process of repetition.
The Machiavellian story line is simple. “The Sri Lankan Government deliberately set about using its military to target the Tamil population of the North and killed thousands in the process”. This line is repeated for effect while the authenticated history of the LTTE’s murderous bombing campaign targeting civilians over a period of 27 years and killing thousands, the recruitment of thousands of children as child soldiers, the murder of dozens of moderate Tamil leaders, the extortion of millions from Tamils around the world, the ethnic cleansing of the Northern Province, the deliberate destruction of UNESCO protected places of worship, the deliberate and cynical use of thousands as a human shield, the human trafficking and the drug trafficking are air brushed as the frenzied campaign is cranked up using NGOs, eminent persons and the media to establish human rights violations and war crimes by the Government.
The focus is deliberately shifted from the murderous Tigers to the Government and these allegations are designed to stay around for a long while. The one goal of this campaign appears to be to punish the Government leadership, in order to avenge the defeat of the murderous Tigers, if not today than at some later time.
A lie repeated often enough acquires a life of its own. This also gradually contributes to causing feelings of discomfort and doubt in the minds of ordinary Sri Lankans whose confidence in their Government, unshakable at present, could falter in time giving rise to prospects of regime change possibilities.
Some Elementary Fallacies – Were Thousands Killed in the Final Stages of the War
Were thousands of civilians killed in the final stages of the conflict? Was the number 1000? 7000 (as claimed in an internal UN document, later denied)? 20,000 as claimed by Jeremy Page in the London Times? 40,000 as claimed in the Cage by Gordon Weiss (commonly known as Gordon the Unwise) and referred to in the Darusman Report to the UNSG? or higher. The exact number will never be known just as much as we will never know the exact number of civilians killed in Afghanistan and Iraq following the intervention by Western governments. (The Lancet claimed in 2005 that already over 500,000 civilians had been killed).
But certain established facts cannot be ignored. In the final weeks of the conflict, the ICRC with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy evacuated approximately 7000 injured and the sick, including pregnant women, and over 8000 others from the last holdout of the LTTE. Is it likely that if there had been other injured, the ICRC would have left them behind and ferried out 8000 healthy persons? Experience and records of other recent conflicts would suggest that the number killed must be substantially lower than the number injured. This is a fact derived from experience.
Most importantly, at the end of the conflict both sides were hell bent on fighting to the end leaving no time to bury the dead. In the circumstances, the LTTE is unlikely to have had the time to bury the alleged large numbers of dead. The Sri Lankan army never found large numbers of dead bodies either. But what is a fact is that in April and May 2009, close to 300,000 civilians streamed out of the LTTE enclave to seek the protection of the Government Security Forces. Importantly, the Government which adopted a zero civilian casualty policy had learned from the experience of other armies fighting amongst civilians in region that indiscriminate attacks on civilians only result in producing more volunteer martyrs.
In early 2009, the Committee to Coordinate Humanitarian Assistance (CCHA) to the North was working on the figure that there were approximately 121,000 people in Kilinochchi and 127,000 in Mullaitivu for the purpose of directing relief supplies to the North. It is quite likely that the LTTE took with them around 100,000 from Mannar.
Considering that around 60,000 escaped to Government controlled areas in the previous year, the numbers detained by the LTTE settles around the number accommodated in the Government organized refugee camps in May 2009. It is also on record that the Government adopted a zero civilian casualty policy and consciously adopted an infantry based approach. This resulted in 6000 deaths of security personnel as the final battles were fought by infantry when more devastating approaches could have been adopted. The allegation of deliberate targeting of civilians by the military and the large numbers killed appears to be a convenient and Machiavellian story to pin a charge of crimes against humanity.
Was the Tamil Community the Target of the Security Forces?
This is an accusation which could be dismissed outright if not for the seriousness with which it is expressed. The majority of the Tamils of Sri Lanka do not live in the North or the East. The vast majority lives among the majority community, the Sinhalese. It is estimated that 41% of the population of the capital, Colombo, is Tamil. In Colombo, the Tamil community has schools, temples, flourishing businesses and a significant number of Tamils are successful professionals and businessmen in Colombo. Many business houses in Colombo are Tamil owned. The UN has acknowledged that for over 27 years, the Government funded the health services and the schools in the LTTE controlled areas and sent food supplies to those areas. The food requirements were determined by the Government agents stationed in the District capitals, although in fact under the control of the LTTE.
