Sunday 19 February 2012 LLRC promptings fall by the wayside
The sixty-four thousand dollar question doing the round in town: Is the government really under intense international pressure and will it be compelled to do something about the Tamil question, or is it all plain bluff till the Human Rights tamasha in Geneva draws to a close? I do not know how much credence to give Frances Harrison, a former BBC correspondent based in Sri Lanka, who wrote on 10 February in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper:“There are signs that the international community is gearing up for action to hold Sri Lanka accountable for alleged war crimes committed by its forces at the end of the brutal civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009. A resolution is being prepared for next month’s session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Pakistan, where the Sri Lankan president begins a three-day visit today, should not stand in the way of justice for tens of thousands of minority Tamils who perished.”
I have heard both sides make their case about the likely Geneva outcome and neither wins conclusively. My nose which cannot shake off the seven year stench of UPFA-Rajapaksa fibs and
frauds says: ‘Advantage fraud!’ I am not much impressed by this yarn about pressure from New Delhi. It’s dashed funny isn’t it, the whole Krishna episode? The Indian External Affairs Minister, with his Sri Lankan counterpart standing beside him declares with much pomp and gravitas that President Rajapaksa, who he had met only a few hours previously, had assured him, that it was his intention to “implement the 13th Amendment in full, and even go beyond it.” Nothing is done to contradict him for about four days, and then Rajapaksa tells the nation that he said nothing of the sort. If it had not been couched in diplomatic-speak, what he said was that Krishna was a bloody liar. So the ball was tossed back into India’s court, but surprise, surprise, not a squeak out of Delhi; no volleyed return, no “you’re the bloody liar” rejoinder. Delhi’s silence is deafening! Full Story>>>
