Lies perpetrated in the name of Human Rights resolution

Mohan Samaranayake on UNHRC resolution

The Geneva process against Sri Lanka was aimed at making use of ‘human rights’ to change Sri Lanka’s social, political and economic environment, said senior Journalist Mohan Samaranayake last week.

Delivering the key note speech at a seminar titled Billo Avith (Bogeymen are here) organised by the Yuthukama Sanwada Kavaya, at the Colombo Public Library Auditorium, Samaranayake said that there were differences between the objectives publicised and targeted objectives of the UNHRC process being enacted in Geneva against Sri Lanka.

“There are many lies being propagated by the leaders of the incumbent government with regard to so-called UNHRC report and resolution against Lanka in Geneva. It seems that lots of people believe them. Thus, I thought it is my duty to explain the truth. The lie number one is that the Geneva process came into being following an MoU signed by former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on May 23, 2009. There is no such document. I searched everywhere but could not find anything of that nature. I think it is the duty of those who propagate that myth to produce that document to public. The truth is that UN General Secretary visited Sri Lanka a couple of days after the defeat of the LTTE. At the end of this visit, a joint statement was issued. It is the usual procedure after an official visit by high level officials or politicians. There is a huge difference between a joint statement and an MoU,” Samaranayake said.

Samaranayake is a former spokesman for the UN in Colombo.

He said: “The second biggest lie is that the international community turned hostile against Lanka owing to the conduct of the former President Rajapaksa. I have heard the incumbent President saying recently that foreigners came here for peace talks and his predecessor took them to Embilipitiya treated them to manioc and the foreigners were furious. That is not true. During the last phase of the war British Foreign Minister David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kuchner arrived here. But, they did not come for peace talks. They came here to pressure the government to stop the war against the LTTE. Had we listened to them, we would have been still fighting the war against the LTTE.

“The third lie is that the international community has been divided as regards Sri Lanka during the tenure of President Rajapaksa and the incumbent government has won them over. When the resolution against Sri Lanka was placed before the Human Rights Council our friendly nations did not vote against it because the incumbent government did not lobby or campaign against it. When Sri Lankan delegation decided to commit hara-kiri and co-sponsored the resolution against them, we cannot expect foreign nations to take up our cause.

“The other lie is that the incumbent government’s decision to adopt a consensual resolution prevented the taking former President Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to the electric chair. It is wrong to use the electric chair to symbolize the entire process. Those charged with war crimes are taken before the International Criminal Court in the Hague. That court never hands down capital punishment the worst punishment they have is life sentence”.

He said that the Geneva issue was nothing but an American project to change the political, economic and social landscape of the country. “Unfortunately, majority today have not seen this danger. We should awaken people and point this out to them. I have serious doubts whether the Sinhala media has any understanding of this situation. All the English papers except one work in support of the American project,” Samaranayake said.

A large number of representatives of various organisations were present on the occasion.

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