The CCHA which consisted of the Ambassadors of the US, EU, Japan, Norway and the ICRC, in addition to senior representatives of key ministries, monitored the supply of essentials to the North on a weekly basis.
In the circumstances, to suggest that the Tamil community was targeted by the Government’s security forces, as was done in the Ch 4 documentary, is a base attempt to exacerbate ethnic divisions and create a negative impression of the Government. It also appears to be part of a insidious scheme to pin a charge of crimes against humanity on the security forces and its leadership in addition to aggravating and perpetuating latent ethnic tensions. No armed conflict is a game played in the school yard leave alone a terrorist war unleashed by a brutal proscribed group. Civilians do get hurt in war. Elsewhere this is referred to as “collateral damage”, and we know of wars in the wider region where collateral damage can be counted in the thousands.
But the Government of Sri Lanka adopted a policy of minimizing civilian casualties and to denigrate this approach now is reprehensible. It was because of the adherence to this policy that the Security Forces incurred over 6000 deaths by approaching the last pockets of the LTTE on foot. Perhaps, it is also convenient for the thousands of Tamils who went to the West claiming discrimination and oppression to maintain this facade until their refugee claims have been processed.
To acknowledge anything else may result in being sent back. It is also a fact that thousands who have received refugee status and travel documents from Western countries have travelled back to Sri Lanka to reclaim their properties and visit family and have not suffered any harassment.
Mathias Keittle A German researcher in Colombo hailing from Statalendorf.
- Asian Tribune -
Sri Lankan expatriates in Europe protest against UN in Geneva
By ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 13, Geneva: Thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates living in European countries gathered in Geneva today and held a protest against the United Nations for pushing for an international war crime probe on Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan of all ethnicities including Tamils and Muslims, carrying placards and shouting slogans, protested in front of the UN complex in Geneva where the 18th sessions of Human rights Council is in progress.
The activists in unanimous voice urged the UN not to meddle and hinder in Sri Lanka's development and reconciliation at a time Sri Lanka is trying to rebuild after eliminating the three-decade long terrorism from the country.
The demonstrators also signed a petition, against the report of the UN's three-member Expert Panel chaired by Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia and the Britain's Channel 4 ,documentary to hand over to the UN .
They called on the human right organizations and western governments accusing the Sri Lankan government of violating human rights not to forget and turn a deaf ear to the atrocities committed by the Tamil Tiger terrorists on Buddhist monks, women and children and suicide attacks on sacred institutions in the country .
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
AsianTribune.com
September 05, 2011
Sri Lanka eliminated a dreaded terrorist group, with intricate global links, but receives little credit for it!
Unlike elsewhere in the world, Sri Lanka has succeeded in resettling 300,000 IDPs. There are no starving children for the NGOs to feed but this gets ignored!
Sri Lanka has avoided mass misery, epidemics and starvation but the West takes no notice of this.
Sri Lanka has attained enviable socio-economic standards for a developing country while eliminating terrorism but gets no acknowledgement!
The Government of Sri Lanka and its President continue to enjoy unprecedented popular approval through democratic elections but this is dismissed!
The economy continues to boom, but remains unencouraged by the West.
Background
After 27 years of bloody conflict Sri Lanka’s internal mayhem came to an end with the comprehensive defeat of the Tamil Tigers. In an Alice in Wonderland scenario, the country changed from an environment of unconstrained fear and uncertainty to peace and utter relief overnight. Thousands poured out on to the streets to celebrate in an outpouring of incomparable joy and restaurant keepers spontaneously distributed food to all passersby along busy thoroughfares. Over the following months approximately 300,000 IDPs were returned to their own towns and villages, admittedly not to the best of living conditions.
