Sri Lanka: A two-act drama unfolding in Colombo

29-Feb-2012

Guest Column by Dr Kumar David

The large and quite unexpected (by the ordinary person) hike in all prices that Sri Lanka woke up to in the first week of February set off protest movements that are growing and could swell into something very serious within weeks or months. Then, apart from, or some say as an attempt to divert attention there from, the government unleashed a wave of street protests against “the imperialist plot to destabilise Sri Lanka and undermine its sovereignty” at the UNHCR sessions which opened in Geneva on 27 February. People in knowledgeable places say the diversion theory and the panic theory are both true. Hence the startled, jerky, anti-West campaign the regime has instigated.

It is clear that the government is very frightened. I do not know what Maria Otero and Robert Blake did or said to Lanka’s political leaders but they seem to have pressed on all the panic buttons; the behaviour of GoSL has changed dramatically since this January visit. What has been publicly said by the Americans is that they will move a resolution at the UNHCR calling on Sri Lanka to implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’s (LLRC) recommendations and follow up on the accountability issues that the LLRC pussyfooted around with. (Accountability is a euphemism for alleged human-rights violations and alleged war crimes by the Lankan military).

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