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By Charles Perera

With all the goings on with the Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the UN, and some even suggesting a UN Human Rights out post in Sri Lanka one would think that human being with their rights violated are only in Sri Lanka. How about a UN human rights out Post in Iraq, and Afghanistan. They dare not speak about that, because the architects of the term human rights violations, are themselves the violators of human rights in Iraq and Afghanistan. That is where they should open a UN Human Rights outpost. They like those offices and out posts in Sri Lanka because they can live in utter comfort writing their reports on a lap top, seated in a veranda outside a lovely Bungalow, sipping a beer. They are sure not to be kidnapped, shot dead, or exploded to smithereens. They have a job in paradise.

But what are these human rights that are being violated by the Sinhala Government in the south. And whose right are being violated. Human rights as one understands them are the right to food, cloth and shelter. The right to have the children educated, and have a means of earning a livelihood- as a worker, boutique keeper, or a farmer. There again are the right of worship, the right to vote at an election. These are the human rights one has whether Sinhala, Tamil or a Muslim. Has the Government of Sri Lanka directly or indirectly violated these rights ?

In the terrorist controlled areas, in a retaliatory war situation, there is a problem for the people to exercise these human rights. That is no violation of human rights by the government. The situation must be the same in Iraq, Afghanistan, and even Palestine. And other places that American and British army are carrying on a war against terrorism. But no body calls it a violation of human rights and no body is proposing a UN out post. Even the USA Senate does not seem to be upset about it.

The UTHR has accused Sri Lanka of violation by security forces, but UTHR does not seem to know that there is no war situation without the civilians unable to exercise their human rights. They just have to see what is going on in Iraq, and Afghanistan is that not violation by USA Army.

The Ordinary poor people in Sri Lanka want freedom to exercise their human rights, and want the government to provide them facilities to live peacefully exercising their rights. And that is what the government is doing liberating the areas from the clutches of terrorists and providing them initially with their basic necessities . That takes time the government not being able to wave a magic wand to provide all facilities at once.

The problem is therefore, not the violation of the human rights of the people, but there is some thing else behind this ha and ho about human rights. The NGOs and all Western Human rights organisations are very keen about human rights of the people of Sri Lanka, while in their own countries the Muslims, black Africans and Asians are segregated, ill treated, Arabs and Muslims have difficulties in the free exercise of their religious customs. In France there is going to be laws to test the DNA of foreigners coming to the country, and establish other restrictions with regard to joining up of families in France. These are flagrant violation of human rights and the Western human rights organisations have no issue with their governments, and raise no questions.

The fact is the whole question of human rights is some thing that the middle class Tamils have created, with the NGOs, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and UN bearing the torch. The middle class Tamils want a situation where, with the International Community, they could set up a separate state. It would start as a Federal North East State which may easily sever connection with the Central government to set up an Eelam. They want to do it without taking up arms but using the government APCR and forcing its hand with the backing of the International Community to approve a United Federal Constitution, as against a Unitary Constitution.

Tamils are very active with the cry of violation of Human Rights. There are a lot of them, some even writing, it appears, under Sinhala names articles against the governments human rights violation. Some of the articles appearing in the Tamil Week website show how anti Sinhala racists the writers are. The main problem with these middle class Tamils is living in a country which has a Sinhala Government. Therefore their main attack is the Sinhala Majority. They want the same rights as the Sinhala. But, they seem not to understand that the only right the Sinhala have which is different from those rights both Tamil and Muslim Communities enjoy is the possibility of forming a Government with a Sinhala majority. This is what they do not want. The solution for this is for the Tamil people to have more social contact with the Sinhala and Muslim population s and unite in forming a unitary Sri Lanka with their differences so that they may even contest elections in any part of Sri Lanka whether it is in the North or South. It is not antagonism hatred and enmity with the Sinhala a united nation could be built.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse does not mince words, when he says, "I think it would be impossible to bring a political solution without militarily defeating the terrorism". It is so, though no one else is as franc and truthful as he is. The exercise of finding a political solution should not be to please the terrorists, but the people of the country as a whole, whether it is the Tamil Community, Muslim Community or the Sinhala Community. The day that the Middle Class Tamils understand that and consider themselves not as a separate community but a part of the whole Nation, Sri Lanka would have solved all its problems. We should work for that eventuality, to never again have terrorism in our soil the Sinhala, Tamil and Muslims live together in the North Easat as well as in the South. There should be moment of the population as a whole in to every province and district in Sri Lanka.

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