But one has to remember that their circumstances were hardly comfortable under the iron rule of the LTTE for close to 27 years or as they were herded from one tent camp to another as a human shield and a bargaining chip by the retreating LTTE. The retreating LTTE had also removed roofing material from houses to prevent the return of their human shield to their homes. The captured child soldiers (approximately 600) have undergone rehabilitation and have returned to their communities. The UNICEF documented 5700 child recruits by the LTTE. Of the 11,700 former LTTE combatants, over 7000 have been returned to their communities after rehabilitation despite the real risk of some returning to the only profession that they had been trained in – that of being trained killers.
The risk is magnified by the fact that caches of buried weapons continue to be unearthed in the North and the Tamil militants in the West continue to drum up separatism and violence from their safe havens. The continued presence of the military in the North is naively criticized, but the above background factors are ignored. Only a fraction of the detainees will face trial as the evidence against the rest may not be adequate to satisfy the evidential requirements of the courts. A vast effort has been undertaken to restore the economy of the North and huge sums are being pumped in for the purpose.
All this receives hardly a mention in the West while an intense campaign is being orchestrated to pin down individuals allegedly guilty of war crimes and human rights violations. This must surely be the only case in history that a winner in a conflict has been hounded in this manner to account for alleged war crimes and breaches of human rights in the process of winning the conflict – leave alone defeating a ruthless terrorist group. There have been no such demands made following World War II, or after the Korean Conflict, after Vietnam, after Gulf War 1, the continuing occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq.
Remarkably, all sorts of people have flocked together to demand accountability from Sri Lanka, the Elders, Prime Minister Cameron, Hillary Clinton, the SG, Bernard Kouchner, David Milliband, the aging Ed Mortimer, et al. It cannot simply be that they all were encouraged by the sexiness of the subject or simply by the nobility of advancing humanity's highest ideals.
The Reasons
It is difficult to pin down one reason for this attitude of a number of key Western countries and some high profile individuals. Were pure principled attachment to humanitarian standards the reason, then Sri Lanka would, in their view, appear to be the one egregious offender in the whole world. This obviously cannot be the case. But Sri Lanka is certainly a developing country from the non-Western world and hence easier to beat up. Sri Lanka also was unusual in not responding positively to intense pressure when a number of Western leaders demanded a ceasefire towards the very end of the conflict and this refusal set an uncomfortable precedent. Bernard Kouchner, David Miliband and Hillary Clinton, all demanded a cease fire which Sri Lanka rejected. Both sides had good reasons for the approaches that they adopted.
Sri Lanka had the Tamil Tigers on their haunches and victory after 27 years of brutal bloodshed was temptingly within grasp. The Western leaders were under intense pressure to intervene from the Tamil diaspora, which wielded enormous financial and some political clout. Cities like Toronto, London, Melbourne and Sydney were brought to a standstill by massive Tamil demonstrations. During his visit to Sri Lanka in the middle of May 2009, David Miliband was told in no uncertain terms to butt out and mind his business by the Sri Lankan leadership and may not have forgiven this slight by the former colonial minion. The US proposed an evacuation of the trapped civilians and, perhaps the LTTE leadership, using its naval assets and this was rejected both by India and the Sri Lankan Government.
There were predictions of a blood bath and, at the time, no one claimed that it actually happened. (Subsequently and, suspiciously, evidence began to be produced by interested parties to establish that a blood bath did actually happen!). Interestingly, allegations of war crimes and human rights violations have emerged from countries that have provided refuge to massive numbers of Sri Lankan Tamils. Many have used the then existing violence as a basis for their claims for refugee status.
The LTTE raised large amounts of money from the diaspora to fund the war effort. Today these funds are used to advance their cause. Tamils for Clinton contributed substantially to her campaign until this was brought to public attention and the funds were returned. The LTTE has quietly funded politicians in many Western countries and continue to do so. The US lawyer, Bruce Fein, is funded by the Tamil diaspora. The liberal end of Western politics, ever ready to champion the underdog, was a willing champion of the Tamil diaspora cause. The shadow LTTE incessantly targets the media and the diplomatic community in Colombo.
The availability of funds, articulate advocates, the liberal tendency to take up the causes of apparent underdogs, horror stories, real or concocted, sympathetic journalists who were ever ready to use their privileged position in the Western media to support the cause, the sense of unhappiness with Sri Lanka among liberal political leaders in the West, the slow pace with which Sri Lanka countered some of the issues, were a cogent mix to activate the major humanitarian NGOS in the West. Many Western journalists unashamedly adopted the Tamilnet version of the conflict and were willing to use influential Western newspapers (London Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age) to propagate the version fed by the Taminet.
