COLOMBO IN DIPLOMATIC CRISIS OVER SUDDEN TRANSFER OF TAMARA

SUDAR OLI

( May 15, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sudden transfer of Tamara Gunanayagam the permanent representative of Lanka at Geneva UN Human Rights High Commission has made the countries that supported Lanka at Geneva to get dissatisfied. It is well known fact that Tamara had created novel diplomatic maneuvers at Geneva to safeguard Lanka from the resolution brought at Geneva. She had made direct contact with the diplomats of the countries pointing out the actions taken by the government to achieve reconciliation and had requested them to support Lanka. She also stressed Lanka would expose its firmness to find a solution to the cancerous ethnic problem of the country. Because of her actions some countries that wanted to oppose Lanka had opted to support Lanka. Owing to her Saudi and Qatar supported Lanka while Jordan abstained. Even Russia has now started to stress to implement the LLRC recommendations. Transferring Tamara who played the key role to get support to the country at a time of difficulty has displeased many countries that supported Lanka. Charges of transferring her out on political reasons and because she was a Tamil, the government is taking revenge on her. Russia, Cuba and China have expressed their annoyance over the transfer. Many countries have expressed their worry whether the government would undertake the steps she promised at Geneva. Diplomatic circles fear even the countries that supported Lanka earlier could isolate Lanka in future because of this action against Tamara and her issue would definitely come before the council meeting at the next sitting.