Cannot expect impartiality from Pillay - Gammanpila

Chamikara Weerasinghe

Sri Lanka cannot rely on an impartial observation on its human rights situation from United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner Navanetham Pillay, Western Province Environment Minister and Jathika Hela Urumaya Deputy General Secretary Udaya Gammanpila said yesterday.

"She has reportedly told reporters in New York that she will defer her visit until Sri Lanka makes the report of Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) public.

"She has a history of being biased against Sri Lanka. She has played an important role in fashioning the infamous Darusman report," he pointed out.

"She has demanded that the LLRC report being made public when its recommendations are be implemented," he added.

"Even if the LLRC report is implemented 100 percent, it is not going to be enough for the UNHRC and the US," Gammanpila explained. "Besides, it is the Sri Lankan government that must decide when and how the recommendations of the LLRC will be implemented. We are a sovereign state. It is up to the government to decide on the recommendations and their implementation," he emphasised. "The UN decided to punish Sri Lanka even before the LTTE had been defeated," he said.

Western countries developed this attitude because Sri Lanka carried its fight against terror defying their requests for a ceasefire," he said.

"They did not like Sri Lanka defying their ceasefire proposals as the superpower.

Had we acceded to their call, we would have still been suffering from LTTE terrorism," Gammanpila said.

Their decision to punish Sri Lanka is to have a strong grip on other countries by sending a strong message, he said.

"The LLRC report is just a ruse to justify their sinister agenda of intervening into the internal matters of another sovereign state," Gammanpila said.

Whenever they intervened in the internal affairs of other countries, they had discussed with anti- government political forces. In the case of Sri Lanka, they discussed with Tamil National Alliance members, he noted.

"This is because both UNP and JVP have become weak as political parties," he said.

"The US claimed that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, as an excuse to invade Iraq. There were no weapons of mass destruction except oil wells."

They said Bin Laden was living in Afghanistan until they killed him in Pakistan, he said.

Asked about the position of India to support the US-backed resolution against Sri Lanka, Gammanpila said: "It is clear India did this because of their domestic political pressure from Tamil Nadu, but they could have abstained from voting."

"It is disappointing that India did not explain their position to the countries that they had to vote because of domestic political pressure," he added.