Iniquitous duplicity of western policy
It was in the midst of the recent Afghan polls, which have become a
worry to President Obama in convincing US citizens of the needs for the
US to be more involved in Afghanistan, and indeed for the same reasons
for Gordon Brown too, that German Officers of the NATO Command there
called for US air support to retrieve two fuel tankers hi-jacked by the
Taliban. The air attacks that followed killed more than 60 civilians,
which led to the US Commander there making the usual apology and
promising an inquiry.
Condemned attacks
President Kharzai once again condemned the attack on civilians with
such great loss, but he has been sidelined by the US and its NATO allies
that are carrying on policies of trying to bomb the Taliban, and
possibly all resistance in Afghanistan, out of existence.
Children were made child soldiers by the LTTE. File photos |
Those who do not learn the lessons of history will be compelled to
face the consequences of such folly; but that’s not our purpose today.
What this shows is the duplicity of the western military and economic
powers, usually dubbed the international community, in dealing with
matters that relate to the world outside their own, or those that are
not their direct allies or suppliant dependents for aid, especially in
arms procurement.
It was on Monday that the US State Department Report on the War in
Sri Lanka was presented to the US Congress, without giving Sri Lanka the
opportunity of being heard on its contents, although our Ambassador in
Washington was informed of its presentation. Listening to the Sri Lankan
side on what was also a war against terrorism that had dragged on for 30
years, making it one of the longest wars in modern times, may possibly
have tempered whatever recommendations made to Congress.
But that is not the style of a super power that seeks to retain
dominance over the world, especially for its military cum economic
advantages.
In a strange twist of concern for human rights and all such important
areas that the West is interested in, especially vis-a-vis Sri Lanka,
what appears to matter is only what is alleged to have happened at the
end of the conflict, but not what took place through the entire conflict
that went on for so long, posing a threat to regional security too, and
also building up dangerous criminal elements in the very capitals of the
West, that are crying out loud for action against Sri Lanka, for
allegedly what took place in the last 100 days of the war.
Alleged war crimes
A crucial factor in this exercise of accusing Sri Lanka of everything
from human rights violations in general to the larger charges of alleged
war crimes, or as some who have cared little for humanity when Tamil
leaders of all colour and persuasion were killed, ask for charges of
crimes against humanity, is the lack of verifiable evidence.
The upshot of this is the making of the absence of verifiability
itself about the source of information on the alleged crimes, the cause
for its credibility.
Touch of truth
We do recall the several journalists who were claiming they had the
right to report what the LTTE propagandists put out as the truth because
they were not allowed, for reasons of their own safety, and yes, for
security concerns of Sri Lanka too, to be at the war front, embedded or
not.
They did not bother to state that they cannot vouch of the truth of
what they reported at the time, but expected the world to believe it as
the truth according to the gospel of any old news agency, network, of
flyby night journalist, just because they were not there.
It was the absence from the scene that gave the touch of truth to the
story, usually picked up in toto from the propagandists of the terrorist
camp; and these were all journalists and news organizations that stood
for democracy.
We saw this happen to politicians of the West too, and various big
names of human rights and UN organizations, who came here almost in
droves to lecture to Sri Lanka on how the final phase of the war had to
be fought, always with the demands for a ceasefire, which was what the
LTTE was seeking, through its many interlocutors on the west side of the
world.
What we can now see is the United States joining the European Union
in the duplicity over Sri Lanka’s handling of terrorism in the country.
The US which launched its own war on terror after the 9/11 attack on
the World Trade Centre, and the EU states, many of them through NATO
that were engaged in the regime change mission of the US-British
alliance in Iran, and are now at a loss as to how they can overcome the
Afghan insurgency, are together in what seems to be a concerted attack
on Sri Lanka.
The rule
The EU is pressing on with the threat to withdraw the GSP+ tariff
concession, which when granted had nothing to do with IDPs, or any such
related matters they are now concerned with. The US, while blatantly
violating all norms of international law and the various Geneva
Conventions on War and the handling of prisoners by US Forces, at
Guantanamo and Iraqi and Afghan prisons, is joining in the witch-hunt on
Sri Lanka, allegedly because of its concern for human rights.
There is no doubt that the position taken up by many who point
fingers at Sri Lanka, for the alleged, unverified and unproven excesses
in the final stages of the war with the LTTE, (and certainly not a civil
war as is often made out to be) has more than an element of correctness
in expecting a government or State to act better than a terrorist
organization. Of course, who would challenge that? This is unquestioned.
