A troika of sanity stands out for Sri Lanka

There are three names that stand out this week in the confrontation that Sri Lanka is currently faced with in many sectors over what is claimed to be the handling of the final days of the military operation to defeat the LTTE and the condition of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Jayalalitha Jeyaram is certainly not in that trio of achievement however much she may have tried to reach the pedestal through her statements and the antics of AIDMK members who continued to obstruct, hold up and delay the sittings of the Indian Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, over what they claimed to be the Sri Lankan Tamil and Human Rights situation. Former TN Chief Minister Karunanidhi, whose DMK is a coalition ally of the ruling UPA in India also does not match up, despite his own members in the Indian Parliament vying for more recognition than Jayalalitha's bandwagon in the tactics of parliamentary disturbance.

India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna stood out in this battle on the Eastern Front for his courageous statement to the Indian Parliament that did not bow down to howls from Tami Nadu and other forces, but stood firm in making a candid declaration of India's decision to act with the responsibility of a democratic state and a friendly nation of Sri Lanka in the current situation.

Reconciliation process

"We are engaged with all parties in an effort to achieve a forward looking outcome that is based on reconciliation and accountability rather than deepening confrontation and mistrust between the concerned parties," S.M. Krishna told the Indian Parliament, adding that India will decide on its action keeping in mind the implications on the reconciliation process as it does not want deepening of confrontation in Sri Lanka.

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, MP

S.M. Krishna

Prasad Kariyawasam

J. Jayalalitha

M. Karunanidhi

Noting the sensitive nature of the issue, he stressed that and India needs to consider the implications carefully, and told the more reasonable majority in Parliament that "Any assertion on India's part may have implications on our historically friendly relations with a neighbouring country."

As the human rights allegations against Sri Lanka are yet to come up for formal discussion at the 19th Session of UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, India will take a view "as and when the time is finalized for consideration" of the draft resolution on Sri Lanka, he said, noting that: "We would also need to examine whether our actions will actually assist in the process of reconciliation in Sri Lanka, and enhance the current dialogue between the government of Sri Lanka and Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Alliance."

All that the howling and braying by supporters of separatist terror in Sri Lanka, who have forgotten how much the Tamils suffered under the LTTE could do, was to tear up Minister Krishna's statement, unable to refute it either in thinking or rhetoric. Such displays of desperation are the stuff of bankrupt politics.

Channel 4

Another name that stands out is that of Ambassador Prasad Kariyawasam in New Delhi, who had to face the barrage of the attacks from the Eastern Front that had been bolstered from the cannon fire that was being directed from the distant Western Front too, by way of the latest operation by Channel 4. He earns my kudos for his handling of the Indian media that seemed unleashed at him over the allegations being made against Sri Lanka, especially by the Tamil Nadu clique of Jayalalitha politics, and other supporters of a hard line against Sri Lanka by India at the UNHRC in Geneva.

From NDTV to CNN-IBN, India Today, New Indian Express and ANI News, Ambassador Kariyawasam had to face a barrage of questions in a rapid fire exercise by many media houses in such a short time, which would have been challenging to even the most experienced of diplomats, who could easily have been cornered by the very multitude of the charges being made and responses sought. His task was even tougher when that huge fracas broke out in the Indian Parliament over Sri Lanka. Yet, he kept his nerve and gave a message that was both strong, credible and won the respect of his questioners.

On the allegation of the former Prabhakaran's 12-year old son being killed in cold blood, he told NDTV that "is a concoction and it is unsubstantiated, uncorroborated and not been checked by any authority." As to how Sri Lanka intends to tackle the fresh allegations being made, he told Nitin Gokhale, it is very surprising why such things are coming up, because after defeating this abominable terrorist group three years ago, we want a path of reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation and for that purpose we were looking at what we call restorative justice not retributive justice.

