Sri Lanka: Ignorance of looming threat of UN backed war crime trial and indulgence in rule by deception

 "The controversy is continuing over the diplomatic fallout from President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Britain last week. Amidst this turmoil and conflicting reports the Rajapaksa regime needs to act urgently to set up a think tank to redesign the government policy in various spheres including both domestic and international geopolitics based on highest principals of truly democratic and transparent governance."

by Vishwamithra

(December 07, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) President Rajapakse was forced to return home from his bitter trip to London in disgrace amidst real possibility of being arrested in the UK; the first victim on whom the issuing of arrest warrant was imminent for alleged war crimes was one of the Major Generals who was in the President’s entourage. The criminal law set in motion by the British Tamil Forum (BTF) would have been a certain success if not for the leakage of information on the judicial process initiated by them, that allowed Presidential convoy hurriedly return home in one piece. Panic and fear psychosis experienced by the high profile delegation was such that they were forced to plead the British Government’s mercy for permission to take the aircraft of the Sri Lankan Air Line, all the way to terminal 5 from where the President boarded the aircraft avoiding confrontation with BTF.

After the return of the President the government and the state controlled media, displaying their nudity, continued to engage in the habitual practice of misleading the people with false information on the drama unfolded and blamed the British Government for duplicity. Adding fuel to fire, some utterly ignorant and irresponsible ministers, led by bad mouthed Weerawansa, engaged in a calculated mud-slinging campaign and called the British Government ‘a failed state’. These accusations were based on ‘failing to provide facilities to the President Rajapakse during his private visit to London’. Further, utterly unfounded allegations were also levelled against the West for ‘attempting to dishonour the President Rajapakse’.

Stupidity of comparing the British system based on values with that of Lanka based on deception

There is no purpose served by comparing the UK, a true democracy, with Lanka, where the democracy is seen only on paper. Surely the Britain is amongst the handful of nations where liberty and the civil rights of its subjects are given the highest priority. Very few may know that respect to the individual liberty guaranteed to the British citizens are such that they are not even regulated by any form of official identity card system, like the NIC in Sri Lanka, which the British public perceives as an invasion of their liberty and privacy.

In the world stage, the UK is one of the very few countries where all international treaties, that brought in to protect the human rights and liberties of the people of all origin, are duly respected and recognised. Surely the outside world is unaware as to why the significant number of UK population consists of large numbers of immigrants who are provided with a safe haven in Britain against the threats of persecution in their own countries. Although the adherence to its international obligations has stretched British economy almost beyond its limits, the Britain as a true democracy continues to observe its commitment in the protection of human rights and the right to lead a dignified life sans persecution. The pressure exerted by Britain for adherence to this policy is such that, according to 2007 statistics, in London alone, 31% of the population (over 3 million in number) represents ethnic minorities coming from the nations where failed leaders shamelessly exploit the poor and rob the national wealth, igniting social unrest. This policy has caused a huge pressure on the country’s resources and public services such as health, education, transport, housing and employment. It is worthwhile to note that the Sri Lankan Tamil population in London who are provided with safe haven against persecution in their motherland, accounts for more than 300,000 people.

UK obligations on war crimes

In this scenario it is quite natural that Britain takes a strong stand against crimes against humanity and war crimes allegations and enforces domestic laws placed in keeping with its obligations under the Geneva Convention, which provides universal jurisdiction on war crimes. Where there is sufficient evidence for breaches of Geneva Convention, the British domestic law allows the private citizens to set the Criminal Law in motion against any foreign national concerned in war crimes, to be arrested whilst on the UK soil.


Independence of the unique British Judicial system

Unlike Sri Lanka the judiciary in the UK enjoys complete independence and free from any form of interference. In fact, in number of occasions the UK government had faced very uncomfortable situations with arrest warrants being issued by British Courts against the nationals of British allies including Israel. Britain is one of the pioneer-nations of universal jurisdiction in Europe, a concept that empowers judges to issue arrest warrants against any visitor accused of committing war crimes anywhere in the world. Like President Rajapakse, the foreign minister of Isarael, Tzipi Livni too, had a narrow escape as she was not present in the UK, when the warrant for arrest was issued on her for war crimes during Israel’s 2008-2009 war on Gaza, following an application made by Palestinian activists. That incident occurred in December 2009 angered Israelis and embarrassed the British government that pledged to change the law and to restrict private prosecution without the sanction of the Attorney General. However this amendment has not yet seen the light of the day.

