Sri Lanka & UN panel to probe war crimes
Posted on July 8th, 2010
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario .Canada
July 7, 2010
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
The Editor (Letters)
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Sir:
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
“Sri Lanka: Protestors rally over war crimes panel”, you said. This was the panel that UN’s Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon went ahead and appointed despite the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva rejected such a proposalƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ by 29 to 12 country votes on June 2009, not to interfere inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka’s internal affairs.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Ban ki-Moon has clearly exceededƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ his powers prescribed in Chapter XV ofƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the UN Charter where his role as the Chief Administrative Officer and the limits of his authority are detailed clearly in Articles 97 and 98.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
However, what should be noted is that there was peace and quiet in the country after the Tamil Tiger terrorists were militarilyƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ defeated after 27 years of warring until Ban ki-Moon appointed his panel to probe into war crimesƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ during the latter stages of the war.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Now Sri Lanka has instability, thanks to UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon when hisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ impudent act has againƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ permitted extremism to reoccupy centre stage in Sri Lanka distracting Sri Lankans from their efforts to reconcile, reconstruct and reintegrate. And that is a shame.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
One of Ban ki-Moon’s panellists, Steven Ratner has written that the Tamils represented by theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) are an oppressed minority. This should have disqualified him ab initio.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The leader of theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ panelƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ who was part of an international team appointed to observe proceedings on a previous Sri Lanka
commission on atrocities and left in a huff with strong anti-Sri Lankan feelings.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He should have been disqualified for his bias too.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
I question Ban ki-Moon’s motives in all these shenanigans which directs me to question the relevancy of the UnitedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Nations when it has glaring double-standards ignoring human rights violations in other theatres of war involving major powers such us US and the UK.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Why, Sri Lanka with a questionable panel?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Asoka Weerasinghe