Retribution is not in our grain and for that purpose we set up what we call the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, an independent commission with lot of good credentials, to come up with ideas to search for all the solutions as well as address the context of the conflict and to come up with the recommendations... they have now come with a lot of good elements commended by the international community themselves and we want time to work on those matters. And at a time like this when international non-governmental organizations and some governments in the West seek to intervene and try to force the hand of Sri Lanka it is something that to my mind is misplaced and ill-judged. It does not help in our path of step by step reconciliation.

Western countries

On the developments in the Indian Parliament, he told Suhasini Haidar of CNN-IBN that it's very unfortunate that Tamil Nadu parliamentarians have chosen to disturb the August Parliament of India, for something very simple. They have perhaps been totally misinformed by whoever has briefed them about Sri Lanka's situation.

It especially seems none of these parliamentarians have visited Sri Lanka in the recent past; despite the invitations from Sri Lanka to visit and see from themselves what has happened in the past. And, what is happening now in terms of reconciliation and reconstructions as well as the rehabilitation work.

Without doing any of that, they are perhaps going by lobby and groups, based in the Western countries, who were earlier supporters of the LTTE. And that is the problem here, and therefore they are demanding things that are not relevant and unreasonable from the Central Government. And that is the reason why we object to the resolution in the UNHRC.

He had a similar message to ANI News when he said: "Tamil Nadu political leaders have been misinformed and ill-informed about situation in Sri Lanka and we invite them to visit Sri Lanka to get a firsthand look at the ground situation. We would like them to visit, talk to us and engage with us, so that we can understand their concerns and take action accordingly; without doing so their agitation at Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha is unfortunate." Ambassador Kariyawasam added that heavy lobbying by groups supportive of LTTE in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere gives the wrong perception of the real ground situation in Sri Lanka.

The other name in this distinguished trio is Rajiva Wijesinha, MP, and the Presidential Advisor of Reconciliation who was both quick and precise in his reaction to the latest Channel 4 blast on Sri Lanka.

Amnesty International

He has exposed the falsity and doctoring in this delayed attack on the Western Front, as being one that totally lacks credibility for the absence of objectivity, and the highly questionable sources it uses to make the very weak case it has had from the very beginning of what has become a video serial that challenges trust in journalism.

From the LTTE's use of civilians as human shields which did in fact lead to the death of large numbers of civilians, to the fake David Milliband statistics of food supplied to the Tamil civilians caught in the battle between the Sri Lankan troops and the LTTE, he raises many more questions that will need answering by Channel 4 and its protagonists such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Islamic terrorism

On the new 'pin-up' attraction of the killing of Prabhakaran's son, he says: “Finally, they show the picture of Prabhakaran's son, and claim he was killed on orders from higher up. In fact that picture has been in the public domain since 2009”.

While of course the matter should be investigated, the efforts to connect it with the President are absurd. This is not like what happened when Osama bin Laden was killed in cold blood, clearly on the orders of the American Commander in Chief, since he was privileged to have a bird's eye view of the proceedings.

The Americans may have thought the killing of Osama was justified, as revenge, or what they see as justice, but it was not a killing in combat, and was certainly not just. But one does not see any claims that he should be held accountable, for the simple reason that, as Mao Tse Tung once said, power comes out of the barrel of a gun, and the guns used against what is termed Islamic terrorism are larger than those of anyone else.

I should add that there were more horrors connected with the death of Osama bin Laden, including the justification offered by the celebrated Nazi hunter Elie Wiesel, who claimed that, though children had been put in harm's way, and 'Children are never guilty. Still, it was bin Laden himself who placed them in harm's way'.

I hope we never use such justifications, and that any allegation of killing will be looked into. But when America provides such glib justifications for its actions in executing bin Laden, surely there should be greater stress on the wickedness of the Tigers in the systematic use made of civilians as human shields. But, in its relentless efforts to target the Sri Lankan leadership, this is not an issue for Channel 4. I doff my hat to Rajiva for this.