European Union Officials Visit To Sri Lanka
Kumarathasan Rasingam
European Union made it a pre condition in the last minute, requesting Sri Lanka to at least “replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act before granting the GSP+ and also make the Office of the Missing Persons fully operational, all to be delivered by Sri Lanka within clearly established time limit”. Sri Lanka sensing a way out of the hurdles, due to the softened stand by the European Union, hurriedly sent its Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Harsha de Silva, who earlier blasted European Union by saying that “Sri Lanka is under no obligation to any foreign body”. He took a half-baked secret draft copy of Counter Terrorism Act as the replacement of PTA to the European Union’s attention, the contents of which are still shrouded in secrecy unknown to the world and public.
European Union expressed its satisfaction and supported Sri Lanka to defeat the motion of 52 European Members who recommended rejection of GSP+ after an onsite in depth study and assessment of the ground realities in Sri Lanka, which were obviously disappointing.
The present President HE Maithripala Sirisena remain and continue to remain as another typical Sinhalese politician with an eye on his post and future. He has already indicated his stand on the following issues which are hostile to Tamils while underscoring the Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy:
1. No withdrawal or reduction of the Army in the North. About 160, 000 soldiers are living among 700,000 civilians; thus keeping the Tamils under Army surveillance and control.
2. No complete handing back of the lands to Tamil civilians. Out of 6200 acres seized by the Army in the North, only 400 acres have been returned to civilians so far.
3. No conferring of powers and/or allowing the Northern and Eastern Provincial Council to function with their powers over land and police.
4. No stopping of the illegal seizure of lands belonging to civilians by over-zealous monks who build Viharas and erect Buddha statues when there are only a few Sinhalese living around.
5. Refused to hold an Independent International Investigation into war crimes etc.
6. No halt to future Sinhalese settlements in Tamil areas.
7. No speedy re-settlements of the thousands of displaced Tamil civilians.
8. No proposals to solve the 60 year old ethnic problem have been laid out so far.
9. No commitment to release the Tamil political prisoners languishing in jails for more than 20 years. Now they are dubbed as convicted criminals under the legal system with no prospects for release.
10. No investigation or information as to the fate of 90,000 disappeared Tamils.
11. Appointing alleged war criminals and conferring them with titles and ranks: E.g.: Jagath Dias and Jagath Jeyasuriya
The latest visit by UN Special Rapporteur reveals the following:
The Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Counter-Terrorism Ben Emmerson who visited Sri Lanka from 10th July to 16th July 2017: bares the various acts of violation and the systems prevailing in Sri Lanka. It is to be noted that this is the first occasion when a United Nations Official felt the necessity to refer Sri Lanka to the Security Council or face a range of measures if it fails to honor its commitments to the UNHRC Resolution. Among other matters the following are worth mentioning:
