Can Sri Lanka Counter International Pressures?
Austin Fernando
There are two senior US officials who visit Sri Lanka these days. They are Stephen J. Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large of the Office of Global Criminal Justice of the United States, followed by Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs of the US government, Nisha Desai Biswal, the successor to Bob Blake.
Since the US could influence international thinking and responses due to its military, financial and international motivator might and influence on multilateral organizations, these visits cannot be considered simple or non-binding. They are here for serious business (notwithstanding street protests here) and reflect evidence of the international interest to intervene in our crisis. Their stage will be at UNHRC Sessions in March with other co-actors like the British. The drama probably will be “Pinch Sri Lanka hard to be felt” in March, to be followed with “Maul Sri Lanka to kill,” in October and afterwards!
Internationals first deal with the immediate past of a conflict, and punish the guilty. Reconciliation is not essentially a parallel process for them. Therefore only the demands for war-crime investigations and accountability mechanism are demanded as pre-condition for post-conflict healing.
The ignored danger is that this attitude might push the ‘war managers’ or ‘political leaderships’ against the wall who would whip up nationalistic feelings in the face of potential atrocious punishments. This is why patience is virtue in post-conflict reconciliation.
Countering punitive consequences
Government has already commenced mitigation and pressurizing as observed by the President and senior bureaucrats meeting the Northern Province Council (NPC) Chief Minister (CM). Governor GA Chandrasiri was a notable, probably a ‘deliberate’ absentee at this meeting. Subsequently President’s Secretary and External Affairs Minster are to meet international groups to elucidate follow up actions by the government for reconciliation, development, resettlement and good governance.
Their points of view are important, but one should not forget that there are sources that submit counter information to Rapp and Biswal or other unfriendly “information seekers,” like the Canadian parliamentarian Rathika Sitsabaiesan. Those will not be ignored totally by other international players.
