Zeid Al Hussein’s report and traitors
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Al Hussein, has submitted his report to the UNHRC in Geneva on the 29th June 2016. Jehan Perera, in his article in The Island of 5th June , has endorsed the report fully and has concluded that at least for the time being the government must focus its attention on releasing the land occupied by the Army and reducing the strength of the military in the North. Jehan Perera’s appreciative comments on the Commissioner’s report indicating his agreement with the contents, are virtually in line with the Global Tamil Forum’s (GTF ) response to the same. The GTF too has commended the High Commissioner for his “forthright assessment” and has concurred with his “observations” that the promise of governance reform and transitional justice are yet to be fully delivered. GTF is an NGO banned by the previous government under in accordance with United nations provision, for supporting LTTE terrorism. No sooner the present government came into power it unconditionally lifted the ban. The objectives of the separatist GTF and the LTTE are the same. What the LTTE failed to achieve militarily, the GTF is trying hard to attain by political and diplomatic means. Hence if the pro LTTE GTF is happy with the report, it means that they are on track and also satisfied with the measures taken to punish those who crushed the LTTE.
Jehan Perera says that the Government handles the International Community with skill and tact and took the unexpected step of co-sponsoring the UNHRC resolution of October 2015 and turned “hostile” countries into “friends” once more. But what was the resolution presented by the HC to HRC at its 27th session which the present government recognized with appreciation? In gist, it compels the GOSL to cooperate with unspecified special procedure mandate holders of the UN, establish a judicial mechanism with a “special counsel” to investigate allegations of HR violations and introduce a judicial system with foreign judges, prosecutors et al., allow investigators to engage in “trial and punishment”, devolve power as per 13th A, and to review the existing Public Security Ordinance and repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act. It also requests the UN High Commissioner on HR to keep on assessing Sri Lanka on the implementation of the above! No patriotic/national minded citizen in our sovereign country would ever accept or succumb to this type of contemptuous intimidation.
Every sovereign country enacts its laws and establishes a judicial system as per the mandate given by its people. The present government has in a cowardly and shameless manner handed over that inalienable right of its people to an individual called Zeid Al Hussein who is being encouraged and appreciated or praised by GTF, TNA and the likes of Jehan Perera.
In the first place, why did the Western countries which have turned “friendly”, become “hostile”? It is because the leaders of the past government did not bow down to the West and thereby brought an end to the terrorism which plagued the country for more than 3 decades. So if those countries have now become “friendly”, as Jehan says, it obviously implies that they are “fully satisfied” with the mechanism under way to take punitive action against those who defeated the LTTE. As anyone can understand nothing else could make the GTF, TNA and the West happy in this regard.
Zeid Hussein in his report also says that international judiciary participation is a necessary guarantee for impartiality of the process in the eyes of the victims, given the magnitude of the alleged international crimes, which the OHCHR investigations found, could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Why are the “high caliber political analysts” such as Jehan dead silent about the observations made by the world renowned authorities on war crimes, in that regard? In fact it is heartening to note that the Global Sri Lankan Forum (based in Dubai ) has accused Mangala Samaraweera of failure to submit the reports of the independent commissions appointed by the previous government, pertaining to HR violations and accountability issues, to the office of the HR Commissioner. He was also found fault with for not enlightening the UN HC for HR and UNHRC members on the LLRC report which carries cogent scientific evidence capable of countering and negating the major allegations leveled by the HC against Sri Lanka.
Sir Desmond De Silva a foreign national and an authority on war crimes was a member of the Paranagama Commission established to inquire into the issue of “missing persons”. The relevant sections of Sir Desmond De Silva’s opinion expressed in the Paranagama report are as follows:
“The LTTE waged a ruthless secessionist campaign to create an Independent state in the North. The government created No Fire Zones to save civilian lives. Upon realizing that the Army refrains from firing into the NFZs , the LTTE promptly moved its cadre and Artillery into the midst of these innocent civilians. This of course is a war crime committed by the LTTE. In the final phase of the conflict, when the LTTE was facing inevitable defeat it resorted to holding hostages as a human shield and shelling the Army from NFZ so as to force the army to run the risk of causing civilian casualties. No doubt this was done with the purpose of assigning allegations of civilian killings to the army. In addition, there was evidence from many sources that the LTTE fired artillery into their own people. This strategy is not unknown in hostilities of this kind where there is a need on the part of the losing side to provide a propaganda storm so as to invite international intervention to prevent impending defeat”.
“The overwhelming number of innocent civilians taken hostage were saved and it was a major humanitarian triumph achieved by the military defeat of the LTTE by the army. The LTTE at the final stage of the war enforced the policy of child recruitment by force with brutality often recruiting children as young as 14 yrs.”
“LTTE started point blank shooting of civilians attempting to escape the conflict zone and the UNSG Ban ki Moon called on the LTTE to allow civilians to leave the area on their own free will. Ban ki Moon also deplored the forced recruitment of children by LTTE and stated that the severe restrictions by the LTTE on civilian freedom of movement violated international law!”
