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THE EXPERT TORTURER AND BULLYING OF SRI LANKABen Silva U KAnalysis of the UN report with the title “UN human rights expert reports allegations of torture in Sri Lanka “ ref: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24457&Cr=sri&Cr1=lanka
I am referring to the web report which I accessed on a previous occasion, through the UNESCO homepage. I was baffled to find a link to an article on torture, on the UNESCO homepage. This link was not needed, unless` of course Torture is a part of UN culture or UNECO wanted to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka.. (The link appeared to have been removed on 18 – 12 -07) This report has been widely used by LTTE as propaganda. My comments are based, purely on the written material on the web page referenced above. A copy of the web page is given. In the UN report, there is mention of allegations, but no mention of a single shred of hard evidence indicating torture. The ‘expert’ Mr. Nowak, has come to conclusions without a single shred of hard, credible, verifiable, authentic evidence to link the allegations. It also appears that he has not assessed the credibility of evidence correctly, as he has not mentioned a single shred of hard, credible, verifiable, authentic evidence linking to allegations, in the published web page. I think the ‘expert’ ought to attend a course on critical thinking, as the expert has come to conclusions without appropriate evidence. What sort of ‘ex –pert ‘ is he ? This torture expert has certainly managed to torture me by making false allegations against Sri Lanka and causing me mental torture. As such, I would call him the torturer. In deed such false allegations may have caused stress and mental torture to many Sri Lankans, who know that the situation in Sri Lamka is different to that found in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay camps. The situation in Sri Lanka is far better than in Iraq or Afghanistan.
In Mr Nowak’s report, there was no mention of torture in LTTE controlled areas, although the security forces found evidence of torture chambers in areas that was occupied by LTTE. When making a comments on the Human right situation in Sri Lanka or incidents of torture in Sri Lanka, unless comparison is made with a country with similar exposure to terrorism and undeclared war, then the comments would not have a balanced view. One has to take into account that Sri Lanka is facing an insurgency and an undeclared war carried out by LTTE. LTTE do not follow any rules of war, and they use deception and every trick known to mankind, to fool everyone. Look at what USA and UK did, when there was a mere threat against them. They invaded Iraq and Afghanistan and killed over 100,000 and caused massive destruction. This is something that anyone critical Sri Lanka has to bear in mind. Hope EU is able to ‘hear’me.
Due to the biased nature of the report by Mr Nowak and due to lack of hard, verifiable, authentic and accurate evidence, due to the obvious anti Sri Lankan stand, the report by the ‘expert’ is not worth the paper it is written on and is complete garbage. Such inaccurate and incorrect reports are totally misleading and are used by LTTE sites for publicity. UN has become an unwitting partner of the LTTE disinformation campaign. False reports should not be published by UN and as such MR Nowak’s report should be withdrawn, without helping LTTE in their propaganda. Such false propaganda create LTTE sympathisers.
.Mr Nowak, the expert torturer, could leave torturing of Sri Lankans to LTTE as they are doing a good job of it, and there is no need for UN to get in the act as well. I would say the torture report by the ex-pert , on Sri Lanka is a bad joke and a serious attempt to discredit Sri Lanka.. Mr Nowak’s report would merely serve as a LTTE propaganda document to discredit Sri Lanka.
If the allegations were not proven, then there should have been no accusations against Sri Lanka and the web page should have not been published. By publishing the web page, it is clear that UN is into slandering Sri Lanka and wants to create a poor image of Sri Lanka.
The report formatting and the design gave the appearance to a reader that the allegations are true. There was no need to highlight and publish false allegations unless UN deliberately wanted to tarnish the image of Sri Lanka. If UN want to publish and highlight information about UN , then UN is free to publish 1. Corruption in UN, corrupted unreliable reports and bullying of Sri Lanka Ref; http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/131207-7.html
2. UN Stinks of corruption and support for terrorismref: http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items07/091207-2.html
If there was torture in Sri Lanka, JVP would know about it. As there is a vibrant democracy, effective judiciary and a free press in Sri Lanka, legal means would have been used to deal with the offenders. I need to point out that in criminal cases, the proof has to be beyond all reasonable doubt. If this is not the case then there would be many miscarriages of justice. UN and HR organisations need to be aware that LTTE most likely, have infiltrated UN and HR organisations and is likely to be targeting them in a meticulously planned manner.
UN failed to realise that there is a massive disinformation campaign against Sri Lanka, by the rich, global, terrorist group LTTE, that is trying to create a Tamil empire in Sri Lanka. Many people feel that UN and Human rights organisations have been infiltrated by LTTE agents or sympathisers. Perhaps GOSL do not have enough resources to deal with the massive propaganda war by LTTE. It appears that UN and HR agencies have been completely deceived by LTTE. UN and HR organisations themselves should make an attempt to identify and filter out LTTE agents It appears that UN and HR agencies .have been easy prey of LTTE agents, with disastrous consequences to Sri Lanka. Many believe that the data or information sources of these agencies are corrupt or biased.
It appears that UN agencies and HR agencies have no idea about the racist, empire building, deadly nature of LTTE and the modus operandi of LTTE. These organisations have done absolutely nothing to stop terrorism and is attempting to gang up and bully Sri Lanka. This is clear abuse of Sri Lanka.
There is ‘misuse of public power for private profit’ in UN’ [2], which has resulted in torturing and the bullying of Sri Lanka. An allegation does not mean that the incident has occurred in reality, as LTTE agents are masters in fabricating incidents that did not occur. It also appears that LTTE agents are intensifying their malicious campaign against GOSL, as they have realised that HR officials may easily be duped, naive, or may even be outright foolish.
