|
||||||||||||
|
|
|
| ||||||||||
Human Rights Watch agenda questioned: SCOPP Secretary - General slams Brad AdamsSECRETARY GENERAL Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process
I am sorry that you have not really answered the criticisms I made.
Your letter is full of generalizations which, if less pointed than those
in your release with its tendentious quotations, are not really substantiated
by the facts. To cite one simple example, you now claim that there is evidence of
improper resettlement in the period up to May 2007. Apart from the paucity
of evidence for this according to the Report itself, this confirms my
suggestion that you are talking about the past while insinuating that
such improprieties are going on now. I am sure you can distinguish between
the past tense and the present, and I believe this knowledge should
be actively employed when you comment on important issues. Your lapse in this regard only substantiates my suspicion that you began this exercise with a particular agenda, which is sadly that of the LTTE and the main opposition party in Sri Lanka. You were obviously determined to demand external intervention, and for this purpose you blithely ignore the evidence you yourself provide that, even were your thinly substantiated allegations about the past true, the Sri Lankan government has itself remedied the situation.
At the risk of wasting my time in dealing with someone whose insidious
agenda cannot be changed by facts or reason, let me hope that you are
in fact concerned with human rights rather than selective manipulation
of truth. If the latter, I should point out to you that your carefully
targeted press release is of a piece with recent attempts by both the
LTTE and the main opposition leadership to destabilize the government
by inviting criticism and threats from Western governments. Most recently
this campaign has been extended to Japan, through a round robin e-mail
that talks of genocide and other grave charges insinuated by Gareth
Evans, without specifying that it is Tamils who have suffered most from
the LTTE, both before and after the Ceasefire. I hope I am wrong, for your earlier work certainly suggests understanding
of the full horror of the LTTE approach to political questions. But
I suspect that, perhaps because of the insidious campaign carried on
by many of those who supply you with information, you have lost sight
of the final goal of the campaign in which you have got involved. To put it at its simplest, the LTTE has now realized that its refusal
to return to negotiations - while turning instead last year, even more
openly than before, to terrorist activity and military assaults - has
backfired. Amongst the options left to it now, the one it is least inclined
to pursue is that of returning to talks. Sadly the international community
is doing nothing to influence it to this course, and has indeed turned
a blind eye to the ruthless recruitment that is now going on in the
Wanni. Indeed the stunning public silence of the international community at
large about the outrageous goings on in Kilinochchi is ample evidence
of the double standards they are determined to enforce in Sri Lanka,
from which the elected government has an obligation to protect all its
citizens. You must be aware of the callous silence of international
agencies regarding the pressures on ordinary families to sacrifice their
children, simply to buy immunity for their own workers, a practice that
has now backfired as you may have seen from recent reports which record
their anguish at what is happening now to their own. Whilst we share
this anguish, it would have been more in accordance with basic humanitarian
decency to have shared also - and taken measures to reduce - the anguish
of ordinary citizens who have suffered for so long. Thankfully, in this respect the SLMM has now taken on the task of investigating
such abuses, as may be seen at last in one of its weekly reports. When
the UN family follows suit, there may at least be some hope for the
oppressed persons of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. Without such pressures on it, as opposed to generalizations such as
yours that do not address present excesses, the LTTE has felt free to
threaten attacks not only on military targets but also on economic ones.
Not a word has been said by anyone about this obvious threat of terrorist
activity, nor indeed of the attempts to transport massive explosives
that have seriously upset the efforts of those of us who have suggested
relaxing security measures in the interests of for instance the fishermen
of the North and East. But, apart from terrorism, there is yet another string to the LTTE
bow, and this is to increase pressure on the government. Indeed attacks
on economic targets is one aspect of this, while another is to call
for UN monitoring and attempt to portray Sri Lanka as a failed state.
As you are doubtless aware, this strategy is ably seconded by the major
opposition party in Sri Lanka, which is trying to blacken the country's
name in the commercial world while also calling for UN monitoring along
with organizations such as yours. Unfortunately this campaign is pushed also by various youngsters who
have found in Sri Lanka employment at a level they could not dream of
in their own countries. The shoddy performance by Gareth Evans, when
it transpired that he had not even read reports on which his lecture
on 'The Responsibility to Protect' was supposed to be based, is typical
of the misinformation practised by youngsters on whom supposedly distinguished
statesmen rely. I have no doubt you do not belong to the former category, but since you are at risk of falling into the latter, I believe you should study your facts more carefully and use language more precisely, distinguishing without muddling things between present and past. In conclusion, you must realize that these attempts to destabilize
the government, to compare the President to Saddam Hussein, are part
and parcel of a desperate hope that the West will here too push for
regime change and ensure for the LTTE a government under the same leader
who allowed it to violate the Ceasefire so blatantly for two years,
and to extend its territorial control whilst eliminating Tamils who
opposed it. I do not think Western governments are quite so silly but
since you doubtless know their predilections better than me, I am deeply
worried by the consistent campaign in which you and others like you
seem to be now engaged. Yours sincerely Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha |
||||||||||||
|
|
Disclaimer: The comments contained
within this website are personal reflection only and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the LankaWeb. LankaWeb.com offers the contents
of this website without charge, but does not necessarily endorse the
views and opinions expressed within. Neither the LankaWeb nor the individual
authors of any material on this Web site accept responsibility for any
loss or damage, however caused (including through negligence), which
you may directly or indirectly suffer arising out of your use of or
reliance on information contained on or accessed through this Web site.
Copyright
© 1997-2004 www.lankaweb.Com
Newspapers Ltd. All rights reserved. |
|||||||||||
