Rajiva Wijesinha

“ In short, what the world should be doing is to ask the LTTE to pause firing for the civilians to get away. Asking the Sri Lankan forces to pause is like asking a man who would not dream of doing anything of the sort to stop beating his wife. And calling on both sides for this purpose is a calculated insult, since the Sri Lankan forces have never fired on those seeking refuge. ”

“ A professional Foreign Office needs better leadership than it has now, it needs better agents than the Times in its current phase of amoral secretive falsehood. It is no wonder that other journalists said there was no reason to worry about the Times, since its circulation was very small. But still, as with Browning on Wordsworth, Byron on Venice, those who remember past glories can only weep at what the current management of the Times has done, in enslaving past glory to New Labour manipulation. ”

“ We have confounded the world in dealing firmly with terrorism while preserving the lives of most of the civilians who were the most oppressed victims of terror.
For this evidently we must suffer. But this is a small price to pay for what we have achieved. And we can but hope that, in time, those who with more power inflict greater suffering for the sake of what they see as the greater good will learn to try to emulate our actions. ”

“ Do our cosy Sri Lankan commentators, in calling us names, realize that the Sri Lankan armed forces are not like that, that the Sri Lankan Peace Secretariat does not glorify war and suicide cadres? Do they recognize that unless terrorism is dealt with firmly, more and more families will have to sacrifice one member and then two to such practices? ”

“ At first the Obama strategy had seemed admirable. Those of us who thought the war against Afghanistan an acceptable war, based as it was on a clear United Nations resolution that was grounded in the undeniable fact of 9/11, had also marked the clear distinction between that and Iraq, where Anglo-American adventurism manufactured false dossiers, ignored the UN and charged in with no understanding of what victory would mean. ”

“ Why do what are supposedly friendly governments, more involved in fighting terror themselves than other white governments around the world, so willing to engage in naming and shaming? One would rather have expected them to assist us enthusiastically, drawing attention in private perhaps to deficiencies they had noted, but not allowing themselves to be used not only by politicians opposed to the government, but even by terrorists and by organizations that support terrorists, openly or stealthily. ”

“ I have been utterly consistent in my support for minority rights and devolution, for democracy and regular elections, for an independent judiciary and a free media, and both consistent and forthright, long before many of those who now flaunt their human rights credentials, in my condemnation of authoritarianism, racial violence, tampering with democracy and intimidation of the judiciary. ”

“ In short, when for once a government is - as Time Magazine put it clearly, whilst also urging moderation in seeking a political solution and greater concern for human rights - succeeding in a struggle against terror, it is outrageous that the Globe should seek to subvert this. It is one thing to ask for justice for the Tamils - and also the Muslims, because the Globe should not forget that one of the areas the Tigers claimed as their own actually has more Muslims, and the Tigers have actually sent Muslims away from some areas in the only known instance of ethnic cleansing in Sri Lanka. ”

“ Indeed it would seem that, by going to such an event, knowing how British leaders have been used before, Browne has nailed his colours to the mast. Perhaps he is hurt, like those journalists who claim they have to rely on dubious sources because access to the conflict zone is restricted. But, as with those journalists, their continuing misrepresentations even in the face of evidence to the contrary about the murderousness of the Tigers, is the best reason for not taking their claims of possible objectivity seriously. ”

“ After all what are now requirements for gainful employment should be provided to all students, not just the tiny elite that manages to get to university. And we should be thinking not just of knowledge, but also of attitudes, of problem solving and decision making skills, of socialization in terms of sensitivity and win-win approaches. Our education system should be geared to change rather than inculcate the zero-sum defensiveness in which so many are now mired because of the relentless competitiveness the current system entrenches. ”

“ The footsoldiers of the West, sometimes pursuing destructive ideals, sometimes seeking cheap sensation, sometimes with nastier motives, use the language of love. Their potential murderousness is equally destructive for Sri Lanka, and also for India when, as is inevitable, the two strategies coincide and Vaiko and Padmanabhan join together again in another dance of death, along with their shadowy supporters of all shades. ”

