(May 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The insolence, the intemperate language, the lack of manners of one of the members of the IIGEP on the matter of Justice Bhagwati’s letter to the President of Sri Lanka clarifying certain statements of the final IIEGP report is an unbecoming footnote to the end of a commission that, by its very composition of busy individuals, was doomed to fail in the task of monitoring a long judicial process.
The failure of the Group to fulfil its task cannot be ascribed to its Chairman, Justice P.N. Bhagwati. It would have been difficult to find a more outstanding figure in the world involved in human rights issues to head the Group. He was Chief Justice of India. He was instrumental in the Supreme Court developing comprehensive human rights jurisprudence in India; expanding the reach and context of human rights embodied in the Constitution; and developing the strategy of Public Interest Litigation with a view to making human rights meaningful to poor and disadvantaged people.
Justice Bhagwati has also been closely associated with a large number of NGOs, both in India and elsewhere, motivating and inspiring grassroots human rights and development NGOs. As Vice Chairman of El Taller, an International Human Rights Development Organisation, he organised a number of judicial colloquia on domestic application of international human rights norms. He is now the Chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and a Regional Adviser for the Asia Pacific Region of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Justice Bhagwati has also been particularly active in the area of women`s human rights and in the field of human rights and development of tribals, particularly tribal women in India and other parts of Asia. He is also extensively involved in the international judicial matters other than human rights.
Justice Bhagwati`s eminence springs not only from what he has done but what he is. At 86 years of age he is an icon in India as one of the most distinguished jurists India has ever had. Highly principled , having rare probity of character, his integrity of purpose and performance especially in the area of human rights has given him a supreme place in the service of India, and indeed of mankind. He is a significant and inspiring son of India.
I have had occasion to meet Justice Bhagwati. The encounter with him was a spiritual enrichment similar to being in the presence of a revered sage. From personal knowledge I know that he and his wife, Prabhavati Shethji have a great respect and affection for Sri Lanka. They have a large number of friends here. Two years ago Justice Bhagwati was invited by the Swarajya Foundation to speak on "Constitutionalizing the Panchiyatirajya in India" He spoke to a packed audience and his visit was a great success.
So what went wrong with the IIGEP when such a distinguished figure was its Chairman? The problem partly stemmed from the fact that Justice Bhagwati was invited by the President of Sri Lanka to chair the IIGEP but the other members of the Group were nominated by individual governments. Some of the nominees seem to have come with baggage of derived emotions, preconceptions and possibly dubious intentions. Moreover on average they attended around 10% of the sessions of the Commission of Enquiry and their awareness of the course of the proceeding was second hand rather than from personal knowledge. They had to rely on assistants of a rather junior calibre. The perception of neutral observers was that the assistants seemed to be throwing their weight around provocatively possibly with an agenda to scuttle the work of the Group prematurely.
It is most unfortunate that Justice Bhagwati was exposed to this situation. The calibre of the man and his meticulous sense of honour can be judged from the letter he sent to the President of Sri Lanka when he realised that the final IIGEP report could be construed in an incorrect manner. Other men, perhaps the IIGEP as a group by consensus, would have slurred over misleading the government, the public and the international community, with a light hand. Not Justice Bhagwati. It was the judgment of his own mind he had to be true. Is it any wonder that was an unwelcome cold douche for the arrogant?
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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