UK’s Sir John Chilcot Report and Mangala Samaraweera’s Media meet
By Manekshaw -2016-07-09
Three things cannot be hidden: The Sun, the Moon and the Truth.
– Lord Buddha
– Lord Buddha
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mangala Samaraweera held a special media conference on 6 Wednesday at his ministry on the outcome of the 32nd UNHRC sessions in Geneva last week and on the government's response to the UNHRC Chief Prince Zeid Ra'ad Al-Hussein's oral submission on the UNHRC resolution which was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka, last year.
Minister Mangala Samaraweera's comments at the press conference had clearly outlined the government's response to the UNHRC Chief's oral submission which was delivered on 29 June in Geneva and on the government's future plans with regard to the UNHRC's resolution on Sri Lanka.
On the formation of a hybrid judicial mechanism to probe the alleged war crimes, Minister Samaraweera said that by February next year (2017), the modalities for the hybrid judicial process will be finalized.
Commenting further on forming a hybrid mechanism the minister said that even on probing the assassination of Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, the foreign expertise was sought.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera's media briefing last Wednesday had been a coincidence to the report released by Sir John Chilcot on Britain's involvement, with the US, in the Iraq invasion in 2003.
As already several people in Britain have started to describe former British Prime Minister as a 'war criminal' for taking the decision to send British troops along with US troops to invade Iraq in 2003, Sir John Chilcot's latest report which has been released after seven years of investigation into Tony Blair's decision to send the British troops has very well highlighted the British democratic system of calling a spade a spade.
Sir John Chilcot in his lengthy report has mentioned that the Tony Blair Government had ignored peaceful means to send troops into Iraq. The report also mentioned that the Tony Blair Government acted on the basis of flawed intelligence reports on Iraq possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
The US and British Governments celebrated their joint victory over defeating Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in 2003. But Sir John Chilcot's report two days ago had created another tremor after Britain's exit from the European Union accusing the Tony Blair Government of ignoring peaceful means by sending troops to overthrow the Saddam Hussein regime based on flawed intelligence reports.
Tony Blair government's decision
The report released by Sir John Chilcot after seven years of extensive probe into the Tony Blair Government's decision to send troops to Iraq had not only highlighted that the decision was wrong, the report has also clearly indicated how far the United Kingdom was firm on war related issues.
As Sri Lanka is currently struggling to deal with the accusations surfaced with regard to the alleged war crimes believed to have been committed during the final phase of the civil war in the Vanni in 2009, the Chilcot report could be considered as an exemplary one to take the initiative to work extensively on forming a judicial mechanism in probing alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.
Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera while assuring on the formation of a hybrid mechanism in February next year at his media briefing had also made a sensible comment stating that a judicial mechanism was inevitable to investigate into the deaths of several thousand civilians at the final phase of the war.
It was like the latest report of Chilcot accusing Tony Blair for taking the decision to send the troops to Iraq and not blaming the British troops for engaging in the military activities in Iraq, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera has also said in his media conference that those who mishandled the troops would be probed and not the ground troops engaged in the operations.
There were instances where the troops had rescued several innocent civilians who were trapped in the so-called no fire zone created by the former regime during the last lap of the civil war in Vanni.
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka who had led the Army in defeating the LTTE had also welcomed any form of investigation to get rid of the accusations against the Army when he was addressing Parliament two months ago.
Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka's stance on conducting an investigation into the alleged war crimes was also welcomed by the Northern Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran and the Chief Minister went on to say that the Field Marshal had proved himself a professional soldier by courageously calling for an investigation into the alleged war crimes.
So the recently held UNHRC session in Geneva and the media briefing of Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera have emphasized the need of Sri Lanka's obligations towards carrying out the investigations into alleged war crimes as it was agreed upon in the UNHRC resolution.
The Joint Opposition would attempt to politicize the comments made by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera on the hybrid judicial mechanism and other statements over the alleged war crimes. As the UNHRC has gone deep into the allegations against Sri Lanka by bringing out several resolutions along with the latest one last year with the co-sponsoring of Sri Lanka, whoever remains in power will be compelled to clear the country from the allegations levelled against it.
Therefore, in the backdrop of Sir John Chilcot releasing his report accusing the Tony Blair Government of the wrong decision of engaging in Iraq, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera's comments clearly indicate that the truth cannot be hidden at any time.