It would also seem that a not so subtle campaign is being mounted against the Sri Lankan leadership, orchestrated by elements of the Tamil diaspora and picked up by the Western media. The settling of scores by using the international community, now that the battle on the ground has been lost, appears to be the major objective. Efforts persist to pin charges of war crimes and human rights violations, on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations and innuendo. This powerful surge is further augmented by allegations of abuses, corruption and nepotism. If these allegations stick, it would be a short step to drag Sri Lankan leaders before international tribunals. Recent history suggests that some allegations get a life of their own by the simple process of repetition.
The Machiavellian story line is simple. “The Sri Lankan Government deliberately set about using its military to target the Tamil population of the North and killed thousands in the process”. This line is repeated for effect while the authenticated history of the LTTE’s murderous bombing campaign targeting civilians over a period of 27 years and killing thousands, the recruitment of thousands of children as child soldiers, the murder of dozens of moderate Tamil leaders, the extortion of millions from Tamils around the world, the ethnic cleansing of the Northern Province, the deliberate destruction of UNESCO protected places of worship, the deliberate and cynical use of thousands as a human shield, the human trafficking and the drug trafficking are air brushed as the frenzied campaign is cranked up using NGOs, eminent persons and the media to establish human rights violations and war crimes by the Government.
The focus is deliberately shifted from the murderous Tigers to the Government and these allegations are designed to stay around for a long while. The one goal of this campaign appears to be to punish the Government leadership, in order to avenge the defeat of the murderous Tigers, if not today than at some later time.
A lie repeated often enough acquires a life of its own. This also gradually contributes to causing feelings of discomfort and doubt in the minds of ordinary Sri Lankans whose confidence in their Government, unshakable at present, could falter in time giving rise to prospects of regime change possibilities.
Some Elementary Fallacies – Were Thousands Killed in the Final Stages of the War
Were thousands of civilians killed in the final stages of the conflict? Was the number 1000? 7000 (as claimed in an internal UN document, later denied)? 20,000 as claimed by Jeremy Page in the London Times? 40,000 as claimed in the Cage by Gordon Weiss (commonly known as Gordon the Unwise) and referred to in the Darusman Report to the UNSG? or higher. The exact number will never be known just as much as we will never know the exact number of civilians killed in Afghanistan and Iraq following the intervention by Western governments. (The Lancet claimed in 2005 that already over 500,000 civilians had been killed).
But certain established facts cannot be ignored. In the final weeks of the conflict, the ICRC with the assistance of the Sri Lanka Navy evacuated approximately 7000 injured and the sick, including pregnant women, and over 8000 others from the last holdout of the LTTE. Is it likely that if there had been other injured, the ICRC would have left them behind and ferried out 8000 healthy persons? Experience and records of other recent conflicts would suggest that the number killed must be substantially lower than the number injured. This is a fact derived from experience.
Most importantly, at the end of the conflict both sides were hell bent on fighting to the end leaving no time to bury the dead. In the circumstances, the LTTE is unlikely to have had the time to bury the alleged large numbers of dead. The Sri Lankan army never found large numbers of dead bodies either. But what is a fact is that in April and May 2009, close to 300,000 civilians streamed out of the LTTE enclave to seek the protection of the Government Security Forces. Importantly, the Government which adopted a zero civilian casualty policy had learned from the experience of other armies fighting amongst civilians in region that indiscriminate attacks on civilians only result in producing more volunteer martyrs.
In early 2009, the Committee to Coordinate Humanitarian Assistance (CCHA) to the North was working on the figure that there were approximately 121,000 people in Kilinochchi and 127,000 in Mullaitivu for the purpose of directing relief supplies to the North. It is quite likely that the LTTE took with them around 100,000 from Mannar.
