Geneva: Govt. has misread India's abstention - UNP

'Domestic probe only way to save country from misery'

Jayawickrema Perera-April 4, 2014,

by Zacki Jabbar The UNP said yesterday that the Rajapaksa Government had Totally misread
's abstention in Geneva As regards the U.S. sponsored UNHRC resolution calling for an International probe into alleged War crimes during the period of the conflict covered by the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC ).

Senior UNPer Gamini Jayawickrema Perera told The Island that the government was planning to take another 'long nap' as it had done after the first two UNHRC resolution against it were passed, but India had called for a domestic probe assisted by the UNHRC into the war crimes allegation against the Rajapaksa regime and the LTTE.

Asked what the UNP thought of the stand taken by India, he said: "It is reasonable since it will help prevent foreign interference in our country's affairs. The Rajapaksa's and their mouthpieces should at least now stop talking and listen to good advice. If they continued to be stubborn and refuse to come down from their high pedestal, the people and the country will have to suffer ultimately considering the powerful forces that had ganged up to obtain a UN mandate for an international war crimes probe on Sri Lanka. "

Jayawickremea Perera said that India had abstained on the UNHRC vote against Sri Lanka as a matter of principle and not because it was indifferent to what was happening in the Wonder of Asia just across the Palk Strait. "The powers that be were foolishly trying to justify their failure to speedily implement the key LLRC recommendations by claiming that only 12 voted for the UNHRC resolution, while 12 each opposed and abstained making it 24 votes in its favour. This sort of approach has worked only locally for the Rajapaksas all these years. But the results of last week's Western and Southern Provincial Council Elections have proved that the masses are also beginning to slowly but surely realise the stupidity of those in charge of their destiny. "

New Delhi has time and again complained of failure on the part of the Rajapaksa administration to honour its pledge to fully implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and the key LLRC recommendations aimed at establishing good governance and the rule of law, he noted.

If the government continued to turn a deaf ear to concerns expressed by the international community about the increasing role of the military in civilian affairs, attacks on minority religious places of worship, targeting civil society members and the media for exposing the deteriorating law and order situation , not just in the Northern Province but also in other parts of the country, that would result in India adopting a different attitude towards the Rajapaksa regime against whom the UNHRC's international probe was scheduled to get underway shortly, given the one year time frame it had set itself.

It was President Mahinda Rajapaksa who had assured the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that 13th Amendment Plus would be granted to the Northern Province.The Tamil Nadu vote was crucial for whichever party that ruled India and it would be foolish to assume that New Delhi has abandoned the Sri Lankan Tamils, especially with Parliamentary Elections due to be held shortly, he observed.