Credible, transparent independent investigations

13 December 2013 07:33 pm Views - 2731

David Cameron, the Prime Minister of the formerly `Great’ Britain has repeatedly not just requested but purported to `demand’ that the sovereign state of Sri Lanka which ceased to be a colonial possession of Britain 63 years ago, should conduct “Credible Transparent and Independent” investigations into alleged war crimes.  What exactly does Cameron mean by these terms?   What does Cameron mean by “credible”? Does he mean, as I think he does investigations that will yield the results that Cameron wants?   Cameron has not seen it fit to elaborate on what he meant; perhaps he was too embarrassed to do so: nor has anyone seen it fit to ask him what exactly he meant.

Tragically Sri Lanka is rapidly losing men and women in public life who can be termed “Independent”.  This process of `National debilitation/degradation’ began with Sirimavo Bandaranaike’s United Front winning a 2/3 majority of seats in Parliament in 1970 giving her virtually absolute power.  This slide down the `Gadarene Slope’ acquired tremendous and unbelievable momentum with J R Jayewardene’s United National Party winning a 5/6 majority of seats in Parliament in 1977.  From there onwards, there was no looking back on the infamy of enthroning the sycophant. Criticism was equated to enmity and the critic labelled a traitor. Thus, we, who once had a vibrant and independent judiciary and  executive and hence a vibrant and independent  administrative service, as well as a legislature, which, compared to the despicable `sycophants’ who fill its ranks today, was a model of independence, soon had sycophants in all three arms of the Government.  When critics were trampled upon it was the sycophants who rose up.  Today it is sycophancy and not ability that gets one promotion or preferment.  That is the situation in Sri Lanka.  Is it different in foreign climes?

Let us take for example `Great’ Britain our former colonial master.  This was the country that gave us that great Chief Justice Sir Sydney Abrahams whose independence and courage were, at all times, by-words.  Yet, what has Britain become now, not merely in respect of `power’ and wealth but also in respect of integrity, strength of character and independence.  Today, Britain tamely follows the United States of America and does whatever it wants. Britain is a country that will not say one word against the United States.

We are told that the formerly `Great’ Britain would continue discussions with its other “Commonwealth and International partners” about the “situation in Sri Lanka”.  Did these purported gentlemen ever think of having discussions about Sri Lanka with its alleged international partners and others when Sri Lanka was reeling under the throes of terrorism?  What for example, did Cameron and others of his ilk (and there are regrettably many) do when improvised explosive devices were detonated, at the Dehiwela Railway Station and the shop ‘No Limit’ among other places?  What did they do when civilians of all three major races who comprised our Nation were being slaughtered willy-nilly by the LTTE?

It being  evident that Cameron does not regard the Sinhalese as human beings possessed of `human rights’,  what did he do when the LTTE slaughtered defenceless Tamils and Moors even while they were praying in their Mosques? Let us now come from those historical incidents to the present day.

 What does Cameron who now poses as a champion of human rights and liberty, do about Adele Balasinhgam the fiendish nurse to whom little Tamil children had no human rights.  She who abetted them to commit acts of terrorism and commit suicide by biting upon capsules of potassium cyanide if arrested, roams about Britain freely while its caricature  of a Prime Minister, Cameron,  proposes to have discussions with Britain’s purported international partners about “the situation in Sri Lanka”!
Cameron does not have the guts to prosecute or take any action against Adele Balasingam despite the manifold crimes against humanity committed by her [of which she, no doubt, purports to be proud] but is willing to castigate Sri Lanka for saving herself from those such as Adele Balasingham!

"It being  evident that Cameron does not regard the Sinhalese as human beings possessed of `human rights,  what did he do when the LTTE slaughtered defenceless Tamils and Moors even while they were praying in their Mosques? Let us now come from those historical incidents to the present day."

Cameron demands credible transparent and impartial investigations into allegations of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka during the closing stage of the armed conflict against the LTTE.  No doubt Cameron must be having one eye [or both] on the Tamil voters of the formerly `Great’ Britain.  However, the impartiality of Cameron and the objectivity of his views can be gauged from the persons whom he met while in Sri Lanka.  His first visit to any part of the country was a much publicized visit to Jaffna where he was welcomed and taken around by members of Tamil National Alliance, a so called political party of Sri Lanka which supported the Tigers to the hilt until they were comprehensively defeated.  Cameron allegedly met the widows and orphans of those who were alleged to have been killed by our armed forces and those who, having been members of the LTTE, were now alleged to be `missing.’  However, according to available information Cameron has not met the surviving kith and kin of Amirthalingam nor of Thangadurai [a former MP for Trincomalee whose murder by the LTTE paved the way for Sampanthan to enter Parliament on our odious `List System’] nor the heroine Sarojini Yogeswaran nor of any of the myriad people murdered by the LTTE!Did Cameron meet any of the parents of those little children who were kidnapped regularly  by the LTTE for slave labour in their terrorist cadres? Did Cameron meet any of those who were so kidnapped?  Did Cameron meet any of those who were rehabilitated by the Government soon after the hostilities?  Did Cameron meet the survivors from among those who were used as human shields by the LTTE or the dependants/kith and kin of those who were murdered by the LTTE for seeking escape to freedom in the areas of the country that were controlled by the Government? The answer is a resounding NO.Is any further comment necessary about Cameron’s impartiality vis-à-vis Sri Lanka.  Some inkling of what this fraudulent politician meant by “credible transparent and impartial investigations” can be gauged from these facts.