After the end of the Rajapakse episode, the Foreign Secretary UK, William Hague, in a statement issued said that “The UK is committed to upholding international justice and all of our international obligations. Our core principle remains that those guilty of war crimes must be brought to justice"


Tony Blair’s conduct too is subjected to close scrutiny

Another fine example of the working of the independence of the British justice is that the whole hearted attempt by the British public to bring the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and the former US President George Bush to justice for dragging the country unnecessarily to an unjustified war against Iraq and Afghanistan on false information presented to British public. The British public have been holding massive protest campaigns against the so-called ‘war on terror’ and collecting evidence in support of an impending prosecution against the former Prime Minister whose is responsible for the loss of freedom of movement within the country itself. Since the waging of this unwarranted war the people have been suffering from loss of security and safety whilst being subjected to massive security measures that invades their private life which should never have happened.


Channel 4 exposures of war crimes and barking on the wrong tree

There is abundance of evidence of civilian deaths that are freely available to the British media, which include a large volume of both photographic and video evidence. These include the killings of members of Prabakaran’s family in cold-blood, his son, daughter and the wife, where the images taken with their pants down. The Channel 4 informed the British public that these images were shocking and cannot be shown. However, those who are concerned with the crimes against humanity have seen these images through different sources.

The most disturbing thing is that the people of Sri Lanka have never seen these images, whereas the outside world had access to them thanks to the irresponsible behaviour of some security force personnel who had captured these images of deaths towards the end of the Elam war and let them ended up in public domain.

In this background it is quite natural for the human rights activists and the UK government to accuse the Rajapakse administration for war crimes alongside Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan, and the former Yugoslavia and demand for UN backed war crimes inquiry. However, for some strange reasons the people of Sri Lanka are kept in the dark about the real risk of war crime trial looming large. It is sad that the government of Sri Lanka continues to exploit the ignorance of the people and make them find fault with the outside world under the pretext that the war crime accusations level against the Sri Lanka are baseless and manifestly unfounded.

Respect the peoples’ right to know the truth not what govt wants them to believe

It is reported that Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner Nihal Jayasinghe had advised the President not to come to Britain because of real risk of facing wrath of Tamil diaspora in Britain. However, this advice has been mysteriously ignored by the level-headed people at the Presidential Secretariat. As a result the poor President Rajapakse was compelled to pay a high price for the total faith kept on his so-called advisors. He too is responsible for the shameful disaster for his sheer ignorance on the developments of the world stage whilst being a head of a state and for his desire for satisfying his ego. The ignominy suffered by the President Rajapakse was such that repeated requests by Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister GL Peiris and the Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner, for an opportunity for the President to meet the government representatives were refused by the British Government. Only the Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who visited Rajapakse many times in Sri Lanka when he was in the opposition, agreed to meet him but that too was in private capacity.

The controversy is continuing over the diplomatic fallout from President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to Britain last week. Amidst this turmoil and conflicting reports the Rajapaksa regime needs to act urgently to set up a think tank to redesign the government policy in various spheres including both domestic and international geopolitics based on highest principals of truly democratic and transparent governance.


UK’s firm stand on Sri Lanka on alleged war crimes continues

The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, has said in the House of Commons on last Wednesday that there should be an independent investigation into the claims that the Sri Lankan government was guilty of human rights abuses during the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels last year. He stopped short of backing calls for an international war crimes tribunal. The Labour party MP, Siobhan McDonagh told parliament that there was growing evidence of alleged assassinations and other abuses. And the Prime Minister replied “I think the Honourable lady makes a fair point. We do need to see an independent investigation of what happened. Everyone has read the papers and seen the T.V. footage, (which people of Sri Lanka may have never witnessed) we need an independent investigation to work out whether what she suggests is right”.

The chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Tamils (APPG-T), Mr. Lee Scott MP (Conservative), welcomed the British government’s position. “In my view, an independent international inquiry is an important first step.” This is the unequivocal stand of the West led by British Government on Sri Lanka despite repeated denial of war crime claims by the government of Sri Lanka.

British stand on war crime alleged to have been committed in Sri Lanka was reaffirmed by a press statement issued by Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The Foreign Secretary William Hague stressed the need for Sri Lanka to have a credible and independent process to address allegations of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law during the conflict. He hoped that Sri Lanka would show clear commitment towards democracy, human rights law and freedom of the press, the FCO statement said.