US govt believed Pillay held biased views - Tambimuttu

 Nadira Gunatilleke

The US government at first was reluctant to support the appointment of Navinitham Pillay to the position of UN Human Rights Commissioner because of the anxiety that she could over react and hold biased views. This has been very clearly proven today, Batticaloa district Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) organiser Arun Tambimuttu told the Daily News yesterday.

Tambimuttu said today she is very interested in the issue of removal and appointment of Chief Justices in Sri Lanka. Ms. Pillay has been always a strong critic of Sri Lanka. She sees the Sri Lankan issue from a black and white perspective. She only sees the oppressed and oppressors. As a Tamil, she believes whatever she has been told about Sri Lanka.This is purely due to her past experiences. When she hears such things, what she does is immediately compares such fabricated information with her past experiences and takes a very biased view on Sri Lanka.

According to Tambimuttu, what is happening now is that certain forces use anything and everything to destabilize Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka will not be able to function if we wait to please the EU, Commonwealth, India etc. We cannot please all.If so, we will have to wait doing nothing and pray to god for food, water, justice and everything.

He pointed out that the TNA’s political survival depended on the fire burning of ethnic nationalism. Therefore, they keep it burning. They are being manipulated by outside forces and they manipulate local people. Now they say PCs are not given adequate powers. Now the TNA is not demanding or at least talking about land and police powers. This is because they have understood that the ordinary people living in the North and East are not interested in them. Politics and power is their ‘Manthra’ for the last 30 years. Unfortunately the TNA sees things through a smoke screen of ethnic politics.

Tambimuttu noted that earlier the TNA always ran to India in order to complain about everything and always sought the assistance of India. Now they go to South Africa for ‘assistance’ ! South Africa has become a centre of Tamil activism now. South Africa is being misinformed about the Sri Lankan situation. Because of this, they do strange and unrealistic comparisons. 

South Africa is least informed about the Sri Lankan situation. On the other hand, America is very strict about terrorism, extremists etc after 9/11.
Therefore, the Tamil Diaspora turned to South Africa as a result of this.