‘SL has nothing to sweep under carpet’ - Part II:

Design for ‘exit strategy out of the domestic peace process’

External Affairs Minister Prof GL Peiris replies to recent TNA adjournment motion in Parliament

I will deal with some of the other points. I want to say this very honestly in keeping with my own conscience. I think the most serious reservation that we have about the Resolution that was adopted in Geneva by the Human Rights Council on March 22 is this. This is our main reservation. Those who seek to internationalize the Sri Lankan situation are not only not doing any good but they are inflicting real harm on a political process in this country.

There is a group of people. I will name nobody, I am not singling anybody in particular for condemnation. But, all of you will know that public statements have been made by political figures in this country, Sir, on these lines: Why are we interested in a domestic process?

We can get very much more out of the international community. Therefore, let the domestic process falter and collapse. That is what we want. We will then be in a position to raise our voices and tell the world, here is the empirical proof. This cannot succeed within the shores of Sri Lanka. A passionate appeal is then made on the most facetious and frivolous grounds to the international community who are told, "You take over, you now exert pressure on the government of Sri Lanka and extort, out of the government of Sri Lanka a solution that goes far, far beyond the parameters of any solution that would emerge from a domestic process".

Political solution

I am not saying that Hon. Sampanthan is adopting that view. I say that with honesty. But, I do say that there are others whom Hon. R. Sampanthan is well aware of, who are certainly adopting that view and who are looking for an exit strategy out of the domestic peace process. This is a case of waiting for Godot; it is never going to happen. We know that and you know it. It is certainly not going to happen. The international community, whatever that means, has neither the desire nor the capability to impose a solution on this country.

I think about 50 percent of Hon. R. Sampanthan’s speech consisted of quotations from Indian leaders. If India is clear about one thing, it is this. They have said time and time again, on several occasions in my presence, at meetings with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, they have always said, “It is not for us to determine the nature of a political solution that is appropriate for Sri Lanka. We do not wish to get involved in that at all. That is a matter for the people of Sri Lanka and for their elected government, not for us”.

If India has been emphatic and specific consistently about anything at all, they certainly have reiterated that position ad nauseam. So, this is the real damage which the Resolution of March 22 has done to the Sri Lankan peace process.

International community

Something can be worked out in this country. Nothing is going to emerge out of other capitals, but the internationalization of the process: the fact that Sri Lanka has been put on the Agenda of the Human Rights Council, the fact that some people are building castles in the air, envisioning, without any basis, that this journey will take them, step by step, towards a situation in which the international community will feel empowered and emboldened to impose a solution on this country. This means, Sir, the marginalization of moderates; moderates who believe that this country’s destiny is in the hands of its people and its elected Representatives; moderates who are genuinely committed to the pursuit of a solution which will be constructed in keeping with the wishes and the aspirations of the people of this land.

Those are the moderates who are now marginalized, who are deprived of authority by an international process which has kindled the hope that the international community will be a substitute for the organs of the Sri Lankan state in arriving at a solution to this issue. That is why I say, in all conscience and with total sincerity and honesty, that that is where this Resolution has failed the people of this land. I am not saying for a moment that anybody has done that deliberately or viciously, not at all. But, that is the consequence of that action.

Universal Periodic Review

Hon. Deputy Chairman of Committees, I was saying, whatever our private hopes and expectations may be, let us all stare reality in the face and let us recognize the truth that nobody outside this country is going to impose a solution. Look at some of these situations elsewhere in the world. Sri Lanka is a land at peace. There is stability in this country; the economy of the whole Island is growing by more than eight percent; our people are at peace with themselves and they are in a position to contemplate a future that is filled with dignity and hope. Contrast that with other situations elsewhere in the world. I cannot, as the Minister of External Affairs of this country, name situations. I will not do that. But, it does not require much knowledge or imagination to think of other situations where there are continuing problems, day by day. Has it been possible for the international community to step in and to try to control those situations? It has not been possible for reasons which I will not go into on this occasion.

So, it is never going to happen in this country. But, the Resolution in Geneva has raised that hope, of course, without justification and that is why it has been a setback. It has really been a setback, Sir, for the vitality of a domestic peace process. A domestic peace process is the only way; there is no other way at all. There is so much misinformation. I am not saying all of it is deliberate, but some of it is. Look at all the half-baked statements, the total inaccuracies which are being spread today.

I respect the Hon. Members who spoke yesterday in this august Assembly and there was a demand made that the government should table in this House, our response to Geneva with regard to the Universal Periodic Review. I want to explain very clearly what the factual position is because I am not for a moment suggesting that there was any mala fides. The Universal Periodic Review is not specific to this country at all. One hundred and ninety two countries are subject to review by the UPR once in four and a half years. It goes by rotation and our turn comes in the first week of November. We have prepared the document and sent it to them. This is not the only occasion on which we have submitted similar reports.

We have submitted reports under other international instruments to which Sri Lanka is a signatory. For example, under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women, we have submitted reports. Then, under the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of the Child as well, Sri Lanka has submitted reports. The procedure is that we submit the report, the report is translated into six United Nations languages and then, immediately it is put on their website. It becomes a public document to which the whole world has access. Nobody is interested in hiding it; nobody can hide it; it cannot be concealed.

The whole world can look at that. I am now in a position to tell this honourable House that early next week, that document will be on what is called the UPR Extranet - it is not called the Internet, - so that the Hon. Members of the House can access it at any time without any difficulty whatsoever. We really have nothing to hide.

Human Rights Council

I have found that it makes sense for the government of Sri Lanka to encourage maximum mobility and exposure; the more people are able to go to the North and see for themselves what the situation really is, the more they will realize that the bleak picture painted by the Hon. Sampanthan is not a reflection of the reality on the ground. We, therefore, want people to go there and see for themselves.

Then, there has been some criticism about the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights visiting our country. Again, I want to set the record straight. I mean, we must give proper information. Otherwise, how can people arrive at the right conclusion? Navanetham Pillay was invited by us to visit Sri Lanka long before this Resolution was passed by the Human Rights Council on March 22 this year.

To be continued