SLFP vows Prez won’t succumb to pressure

War crimes

by Shamindra Ferdinando-October 5, 2018, 11:23 pm 

Ports and Shipping Minister and SLFP spokesman Mahinda Samarasinghe Thursday (Oct 4) insisted President Maithripala Sirisena wouldn’t give in to Western pressure under any circumstances.

Samarasinghe, the former human rights envoy of the previous Rajapaksa administration said so at the regular SLFP briefing at its T.B. Jayah Mawatha office when the media sought an explanation as regards the continuing UK intervention in post-war Sri Lanka.

The SLFPer said that President Sirisena wouldn’t allow external interference in accountability issues regardless of various statements. The minister was responding to a statement made by UK Minister for Asia Mark Field as regards post-war Sri Lanka.

The media pointed out that the UK had reiterated its role in Sri Lanka reconciliation process close on the heels of President Sirisena appealing to the international community to allow Sri Lankans to settle their problems.

Samarasinghe reiterated whatever they said President Sirisena wouldn’t accept external interference.

Meanwhile, Minister Field is in Colombo to meet Foreign Affairs Minister Tilak Marapana, Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya, Minister of Public Administration & Management and Law and Order Ranjith Madduma Bandara, and Minister of Sports and Provincial Councils & Local Government Faiszer Musthapha.

He will also meet Leader of the Opposition R. Sampanthan, members of civil society and Commissioners of the Office on Missing Persons.

The British Commission spokesperson said that Minister Field would discuss a range of issues, including the UK’s continued support for Sri Lanka achieving meaningful and lasting reconciliation in the interests of all Sri Lankans.

Celebrating the links between Sri Lanka and the UK in the area of business, Minister Field would visit the London Stock Exchange Group’s fast growing Colombo operation, which employs several hundred Sri Lankan IT and finance experts.

The HC quoted Minister Field as having said: "My visit this year coincides with that of the England cricket team – a great celebration of our two countries shared love for the sport and everything that it represents. Sport is just one of the links between the people of the UK and Sri Lanka that we can all celebrate. The UK is and always has been a close friend and supporter of Sri Lanka. During my visit I will be encouraging the government of Sri Lanka to fulfill the commitments it has made on reconciliation to the advantage of people in all Sri Lanka communities."

Global Sri Lanka Forum (GSLF) spokesperson Ajantha Premaratne yesterday told The Island that the UK was working overtime to ensure the full implementation of Geneva Resolution 30/1 adopted on Oct 1, 2015. Pointing out that the 47-member Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) had given Sri Lanka time till March 2019 to fully implement the Resolution adopted on unsubstantiated war crimes accusations; Premaratne alleged the government lacked courage to disapprove allegations.

Obviously, Minister Field was in Colombo to intensify pressure on the National Unity Government, the GSLF spokesperson said. The UK certainly owed Sri Lanka an explanation why successive governments suppressed wartime British High Commission dispatches from Colombo which cleared the then government of wild accusations, Premaratne said.

Sri Lanka for nearly a year deliberately refrained from taking up diplomatic dispatches with members of UNHRC, Premaratne said, adding that post-war reconciliation process would receive a massive boost if the Tamil community could be convinced 40,000 civilians didn’t perish on the Vanni front.

Premaratne urged the Foreign Ministry to take up this issue at least now. President Sirisena, in spite of vowing not to allow external intervention had done nothing so far to use British High Commission dispatches in Sri Lanka’s defence.

Responding to a query, Premaratne, who participated in several side events in Geneva where the GSLF made representations on behalf of Sri Lanka, said that the UK would sacrifice Sri Lanka’s interests to appease those British voters of Sri Lanka origin as well as strategic interests of US-led Western bloc.

Premaratne said that if the UK was genuinely interested in human rights it wouldn’t have opposed UN inquiry into alleged war crimes committed by Saudi Arabia in Yemen. The UK recently declared that it wouldn’t support UN probe under any circumstances after Saudi Arabia threatened to review its trade relations with those countries supportive of the UN move, Premaratne said.

Saudi-led coalition is engaged in large scale military action in support of the Yemen leadership for over two years with lethal weapons supplied by Western countries like UK and USA.

Premaratne alleged that the UK never made its own military dispatches available to UN Panel of Experts (PoE) or to a subsequent investigation undertaken by Geneva to hide the truth.

Premaratne said that there had never been a situation similar to the one experienced here. The GSLF spokesman pointed out Sri Lanka’s situation was unique as the leadership here cooperated with external elements to undermine their own.