“ The human-rights abuse drummed up by the EU and the US is like the sword of Damocles held above the head of the Rajapakse government. If the Rajapakse government does not heed the US and EU governments it is threatened with withdrawal of GSP + facilities and also the enforcement of R2P, where foreign troops will enter Sri Lanka and create a Kosovo like scenario which in fact Prabakaran is hoping will happen. It is very strange that although the US and the EU have proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist organization, they work covertly for keeping the Tamil Tigers in power.”________________________
by Saybhan Samat
(May 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Mahinda Rajapakse stands out as the only president in Sri Lanka who has to face an avalanche of acrimony hatred, demonisation and insult. He is blamed for every trouble that occurs in our strife-torn island for some of which he is not responsible at all. The J.V.P in their May Day rally referred to Mahinda Rajapakse as the terrorist in the south while Vellupillai Prabakaran was the terrorist in the north. J.V.P’s trade-union leader Parliamentarian K.D. Lalkantha said that the J.V.P. trade unions had a big responsibility at hand in the near future to carry out two general strikes against these two destructive elements.
"The working class of the country has to launch trade union actions against the Eelam terrorist who is hell-bent on snatching away a part of our mother land. We also have to defeat the financial terrorist who was elected to power by the people and plundering public funds. The J.V.P. gave them a chance to correct themselves by exposing various corruptions, financial irregularities and embezzlements. But they failed to use the chance. Hence it is time to defeat both terrorists, Vellupillai Prabakaran and Mahinda Rajapakse"
Of all the acrimonious charges leveled against president Rajapakse, the one by parliamentarian Lalkantha of the J.V.P was perhaps the worst. Some of the other charges leveled against Rajapakse is the inability of his government to control the cost of living and the galloping rate of inflation, the charges of corruption nepotism wastage, the abuse of human-rights, abductions internal and external displacements and killing of civilians in the on going war.
If one takes a dispassionate and balanced view of these charges against president Rajapakse one will find that one cannot blame him entirely for these charges. Take for instance the cost of living. World prices of oil have spiralled to unbelievable levels naturally the cost of everything will rise. What can Rajapakse do about this? Similarly the world market prices of wheat and milk powder have gone up together with the price of liquefied cooking gas. Naturally inflation is bound to set in. This is happening the world over. The critics are of course justified with charges of corruption, nepotism and wastage. Here president Rajapakse can intervene to halt these anti-social practices. One wonders why he is not doing it?
What has not been taken into account is that Rajapakse is involved in a do or die battle with the world’s worst terrorist organization. Credit must be given to him that he has managed to liberate the east and with determination persuading the forces to liberate the north too as soon as possible.
When conducting a war there will be huge expenses on weapons and recruitment of additional forces for the four services. These expenses will also fuel inflation. In any war, there is collateral damage where a few civilians are bound to get killed and internal and external displacements will also occur, these events happen in any war-torn country. So, can we blame Rajapakse for this? As to the chorus of "negotiated settlement" by the international communities, the INGOs and NGOs. Is the Rajapakse government to negotiate with a blank-wall in front of them? The peace talk game has been tried several times and the cunning Tamil Tigers have walked off after further arming themselves during the extended time of peace talks.
The human-rights abuse drummed up by the EU and the US is like the sword of Damocles held above the head of the Rajapakse government. If the Rajapakse government does not heed the US and EU governments it is threatened with withdrawal of GSP + facilities and also the enforcement of R2P, where foreign troops will enter Sri Lanka and create a Kosovo like scenario which in fact Prabakaran is hoping will happen. It is very strange that although the US and the EU have proscribed the LTTE as a terrorist organization, they work covertly for keeping the Tamil Tigers in power. For these cunning and diabolical machinations of these imperialist powers, can we blame the Rajapakse government? Almost all the problems in Sri Lanka are on account of the LTTE. President Rajapakse is quite aware of this. He is courageous and brave enough not to cave-in to LTTE demands. One must admire his stand and in fact give one’s co-operation to president Rajapakse for his noble effort to contain the cancer of Tamil Tiger terrorism.
He in fact has moved quickly to face the challenge from the US and EU by getting close to China, Iran, Pakistan, India and some of the Middle-Eastern countries who have all assured support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. Iran and China have pledged development aid and given assurances that they will stand by Sri Lanka against terrorism.
As to the charges of human-rights abuse, Rajapakse has appointed a commission of Inquiry (COI) to inquire into the alleged charges, Rajapakse regretted the withdrawal of the IIGEP and the government in turn accused the IIGEP of wanting to implement an agenda of its own at the COI.
Another serious charge is the attack and harassment of media personnel. The Rajapakse government in this matter should quickly inquire into these alleged charges and make every effort to permit absolute media freedom. The media must also be allowed to be in the battle front, so that we can have first hand knowledge of events in the battle field, presently no one believes what the official media sources are saying about the war.
In the final analysis although the Rajapakse government is not the perfect a ideal government, the reason for some of its excesses is because Western governments in order to implement their agenda have imposed a siege on the government. It is but natural for the government to commit a few excesses to defend itself in these circumstances. In view of these trying conditions, patriotic minded citizens should rally around the government and defeat the machinations of the western powers and the well funded NGOs.
- Sri Lanka Guardian
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