Considering that around 60,000 escaped to Government controlled areas in the previous year, the numbers detained by the LTTE settles around the number accommodated in the Government organized refugee camps in May 2009. It is also on record that the Government adopted a zero civilian casualty policy and consciously adopted an infantry based approach. This resulted in 6000 deaths of security personnel as the final battles were fought by infantry when more devastating approaches could have been adopted. The allegation of deliberate targeting of civilians by the military and the large numbers killed appears to be a convenient and Machiavellian story to pin a charge of crimes against humanity.
Was the Tamil Community the Target of the Security Forces?
This is an accusation which could be dismissed outright if not for the seriousness with which it is expressed. The majority of the Tamils of Sri Lanka do not live in the North or the East. The vast majority lives among the majority community, the Sinhalese. It is estimated that 41% of the population of the capital, Colombo, is Tamil. In Colombo, the Tamil community has schools, temples, flourishing businesses and a significant number of Tamils are successful professionals and businessmen in Colombo. Many business houses in Colombo are Tamil owned. The UN has acknowledged that for over 27 years, the Government funded the health services and the schools in the LTTE controlled areas and sent food supplies to those areas. The food requirements were determined by the Government agents stationed in the District capitals, although in fact under the control of the LTTE.
The CCHA which consisted of the Ambassadors of the US, EU, Japan, Norway and the ICRC, in addition to senior representatives of key ministries, monitored the supply of essentials to the North on a weekly basis.
In the circumstances, to suggest that the Tamil community was targeted by the Government’s security forces, as was done in the Ch 4 documentary, is a base attempt to exacerbate ethnic divisions and create a negative impression of the Government. It also appears to be part of a insidious scheme to pin a charge of crimes against humanity on the security forces and its leadership in addition to aggravating and perpetuating latent ethnic tensions. No armed conflict is a game played in the school yard leave alone a terrorist war unleashed by a brutal proscribed group. Civilians do get hurt in war. Elsewhere this is referred to as “collateral damage”, and we know of wars in the wider region where collateral damage can be counted in the thousands.
But the Government of Sri Lanka adopted a policy of minimizing civilian casualties and to denigrate this approach now is reprehensible. It was because of the adherence to this policy that the Security Forces incurred over 6000 deaths by approaching the last pockets of the LTTE on foot. Perhaps, it is also convenient for the thousands of Tamils who went to the West claiming discrimination and oppression to maintain this facade until their refugee claims have been processed.
To acknowledge anything else may result in being sent back. It is also a fact that thousands who have received refugee status and travel documents from Western countries have travelled back to Sri Lanka to reclaim their properties and visit family and have not suffered any harassment.
Mathias Keittle A German researcher in Colombo hailing from Statalendorf.
- Asian Tribune -
Sri Lankan expatriates in Europe protest against UN in Geneva
By ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Sept 13, Geneva: Thousands of Sri Lankan expatriates living in European countries gathered in Geneva today and held a protest against the United Nations for pushing for an international war crime probe on Sri Lanka.Sri Lankan of all ethnicities including Tamils and Muslims, carrying placards and shouting slogans, protested in front of the UN complex in Geneva where the 18th sessions of Human rights Council is in progress.
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The activists in unanimous voice urged the UN not to meddle and hinder in Sri Lanka's development and reconciliation at a time Sri Lanka is trying to rebuild after eliminating the three-decade long terrorism from the country.
The demonstrators also signed a petition, against the report of the UN's three-member Expert Panel chaired by Marzuki Darusman of Indonesia and the Britain's Channel 4 ,documentary to hand over to the UN .
They called on the human right organizations and western governments accusing the Sri Lankan government of violating human rights not to forget and turn a deaf ear to the atrocities committed by the Tamil Tiger terrorists on Buddhist monks, women and children and suicide attacks on sacred institutions in the country .
(Photos by Sudath Silva)
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Sri Lanka made South Asia safer from terrorism - President Rajapaksa
ColomboPage News Desk, Colombo, Sri Lanka.
September 04, 2011
Sept 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka today stands proud as a nation that eradicated terrorism from the country and in doing so made South Asia too safer from terrorism, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today.
Addressing the Rotary South Asia Conference on 'Development and Cooperation' at the Galadhari Hotel in Colombo on Sunday, the President said Sri Lanka achieved this success with limited resources and without the economic and fire power other countries waging war against terrorism have at their disposal.
