Sri Lanka And ‘Misinterpretation’ Of ‘Sovereignty’? – Analysis

By N. Sathiya Moorthy*-FEBRUARY 16, 2016

UNHRC chief Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s declaration that it’s for Sri Lanka to decide on an ‘accountability’ probe hides as much as it says. It could not have been otherwise, given that human rights has become a global political tool – and by extension a subject of divisive national discourse nearer home.

The question is this: Who rang the bell in the first place, and who should bell the cat, now. The follow-up query is which bell to tie and around which cat. It’s here, ‘misinterpretations’ are being made from within the present-day Maithiri-Ranil leadership of their ‘National Unity Government.’ At present criticism and misinterpretations from their political opponents is relatively limited and less troubling than might have been thought-to-be.

Having sounded the bugle on ‘war crimes’ and ‘human rights’ violations in Sri Lanka, as yet another means of targetting the post-war Rajapaksa Government, the international community does not know how to handle the situation under a friendlier regime now. Having sympathised with the international community’s position without saying so when President Mahinda Rajapaksa was in power, and purely for extraneous reasons, the UNP majority in the present dispensation has problems carrying the ‘other’ from within.

It can easily be argued that the ‘Combined Opposition,’ under the Rajapaksa tutelage, was at it owing to the political embarrassment and the legal ‘harassment’ being faced by him and his family members. Just now, it is son, Yoshitha, an officer of the Sri Lankan Navy (SLN). President Rajapaksa, wife Shiranthi, brothers, Gota and Basil, have been presenting themselves for investigations into corruption charges flowing from his/their years in office. Before Yoshitha, Basil had spent time in prison.

The sub-text implies if the Rajapaksas or the Combined Opposition, a motley group of parties and MPs that has continued to be with the former President, would have started off on the ‘sovereignty’ issue had it not been for the harassment and embarrassment? The fact is that twice in eight months last year, nearly a half of the nation – and thus, more than a substantial portion of the majority Sinhala community – voted for him and with him. It’s doubtful if they would have done so for the Sirisena-led SLFP but for the greater identification with Mahinda Rajapaksa.READ MORE