Resolutions and conspiracies
Editorial-June 18, 2014
The much-publicised government resolution against a UNHRC war crimes probe has been adopted by Parliament. Its passage was never in doubt. Interesting views and counterviews were expressed amidst slanging matches during the two-day debate. All speakers fared reasonably well either defending the government or tearing into it. Minister Wimal Weerawansa was at his oratorical best.
Weerawansa demanded that the allegations of human rights violations against the government in peacetime be separated from the issue at hand—UNHRC war crimes probe. He viewed it as the first step towards penalising the political and military leaders responsible for defeating the LTTE. He sounded just like George W Bush when he told the Opposition that there was only one question to be answered: "Are you for the UNHRC probe or are you against it?" Bush, it may be recalled, thundered amidst a rapturous applause, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 disaster, "Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."
Tainted as some of his arguments with Bushism were, Minister Weerawansa succeeded in defending the government position better than all other UPFA speakers put together. His speech was so impressive that the state media which had stopped giving him exposure in view of his differences with the government were compelled to cancel their prime time programmes and telecast it. He is sure to be one of President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s main speakers at the next presidential election as well. (The President must have given him a bear hug immediately after returning from Bolivia!)
It is only wishful thinking that the UNHRC will conduct an impartial investigation. Nor will it refrain from going ahead with its probe under any circumstances. The Opposition has argued that the parliamentary resolution against the UNHRC probe has, therefore, been an exercise in futility. The government, however, is not unaware of this simple fact. The objective it has sought to achieve through a parliamentary debate on the UNHRC move is political rather than diplomatic. It will milk the current situation of its news value to gain enough political mileage with an eye to the next presidential and parliamentary elections.
In the course of his parliamentary speech, Minister Weerawansa spoke of an unseen hand behind the Aluthgama violence against Muslims. He claimed there was a conspiracy to deprive the government of minority votes at the next presidential election through attacks on Muslims. The ruling party propagandists also peddle this argument, claiming that the troublemakers are funded by some foreign powers. If so, the question is why the government does not have those who incite racial hatred and violence arrested forthwith.
Opposition politicians, especially Democratic Party Leader Gen. Sarath Fonseka, are prevented from holding even election meetings in violation of their constitutionally guaranteed rights, but those notorious for ethno-religious extremism are free to hold protests with the police looking the other way. Will the government allow those ‘conspirators’ and their ‘hirelings’ to operate so freely to engineer its downfall?
The Opposition has called for stern action taken against the perpetrators of violence against Muslims. So do the world powers perceived to be hostile to this country, the UNHRC and international human rights groups. Here is a golden opportunity for the government to crack down on the extremist groups and defeat their ‘conspiracy to facilitate a regime change’. That is the best way it could silence its critics who claim it is supportive of those fanatics. What or who prevents it from doing so?