“ Then there are those politicians who believe that abandoning our sovereignty is the best way of achieving their own goals. Some of them may genuinely believe that, in what they see as a unipolar world, keeping the West – or their concept of what the West amounts to – happy is the best solution, others are probably more cynical, but do not realize that the West is more adept at using them than they are at using the West. ”

“ We must acknowledge that terrorism developed because those minorities felt discriminated against, and we must work together with those amongst them committed to a united country to remove all causes of complaint. But there should be no compromise on our sovereignty, because we saw in the case of Kosovo how urges to compromise, on the basis of guarantees, lead to splintering, with guarantees forgotten in a paean of self-righteousness.
So I believe that, on this the 61st anniversary of our independence, we have reason to be immensely proud of what might be termed our regained sovereignty. ”

“ In short, why do they seem to be extending a lifeline to terrorism when for once it seems possible that Sri Lanka might do what they themselves have so signally failed to do, despite having so much military power and no one breathing down their necks? They have signally failed to crush terrorism, to restore not only democracy but also democratic institutions to areas deprived of it for many years, to also rehabilitate former proponents of terror into taking part in the electoral process, whereas we at least have been doing better all the time at this, since the present government took over. ”

“ For India, despite its size and capacity to dominate, has on the whole behaved with admirable restraint as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. Her position has been very clear, that she is against the division of the country, but she would like entrenchment of rights for the Tamils. Those rights are generally such as any country anxious for the wellbeing and development of all its citizens should in any case affirm – devolved decision making as to social and economic aspects, protection for language and cultural identities, equal opportunities for participation in public life. ”

“ And that is why I regret so much the 20 years that have passed, since I first realized how much there was to do - or rather, how much could be done if only people and parents were freed to do what was best for their children. With the critical mass of those able to contribute so much smaller now than it used to be, I fear the opportunity has passed for ever. ”

“ Interestingly, one of the most intelligent Western diplomats to have served in Sri Lanka in recent years told me that perhaps one of our problems was that the West did not send its best foreign service personnel to Sri Lanka. This is understandable enough, but when not so bright youngsters are sent to a place where the opposition puts them on pedestals, and tells them only they can save the country, those who are anxious to make a name for themselves start believing in their own infallibility. ”

“ Like the proverbial pig sticking its snout into swill, Human Rights Watch has leapt with glee onto the recent declaration by the Sri Lankan government that its security forces ‘have been instructed to end the use of heavy weapons’. ”

“ Fortunately the people of Tamilnadu have shown clearly that they are no longer interested in parochial considerations, that they know that the Tamils of India can do better for themselves and their country by working within a national framework. The triumph of the current government of India is a triumph for the unifying pluralistic approach that has been the hallmark of mature Indian politicians, and it will lead to an India able to play a leading part on the world stage along with other large Asian countries. ”

“ It is bizarre that now the West, having used brutal methods in the past (though I assured the BBC that I was glad they had won the Second World War) , gets on its high horse with others, while also suggesting that they can treat foreigners wickedly, but everyone else has to be roundly condemned whatever they do. It is also bizarre that they believe that they and they alone are the saviours of the human race.
Thus the Czar of the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect, Gareth Evans, claims credit now for Sri Lanka not being a ‘classic R2P case’. ”

“ But, as the record of the Sri Lankan forces has shown over the past few years, we know how to take care of civilians, our civilians, which is perhaps what makes this natural to us, unlike in other contemporary theatres of war. Working with that knowledge we have to make sure that the struggle against the forces of terror continues, until the ghost vanishes up the chimney, and not only Sir John but all Sri Lankans can eat and sleep and work in peace. ”

“ As I said at the Human Rights Council, ‘we have no objection to being urged to follow international humanitarian law, which we strive to uphold, with a much better record in this respect than some of our more sanctimonious critics when confronted with terror or the mere suspicion of it’. ”

