UNCOHR Ms N. Pillay unmask her true identity

by Malin Abeyatunge

(July 14, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) When I first read the news that one Ms Navenetham Pillay (Navi Pillay) from South Africa has been appointed as UN Commissioner for Human Rights, I was skeptical thinking another LTTE supporter in the UN to back LTTE appeasing Ms Radhika Coomarswamy who is the special representative for children and armed conflict. I was skeptical because name Pillay sounded Tamilish (I am not a racist in any way but anti LTTE) and she hails from South Africa a haven which has a strong support base for LTTE activities from the Sri Lankan and Indian Tamil habitants. However, I thought I should not pre-judge and put her in the same boat of Radhika Coomaraswamy who always had and has a soft corner for LTTE despite LTTE’s continuation of abduction and recruitment underage children for its baby brigade. We have not forgotten her sending one of her stooges Alan Rock to Sri Lanka to look into child conscription and made a mess out of it by blaming the GoSL and not LTTE.

Alas…! My skepticism on Ms N. Pillay has now been proved right beyond any doubt when one peruses and analyzes her recent comments on the current situation in the North. In her recent statement, she had come out with unsubstantiated facts and figures presumably obtained from LTTE propaganda websites and other unreliable sources to blame the Sri Lankan Government and the armed forces for the sufferings of Tamil civilians. Much has been said, written and challenged by many journalists including Prof Rajiv Wijesinghe of the Peace Secretariat and Foreign Secretary Dr Palitha Kohana on her totally irresponsible and unprofessional statement.

She had subtly exposed her true sisterly feelings towards LTTE by collating randomly picked unsubstantiated facts and figures to undermine the Sri Lankan Government who are fighting the most brutal and deadliest terrorist outfit in the world. By her action, Ms Pillay has created big doubt in the minds of majority Sri Lankans of her integrity as an impartial authority. Can such a person with doubtful integrity hold a responsible position as Commissioner of Human Rights?

When a person of such authority and status issues a statement, LTTE propaganda network taking advantage instantly and carries them in their propaganda websites to blame the GoSL and the armed forces. It is no surprise that her totally unprofessional statement with borrowed data from Tamil websites and LTTE appeasing humanitarian organizations like HRW and AI against the Sri Lankan Government coincided with LTTE petitioning the UN to take action against Sri Lankan Government for war crimes. Even if she says sorry now, it’s too late as the damage is done as LTTE has already used her comments to terrorists’ advantage.

Ms N. Pillay had unmasked her true identity with her recent statement and the question is whether a person biased towards a terrorist organization should hold such a prestigious position in the UN. UN secretary General Mr. Banki Moon should give a serious thought to her unprofessional behavior and reprimand her. Suffice to mention in a nutshell that “Blood is thicker than water’.

I reproduce the above letter of 21 March 2009, published in mainstream news papers and many websites two months before the LTTE was defeated. The contents of this letter has been proved correct even today when considering Navi Pillay’s most recent comments (in April) bashing Sri Lanka and calling for UN investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka based on Darusman report.

“quoteAddressing the 17th session of the Council, UN Human Rights chief, N Pillai said she supported the UN panel's recommendation "to establish an international mechanism to monitor national investigations and undertake its own as necessary. It would be important for the Human Rights Council to reflect on the new information contained in this important report, in light of its previous consideration of Sri Lanka and efforts to combat impunity world wide.”Unquote. Headlines in the Tamilnet.

The Sri Lankan Government totally rejected the Darusman report which she has based her comments on as “ totally biased and flawed “ and made without the mandate of the UN Security Council or the UN Human Rights Council. Hence, where Sri Lanka is concerned, it is just a report by three stooges of UNSG. Ms Navi Pillay is now trying to give currency to this report. She will very soon come with the Channel 4 fiction film titled Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” to give currency to the unauthenticated manufactured compilation of film clips very well acted by Tamil actors and we are awaiting for it. No surprise!

Should we further reiterate the fact that Navi Pillay is nothing but an unofficial spokesperson for the LTTE remnants in the west. She doesn’t deserve to hold such prestigious position in that august assembly. To this date she is leading the UN Band Wagon in bashing Sri Lanka because it’s a Sinhala Buddhist government and not a Tamil Christian Government she prefers to have. She is now a disappointed woman as she never expected her brotherly/ sisterly and so loved and protected terrorist outfit LTTE would ever be annihilated conclusively by the GoSL. She is still holding it to the last straw and working in vengeance against the Sri Lankan government for having defeated the scourge of LTTE terrorism from Sri Lankan soil. Mr. Bank-moon at least in his second term should get rid of partial and biased commissioners like Navi Pillay to maintain the dignity of the United Nations as an august assembly.

She is a woman who wants to be in the lime light now and then and Sri Lanka is her favorite target to appease and please her blood brothers. Recently, she visited Australia on a fact finding mission of the aborigines are being treated and her comments that thee is discrimination against aborigines have not been taken seriously by the Australian Government nor she persuaded this matter further with the Australian Government. Whether she got world wide publicity for that as a human rights champion, I don’t know. This is how she works (i) to survive in the post and (ii) to seek cheap popularity and publicity and to be in the limelight. She is suffering from “cheap popularity Syndrome”. Unfortunately, she is not strong enough to raise a finger to USA, UK, EU countries or to the NATO of the thousands of innocent civilians being killed in the name of “democracy” in Iraq, Afghanstan, Libya etc,.

Ms Navi Pillay would cry and scream from that end to bash Sri Lanka to appease the LTTE remnants among the Tamil Diaspora. she is suffering from insomnia until a resolution gets passed at the UNHRC Session in September 11 against Sri Lanka on War crime charges. but we will not care two hoots for it. The purpose of this letter is only to show that whatever comments she makes detriment to Sri Lanka abusing her UN position shouldn’t go unchallenged.

(Views expresses in this article are author's own. )