“It is my opinion that a war crime cannot be ascribed to the government on the basis of the facts mentioned. The evidence does not suggest that the commission of a war crime by reason of the collateral damage referred to was government policy. In other words there is no evidence of state sponsored war crimes in this regard.”
The international legal luminaries, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC and Rodney Dixon QC, have both worked in international tribunals for former Yugoslavia and worked for ICC in the Hague. Referring to the POE report of the UNSG they have both mentioned that the panel’s findings in respect of the alleged criminal violations fall well short of the legal standards and all the evidence virtually unsourced.
Hence despite such remarks by the independent war crime experts, Mangala Samaraweera had treacherously co sponsored the Geneva resolution with the USA. People like Jehan Perera are tasked with painting it white among the locals.
The TNA too has welcomed the report of Zeid Hussein in respect of war crimes and accountability and promotes international participation in the proposed war crimes probe. TNA MP Sumanthiran, in his statement submitted to the congressional hearing in Washington on June 14th states “…. I was personally involved in the negotiations with the USA in that particular process. There were some doubts created as to whether the constitution of Sri Lanka would allow for foreign nationals to function as judges and we went into that question, clarified it, and said yes they can, and that is how that phraseology was agreed upon. And so to us, having negotiated and compromised and agreed that there would be a hybrid tribunal to try these main atrocities, it is not open for the government now to shift its stance.”
Now who is Sumanthiran and who has granted him authority to participate in such a meeting? Sumanthiran represents the TNA which is a proxy of the LTTE which is made up of the Ilankai Tamil Arusu Kadchi (ITAK) and three former terrorists groups TELO, PLOTE and EPRLF. TNA has never condemned any of the atrocities, including massacre of its own Tamil leaders and intellectuals, by the LTTE. During the war, TNA worked very closely with the LTTE with some of its MPs attending passing out parades of even child soldiers. In the parliamentary elections of 2004, the LTTE supported the TNA to win by terrorizing and killing other candidates and the TNA has declared “ we accept the LTTE leadership as the national leadership of “ Tamil Eelam” Tamils and LTTE as the sole and authentic representatives of the Tamil people. Let us devote our full cooperation for the ideals of the LTTE’s struggle”.
During the last stages of the war, when the LTTE was brutally recruiting children and using innocent Tamils as human shields, the TNA with Sumanthiran at the forefront, instead of urging the LTTE to stop this, dashed abroad and begged the Europeans to intervene and prevent the defeat of the LTTE.
Hence one can easily imagine the hatred boiling inside Sumanthiran towards Mahinda Rajapaksha, Gotabaya Rajapaksha and our forces who killed his hero, the “sole representative of the Tamils”. Isn’t it perversion and a matter of contempt to note that the government has allowed such a person to decide whether our soldiers should be tried by a hybrid court or not?
It should be stated categorically that Zeid Hussein has no mandate to get involved in the internal affairs of a sovereign country. UNSG has appointed a board to appraise himself and Zeid Hussein appointed his own team to investigate the war crimes in Sri Lanka. Both these endeavours are not in keeping with the UN charter and that is the reason why both reports cannot be submitted either to the UN General Assembly or to the UN Security Council as they do not have any legal base. Then how can a sovereign country be forced to abide by a resolution drafted on the basis of these reports?
Jehan agrees with Zeid when he states that the release of land occupied by the military is slow and the culture of surveillance still persists in the North with a heavy military presence. Quoting same Jehan urges the government to do the needful. The last government, after defeating the LTTE, strengthened the intelligence units and took various steps to ensure the prevention of the LTTE raising its head again. In consequence the government was able to thwart three attempts by the LTTE to reorganize. But no sooner the present government came to power, it confined the Intelligence officers to barracks, demoralized them by remanding a very efficient group and lifted the ban imposed on NGOs which directly supported the LTTE. These NGOs are now moving freely in Jaffna preparing a data base with all the details of the 11,000 rehabilitated LTTE cadres and 4000 terrorists who have not surrendered to the forces. With the Intelligence units defunct and with LTTE-friendly NGOs in the North, one can well imagine how the LTTE has reorganized itself by now. Zeid Hussein’s demand to reduce the military strength and to do away with surveillance, which Jehan Perera supports, is the last nail on the coffin.
France was attacked by terrorists a few months ago and the French forces retaliated with full force resulting in many civilian casualties. We haven’t heard of Zeid Hussein appointing a team to investigate the war crimes or recommending a hybrid court to try the French pilots who bombed the civilian targets. But here Hussein acts differently and we know that it is because of the compulsion exercised by the Separatist Tamil diaspora and the West. We also know that in the well organized network of the Tamil separatists, there are locals here on contract to gradually brainwash the public.
A traitor is a person who betrays his own country. Like in terrorism there is no middle man in treason. Either you are a traitor or you are not. Anyone who tries to separate the country or anyone who helps the separatist terrorists to reorganize, either directly or indirectly, is a traitor. Treason, in any country, if proved beyond any reasonable doubt, is an offence punishable by death.
Rear Admiral Dr. Sarath Weerasekera VSV, RWP, USP
Chairman, Jathika Ranaviru Ekamutuwa
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