“ Unlike the Americans, who have a distinctly important role in the world, or the Indians, who are just establishing themselves in one, the British have never got over their decline from being top nation. Like Ronald Merrick, trying to warm his hands before a fire that was going out, there are individuals who would like to command an influence they cannot find on their own. To drive the agenda then of particular journals is not difficult, given that not many people really know much about Sri Lanka, and are content to believe what they are told. ”

“ Again there seems an unfortunate assumption, understandable in the Sri Lankan context, that getting power is what politics is about. For full time professional politicians that may be desirable, but for those of us who think politics is about responding to social change and enhancing understanding and opportunities nationwide, there is much else to do as well. I do not think I would ever have achieved electoral success as a politician. However, if I have failed only, as Ms. Ratnakara generously implies, because I have done much else, I think I should be proud. ”

“ But no, in a search for balance, as a Norwegian politician now in opposition put it cynically, those who have not suffered the corrosive effects of totalitarian terror put an elected government and a terrorist movement on a par, they condemn in the same breath both what is obviously collateral damage and also deliberate targeting of civilians, they belittle the human rights abuses that occur by refusing to seek specific remedies for them but instead lump them together in a persistent desire to impose external solutions upon a sovereign country. ”

“ Surely it is time the international community, as it calls itself, made it clear that terrorism has been defeated. A legitimately elected government must now embark on a process of reconciliation, but this peculiar British method of building up a dossier to destroy it does not bode well for the future. ”

“ Now ICES has swung the other way, and even Mrs Tiruchelvam, forgetting how her determinedly anti-terrorist husband died, hankers after tying the Sri Lankan government up in knots for daring to go after his killers. But ambition makes strange bedfellows of us all, and the West and ICES which connived at the oppression of the Tamils and of democracy in the early eighties, when Cold War compulsions held sway, now wish to perpetuate a patronising unipolarity through an even more ruthless hypocrisy. ”

“ The Secretary of Defence had shown the way in dealing through the Courts with what he saw as unfair criticism, and his success in that respect may well have irritated those at either extreme who preferred violent and anarchic confrontation. National security obviously cannot be ignored, but in the long run the restoration of the rule of law all over this country should be a matter of urgency, and the police in particular should be well aware that establishing the facts and prosecuting the guilty in this instance is the most important contribution they can now make to a durable peace. ”

“ But continuing bitterness, as religious leaders of all sorts have taught us, only creates further suffering. And when bitterness privileges terrorism, when it condones through silence the killing of moderate Tamils who had sought political compromises, when it degenerates into a game of atrocity snap, it needs to be dealt with firmly, albeit with kindness and even sympathy.
Unfortunately such bitterness is often excited by the media which, understandably, prefers the sensational soundbite to accurate analysis. ”

“ Unfortunately for the LTTE, the democratic response of the people of Sri Lanka to such appeasement was a resounding rejection at the polls of the leadership that had eschewed discussion, tolerance and democracy. No Sri Lankan government will return to arbitrary authoritarianism, and it would be well if the international community as a whole, while promoting a negotiated settlement, also understood reality and did not suggest a continuing commitment to a quasi-fictional world of increasingly fiendish violence. ”

“ That is why we refused to compromise, though we were always prepared to, on our terms as laid out by our media. Unfortunately we lost those countries which had thought the special session was about human rights for the Tamils of Sri Lanka, not about punishment for the government.
But those who think positively for the future have no place in the culture of guilt that has served us so well. Our guilt, and the recompense we have made at the expense of others, has helped to keep everything under our own control. ”

“ This is the problem of our country. I don’t blame the opposition party. The fact is that they are on a journey guided by an unsuitable leadership. They only set their eyes on the topmost position of the power ladder. In other countries the opposition parties assist the government to solve national problems, whilst criticizing particular actions so as to ensure improvements on behalf of the people. This is not understood by our opposition party. They engage in conspiracies instead to topple the government, as they did in 1964 and 2001. ”