But at the same time it must be stated that this cannot be taken as a
generally applicable rule across the board, without taking the specifics
of each case into consideration.
The first is the nature of the enemy, and the next is not only the
extensive use of violence by the enemy, but also how it acts in the
given circumstances that are the cause of concern.
What the duplicitous West, prodded on by the pro-LTTE forces, whether
they are Tamils for Obama, or those who made the infamous Channel 4
video, ignores in its entirety is what the LTTE was doing to the Tamils,
who were under its thrall in the last stages of the battle.
It is well recorded how they were held hostage by the LTTE to force a
ceasefire on Sri Lanka, and also how hey were used as human shields for
the protection of the LTTE leaders. Also, it is well known how the LTTE
used every civilian it had to carry arms, irrespective of age, sex or
physical condition, in its last attempts to compel a ceasefire and live
to fight on another day.
These are inalienable facts that those who are now, directly or not,
lobbying for the LTTE in the EU, and in the US, seem to wholly ignore.
They are attaching themselves to a level of objectivity that does not
stand the same tests in the objective conditions that actually prevailed
at the time of their concern in Sri Lanka, nor are they borne out by the
reality of how they treat civilians and non-combatant prisoners in their
own wars on terror.
Deceit and deception
The deceit and deception of these ‘champions’ of human rights have
made them blind to the enemy that Sri Lanka was fighting for so long; an
enemy that was violating every norm of human rights and the very right
to life, freedom of expression and the whole range of democratic rights
that these powerful west side forces are using to try and batter Sri
Lanka into submission to their will.
Their extensive use of child soldiers, many of whose mental health is
possibly damaged for life, the use of women and children as suicide
killers, the use of the elderly to carry arms and be in the front line
of defence of the LTTE cadres - all this gross inhumanity against its
own people, the Tamils and to its perceived enemy the Sinhalese, is
forgotten or ignored, in the new interests of power politics; where they
wish to see Sri Lanka as another supplicant State of the west that
brazenly violates human rights, and not as a free, independent and
sovereign nation, to serve the political and economic interests of the
West.
In the face of two major emerging economic powers in Asia, India and
China, Sri Lanka is seen as a good pawn to have under the control of the
West through the threat, nay even the fact of many sanctions, over what
these obscurantist forces, see as a means of continued geo-political
strength.
The humanity of the West is lost when it concerns the livelihood of
hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankan women, and the resultant effect of
their families through the possible loss of GSP +. One should also note
that many of these are women who have also lost their brothers and other
loved ones in the battle to rid this country, and its neighbours of the
terrorism of the LTTE.
But such realities are of no concern to those who believe in
duplicity as the keystone of foreign policy when dealing with small,
less powerful nations of the world.
‘Humanity’ of the West
The report to the US Congress is manifested by its lack of
authenticity and verification of facts about what took place in the
North of Sri Lanka, when nearly quarter of a million Tamil civilians,
dared LTTE bullets and mortars to come to the safety to the Government
held areas, where they are still looked after in safety. When
considering the US reliance on facts in taking action against countries
it believes should be penalized, it is apposite to recall that the US
and Britain went to war for regime change in Iraq, based on their
intelligence reports of the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction in
Iraq, under the control of Saddam Hussein.
This has already gone down as one of the worst examples of national
leaders being duplicitous towards their own citizens, in the desire to
pursue a foreign policy that would not be approved by the people if they
had all the facts before them.
It is the same today with the war in Afghanistan, when despite
‘Wanted Dead or Alive, posters, his imminent capture in the mountain
heights between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and all that schmuck about
Osama bin Laden., he still remains the most wanted man in the West and
the current nemesis of Barack Obama.
In its latest move against Sri Lanka, both by the EU and the US, we
see that the foreign policy of the West, when dealing with small States
that are not its willing and supplicant clients, is based largely on
iniquitous duplicity.
It is certainly not the Politics of Change that Obama spoke of so
eloquently when seeking election.
It is truly strange that the Politics of Change can ignore all the
violence of a terrorist organization that has been defeated in battle,
but still survives with its fund raising arms, against US law, and only
looks at the conduct of a democratically elected government, the oldest
democracy in Asia. |