I Want My President To Be Honest, Articulate, And Smart

By Mohamed SR. Nisthar -February 26, 2014

Mohamed SR. Nisthar

There is an adage in Tamil, which goes “Arasan ev valiyoo kudihalum av valiyee”(meaning: whichever way the king heads towards, the subjects also go accordingly).  This has very much been the case before, during and after the 23rd CHOGM summit in our motherland, Sri Lanka.

Apart from ardent Tamil tiger supporters, almost all Sri Lankans are relieved that the military outfit was defeated to the level that they cannot regroup. But the question as to how quickly the government would create normalcy after a quarter century long bloodshed in the country and offer peace to indescribably affected Tamils in particular and others in general remained unanswered.  Days became weeks, weeks turned into months and now we are heading towards the last phase of the 5th full year since the notable event in May 2009.

The international community’s tacit approval given to the Sri Lankan government to have some time to enjoy their victory over the tigers seemed to have been interpreted wrongly by (the advisors of) the President and that prompted him enjoying the military victory indefinitely without realising that the international community is losing patience in waiting to see any meaningful measures or action plan in resolving the long burning issue of the ethnic question and also the President’s (government’s) accountability for the alleged war crimes and human right violations leading up to May 2009 and beyond respectively.

Regular elections have been conducted just to show the international community that Sri Lanka is not a country where the democratic process has no place. Once again it seems to be a misinterpretation of the (advisors of the) President that simply conducting elections, sometime before it is due, cannot mean to the international community, that a functioning democracy prevails in Sri Lanka in the right political sense.

The President, his government and the Sri Lankan diplomats all seem to have taken defensive positions whereas they have no solid defence as far as the allegation of war crimes and constant gross human rights violations against all minorities of the country are concerned. It’s evident from President to diplomats to Buddhists monks to politically innocent citizens of Sri Lanka, in the way media and foreign head of states, who are concerned about Sri Lanka’s human right record, are handled.                                                    Read More