UN and Human rights agencies have done nothing practical to stop terrorism. They have done nothing practical to stop a) recruitment of child soldiers b) brain washing of children in orphanages c) Training of children in warfare d) Terrorist fund raising. On the other hand they have done an intensive campaign hindering GOSL, thereby assisting terrorists. The message has to be given to the world that HR officials are nothing but power hungry, terrorist supporting bullies. It is also likely that HR organisations have been infiltrated by LTTE sympathysers. It is high time that GOSL exposed Officials of HR organisations to the world for what they are: Power hungry, naive, terrorist supporting people, unable to recognise that LTTE is a racist, empire building criminal group. The manner by which Sri Lanka has been targetted by UN, AI and HRW, make It clear that they have ‘ganged up’ against Sri Lanka and is bullying Sri Lanka. It is rather sad that organisations that should conduct themselves with dignity have resorted to the behaviour akin to that of thugs, practising gang culture, seeking revenge and bullying Sri Lanka. The whole sad situation was caused by UN and HR organisations producing malicious reports against Sri Lanka. Does the UN and HR agencies realise that by propagating LTTE propaganda, they have done monumental injustice and gigantic damage to Sri Lanka ? IMMEDIATE ACTION IS NEEDED TO STOP BULLYING OF SRI LANKA BY UN AGENCIES AND HR AGENCIES. UN and HR organisations, due to their inaction, apathy and indirect support for terrorism, has made Sri Lanka a dangerous place for Sri Lankan to live in. Some comments from readers of AT relating to LTTE propaganda are given below:Ref: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/8756#comment 1. “It seems that the present government has the political will to counter LTTE propaganda than previous governments. Having the will is not enough but the government must pick people who have the adroitness to do the job and not cronies who are picked because it is pay back time for their loyalty “ 2. For too long this lobby (LTTE), has been clever enough to feed false propaganda to worldwide media, foreign politicians and others. It is about time the Sri Lankan government and its embassies actively took part in countering the LTTE propaganda. In conclusion I would say that UN and HR organisations should withdraw their corrupt reports, especially if the reports have been challenged by many. Further they should take extreme care not to be deceived by LTTE agents and issue reports with malicious allegations, errors and omissions.
Copy to UN
References 1. http://mailman-new.greennet.org.uk/pipermail/edu/2007-March/000258.html UNESCO scandal 2. http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_10/uk/droits.htm UN corruption 4. http://barrypittard.wordpress.com/2007/06/26/unesco-and-indian-government-were-up-to-tricks/ Scandal Copy of UN web page
UN human rights expert reports allegations of torture in Sri Lanka29 October 2007 – An independent United Nations human rights expert said today that although Sri Lanka has measures in place to prevent torture, the brutal practice is widespread – an accusation disputed by a representative of the country’s Government. “The high number of indictments for torture filed by the Attorney General’s Office, the number of successful fundamental rights cases decided by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, as well as the high number of complaints that the National Human Rights Commission continues to receive on an almost daily basis indicates that torture is widely practiced in Sri Lanka,” Manfred Nowak told the General Assembly committee dealing with social, humanitarian and cultural issues, known as the Third Committee. “This practice is prone to become routine in the context of counter-terrorism operations,” Mr. Nowak, the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, added. Mr. Nowak said that during the course of his visit to the country from 1 to 8 October, he received “numerous consistent and credible allegations” from detainees who reported that they were ill-treated by the police to extract confessions, or to obtain information in relation to other criminal offences. Similar allegations were received with respect to the army. Also addressing the Committee, Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam of Sri Lanka said that his delegation respectfully differed with regard to the Special Rapporteur’s description of detainees’ conditions in Sri Lankan prisons which Mr. Novak had described as amounting to degrading treatment. Overcrowding was caused by resource constraints, he said, adding that his country was mindful of its international obligations. The Special Rapporteur, who works in an unpaid, independent capacity, said that in an effort to criminalize torture and bring perpetrators to justice, the Government enacted the 1994 Torture Act. While the significant number of indictments filed under the Act was encouraging, Mr. Nowak decried the fact that only three people have so far been convicted. “Given the high standards of proof applied by the Supreme Court in torture related cases, it is regrettable that the facts established do not trigger more convictions by criminal courts,” he stated. While the Government does not agree that torture is widely practiced, “I’m convinced and I think I have enough evidence for that,” Mr. Nowak told reporters after his address to the committee. The Sri Lankan Ambassador said he also respectfully differed with regard to the statement about torture being widely practiced in Sri Lanka, and said that statistics had shown torture to be very rare. Nevertheless, he said Sri Lanka would take the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations into account, and welcomed initiatives towards technical assistance, he said. The Ambassador thanked Mr. Novak for his work, and assured him of Sri Lanka’s commitment to full cooperation with the United Nations and his office and for constructive engagement to take care of all the Special Rapporteur’s recommendations. Mr. Nowak added that the most serious allegations of human rights violations, including torture, relate to the ongoing conflict between the Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But he noted that he was not in a position to speak about that since he was not able to visit detention facilities in army camps or those run by the LTTE. In addition to Sri Lanka, Mr. Nowak has visited Paraguay, Nigeria and Togo in the last year. He is scheduled to visit Indonesia next month and Equatorial Guinea and Iraq early next year. |
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