(Lanka-e-News -30.Sep.2011, 11.30P.M.) The Sri Lanka (SL) Deputy High Commissioner to the UN, Major General Shavendra Silva against whom a case has been filed in the USA, is left in the lurch without legal counsel being provided to him, reports say.The Lawyers of the SL Govt. who give legal counsel to him say that nothing can be done , and the Diplomatic immunity cannot be take advantage of. Yet , the lawyers of the US had explained that , as the case has been filed in the civil court , his immunity has no relevance..
Irrespective of this controversy , the laws which are going to be implemented from tomorrow in SL to fine those who do not use the safety belt when driving are going to apply even to the Diplomats who are in SL . When this law is applied their diplomatic immunity cannot be taken advantage of. The case filed in US against Shavendra Silva is based on similar laws. That case had been filed under the civil laws , and Shavendra Silva had accepted the summons.
One of those claiming compensation is the wife of a LTTE leader of the East , Ramesh . She has based her claim on the channel 4 vide exposure. The videotape showed the soldiers of the regiment to which Shavendra Silva gave commands arresting Ramesh , and the defense Ministry later making a public report that Ramesh died in the LTTE engagements. The days indicated are contradictory . After Ramesh is taken into custody , it is the Commanding chief who is responsible for his death later. It is suspected that this videotape had been passed to the international scene by Saman Kumara of the State Rupavahini who is a close crony of Shavendra Silva.The defense Secretary and the Govt. say that Ramesh is a terrorist leader who committed a number of murders including the killing of the Arantalawa Bhikkhu . But the question at issue is , no matter who the criminal is , if he is taken into custody , he must be brought before the law. He cannot be killed while in custody. In the circumstances Shavendra Silva is in deep trouble.. This case filed claiming compensation in the civil court had been well thought out after carefully probing as to how legal action shall be filed unaffected by his right to immunity. The legal personalities in US say , .the SL Govt. by just harping on the fact that Ramesh is a LTTE leader and committed murders , and thereby wasting time while trying to exploit even this grave turmoil of Shavendra Silva for its publicity purposes thereby deepening Silva’s predicament under the US laws.When the several media Institutions to whom Shavendra Silva made requests to write in defense of him in respect of his case had passed the information to the Govt. The latter had however obstructed the media on this . This was another illustration of the Govt.’s condom theory application. During the war period , what Shavendra did was pampering the media covering the defense scene and making them write about him and boost his megalomaniac ambitions. The defense Secretary Gota had repulsed this by giving instructions to the media , “ do not up what Shavendra tells” .
A leading Lawyer residing in the US speaking to Lanka e news said, the Rajapakse regime by posting the commanding chiefs of the war period subsequently to High Commissions in problematic regions has committed two grave mistakes. One mistake is its action can provoke the Tamil population abroad and expose the Diplomat to the danger of sharp reactions of human rights activists as well as their hatred. An Army officer is most vulnerable to these risks. If the SL Govt. Diplomatic circles have acted intelligently nobody need to have walked into these problems. This is similar to a situation where the Govt . has made Shavendra walk into turbulence and trouble voluntarily, he noted.
The second mistake is , appointing officers who know only about war as High Commissioners . By this, grave damage can result to the country because these officers know next to nothing about foreign affairs . If the Govt. wished to give these officers a good holiday after the war , what it should have done was without compromising the country’s foreign affairs and image , sent these officers without giving publicity to some obscure place.
This Rajapakse regime has complicated the problem by sending the war Hero who won the war for them to jail and sending others on compulsory pension on the one hand , while on the other pampering and putting on pedestal a notorious LTTE leader who committed genocide openly . Now to aggravate the situation further it is scheming to wash its hands off giving wrong advice to an Army chief after driving him into a legal tangle, the leading Lawyer pointed out.By ‘Soldadu Unnehe’