"We have achieved this with much less of the assets, and none of the deceit and duplicity of those who have been waging a War on Terror for more than a decade; those with much more economic and fire power than we had and many more allies than we ever had, but are still caught up in the killing fields made by un-manned drones and other lethal devices that attack civilians, too," he said.
President Rajapaksa who was the chief guest at the conference said it is regrettable that individuals and institutions trying to prosecute Sri Lanka for defeating terrorism are unaware of the truth about Sri Lanka's prolonged battled against terrorism and the nature of the terrorists.
He pointed out that the same countries accusing Sri Lanka of war crimes are harboring those who funded terror in Sri Lanka and providing them with a safe haven to rapidly raise funds now to destabilize the country again.
"Have they no concern for the truth about Sri Lanka's agony and the humanitarian actions that under-scored our battle against terror? Have they no interest in the truth?" he asked.
The President told the audience Sri Lanka is now trying to consolidate the hard-earned peace to bring much needed relief to the people who immensely suffered for decades under the terrorist control.
Speaking of accountability during the war, President Rajapaksa emphasized that for most of those raising voice against Sri Lanka, "accountability is only a verbal apology for civilian deaths that are dismissed as collateral damage in heavy bombings."
"Our commitment to human rights is second to none, and with such commitment we seek to transform our society to one of peace, pluralism and equality," the President said.
He appreciated the Rotary's help during the humanitarian operation and their philanthropic support to provide relief and resettle the displaced.
The President of Rotary International Kalyan Bannerjee welcomed the President presenting him with a memento.
The three-day conference is being held at Galadari and Cinnamon Grands hotels in Colombo from September 4-6 to mark the 82nd anniversary of Rotary Sri Lanka.
Former Presidents of the Rotary International Rajendra Saboo and Bill Boyd, President of the Rotary Organization Committee N. R. Gajendran and Governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal also participated in the event.
September 04, 2011
Sept 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka today stands proud as a nation that eradicated terrorism from the country and in doing so made South Asia too safer from terrorism, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said today.Addressing the Rotary South Asia Conference on 'Development and Cooperation' at the Galadhari Hotel in Colombo on Sunday, the President said Sri Lanka achieved this success with limited resources and without the economic and fire power other countries waging war against terrorism have at their disposal.
"We have achieved this with much less of the assets, and none of the deceit and duplicity of those who have been waging a War on Terror for more than a decade; those with much more economic and fire power than we had and many more allies than we ever had, but are still caught up in the killing fields made by un-manned drones and other lethal devices that attack civilians, too," he said.
President Rajapaksa who was the chief guest at the conference said it is regrettable that individuals and institutions trying to prosecute Sri Lanka for defeating terrorism are unaware of the truth about Sri Lanka's prolonged battled against terrorism and the nature of the terrorists.
He pointed out that the same countries accusing Sri Lanka of war crimes are harboring those who funded terror in Sri Lanka and providing them with a safe haven to rapidly raise funds now to destabilize the country again.
"Have they no concern for the truth about Sri Lanka's agony and the humanitarian actions that under-scored our battle against terror? Have they no interest in the truth?" he asked.
The President told the audience Sri Lanka is now trying to consolidate the hard-earned peace to bring much needed relief to the people who immensely suffered for decades under the terrorist control.
Speaking of accountability during the war, President Rajapaksa emphasized that for most of those raising voice against Sri Lanka, "accountability is only a verbal apology for civilian deaths that are dismissed as collateral damage in heavy bombings."
"Our commitment to human rights is second to none, and with such commitment we seek to transform our society to one of peace, pluralism and equality," the President said.
He appreciated the Rotary's help during the humanitarian operation and their philanthropic support to provide relief and resettle the displaced.
The President of Rotary International Kalyan Bannerjee welcomed the President presenting him with a memento.
The three-day conference is being held at Galadari and Cinnamon Grands hotels in Colombo from September 4-6 to mark the 82nd anniversary of Rotary Sri Lanka.
Former Presidents of the Rotary International Rajendra Saboo and Bill Boyd, President of the Rotary Organization Committee N. R. Gajendran and Governor of Sri Lanka's Central Bank Ajith Nivard Cabraal also participated in the event.
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