Sri Lanka having been a colony or a part of a Western  Empire [Portugese, Dutch, and British] for about 450 years, many of us, particularly those whom my good friend Gomin Dayasiri refers to appropriately as the “Colombians” regard anything from the West as being good or ideal.  Thus, when finding an independent body of persons of Sri Lanka to inquire into any kind of crimes alleged to have been committed in Sri Lanka seems a near impossibility, they immediately think about getting an “impartial independent and transparent” body of persons from the West to perform that task, making the fatal error of considering the foreigner to be impartial, independent and transparent.  However, whatever experience we have had with the alleged `impartiality of foreigners’ including Cameron’s antics referred to above do not justify such thinking.

We had experience of a group of foreigners known as the “Independent International Group of Eminent Persons [IIGEP]” who, I believe, were handpicked by the President and given a mandate by him to observe the workings of the Udalagama Commission and to report back to him.  That these foreigners were anything but “impartial” or “independent”is patently evident from their own statements and actions.  For example, they made public pronouncements even before the Commission had begun public hearings, to the effect that the Government must implement the principle of `Command Responsibility’ and that there was lack of political will on the part of the Government to do so.  The question of `Command Responsibility’ is one that can arise only if findings are arrived at on the evidence and not on emotion or pronounced partiality, that members of the armed forces of Sri Lanka have committed atrocities. The question of `Command Responsibility’ arises only thereafter when one will look into the question of whether the atrocities in question were committed as part of state policy or part of overall strategy  of the armed forces or not.  The point here is that the foreigners commenced observing the inquiry with the notion that our armed forces were definitely guilty of war crimes and that it was the function of the Commission to find them guilty regardless of the evidence, and to find that the Commanders were liable on the principle of `Command Responsibility’! This, among many other things, negatived completely, any delusions we may have had about the `impartiality’ even of a bunch of foreigners who, I believe were handpicked by the President.  It is interesting to note that among those persons were Bhagawati, a former Chief Justice of India and Darusman a member of the infamous committee arbitrarily appointed by Ban Ki-Moon.

"That ‘independence’ and `impartiality’ today are long deceased virtues not only in Sri Lanka, but throughout the world is beyond question. Certainly it is unthinkable that Cameron would have dared to open his mouth against Sri Lanka nor  to pledge the support of the country that he leads to a resolution against Sri Lanka if he thought the United States of America was opposed to it.  The same, I think, is true of Harper and Manmohan Singh."

If an investigation is to be conducted by allegedly independent and impartial persons, then those calling for such investigation must themselves be independent.  What is the independence and impartiality of Cameron?  Did Cameron at any time call upon the Nations of the world to support Sri Lanka in its struggle against terrorism?  Did Cameron at any time condemn or even criticize the United States of America for its horrific crimes against humanity such as bathing little Vietnamese children in Napalm, persecuting journalists and those who gave  truthful information essential for journalists  to do their duty by their people such as Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning, for murdering foreigners on foreign soil in supposedly independent states using their Drone aircraft, or for sending heavily armed American thugs from their Navy into Pakistan to murder  Osama Bin Laden who was resident in that country ?

The once `Great’ Britain is today less than a shadow of what it used to be. But what did it do even in the days of its so called “greatness”?Its record in Sri Lanka, regarding the manner in which  it allegedly dispensed justice during the period of martial law after the Muslim riots of 1915 bears mute testimony to the absolute lack of fairness, independence, impartiality and credibility of investigations, and the manifest partiality of   Britain in the days of its alleged “greatness”.Britain’s outrageous doings during that period are just one example of its horrific record of dispensing alleged `justice’ in Sri Lanka.

That ‘independence’ and `impartiality’ today are long deceased virtues not only in Sri Lanka, but throughout the world is beyond question. Certainly it is unthinkable that Cameron would have dared to open his mouth against Sri Lanka nor  to pledge the support of the country that he leads to a resolution against Sri Lanka if he thought the United States of America was opposed to it.  The same, I think, is true of Harper and Manmohan Singh.

Regrettably today if one looks at the countries of the world them too (and this includes Sri Lanka) will back the highest bidder.  Let us not forget that Sri Lanka, when in need of assistance from   Britain to build the Victoria Dam, supported that country in its war of aggression against Argentina in respect of the Falkland Islands.  If one looks at the voting records of the various supposedly independent states at the sessions of the UNHRC one would observe that votes were not cast on the basis of the issues that pertain to the resolution before it, but  on the basis of the perception of the Governments concerned about whether voting for or against a particular resolution would be better in the interests of that country.

In this fashion the West which formerly had extensive  colonial possessions and/or influence purchased with foreign currency in Asia and Africa, is once against asserting itself and seeking to control the internal affairs of Asian and African countries through agencies  such as the United Nations and the UNHRC which were meant to establish world peace and respect for human rights by all, the term “all” including the powerful nations of the West who now go about murdering people on foreign soil with Ban Ki-moon, Cameron and others looking the other way, while Obama like a peeping tom derives  some macabre pleasure by watching such foul murder on a TV screen!

If the world is to be a better place in which to live, it is time that countries such as ours which are feeling the grip of `re-colonisation’ by Western Nations seeking to control us together with their so called “international partners”, and other countries which will soon fall prey to such evil machinations of the West getting together and opposing these monsters and defeating their fiendish objectives of colonizing us once again in a different manner.

However, we cannot take comfort from these indisputable facts about Western perfidy.  We must truly become the `Wonder’ of not merely Asia, but the entire World, by banishing the sycophant to the `outer darkness’ and encouraging and strengthening the hands of those who are `independent. It is only by such means that we can find among our citizens, persons capable of conducting objectively credible transparent and impartial investigations into any matter whatsoever.