“Rajiva Wijesingha himself was known for his liberal references to everyone who was opposed to the government, including local and international human rights activists and civil society leaders, as direct or indirect collaborators with the LTTE.”........................................................................
By Citizen Somapala
(December 26, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The government has announced that a letter written by Rajiva Wijesingha as the Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights to the UN Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Philips Alston, will be treated as withdrawn. The government sources gave wide publicity to the withdrawing of this letter. According to one news report, even the minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights has disassociated himself from this letter.
Wijesingha’s letter was a reply to a query by the UN Rapporteur about the alleged comment by General Sarath Fonseka relating to the surrender of some LTTE suspects during the last days of the military conflict with the LTTE. When this Rapporteur requested the government to inquire into the alleged incident referred to in General Fonseka’s interview to a newspaper, Wijesingha replied that as General Fonseka has withdrawn this statement, there is no need to pursue the matter further. The government does not seem to accept this position, and the government spokesman seems to want the government to become disassociated with Wijesingha’s position and not want it to be known to the public. International press reported on the withdrawal of the letter.
There is speculation now as to whether Rajiva Wijesingha would also be treated as a traitor. General Fonseka, who was treated not long ago as the country’s greatest war hero, is now referred to by the government as the victim of an international conspiracy and a traitor. Referring to people as traitors has become very much a part of the political language of government spokesmen in recent times. The practice started in the recent years, when every critic of the government was referred to as a traitor, a supporter of the LTTE. Referring to persons as direct or indirect, knowing or unknowing, supporters of LTTE became a common theme in the government propaganda. Even prominent UN officials were referred to as members of international conspiracies against Sri Lanka. Among those referred to are the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbor, and the present Commissioner Navaneethan Pillai.
Rajiva Wijesingha himself was known for his liberal references to everyone who was opposed to the government, including local and international human rights activists and civil society leaders, as direct or indirect collaborators with the LTTE. It would perhaps be an irony if he also is referred to by the present government spokesman as falling among the traitors. Wijesingha was a prominent leader of a small political party known as Sri Lanka Liberal Party, before he became a part of the ruling regime.
Citizen Somapala's Library:
Forty years of shameless politics
Experience within a corrupt system is not an advantage
Hudson’s Hadu language use
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