Rajiva Wijesinha

“ She sees Sri Lanka’s failure to be elected to the Human Rights Council as a victory for regional and international NGOs. To whose genius then does she attribute the failure of Spain and East Timor to get elected? Clearly she does not understand how the United Nations works, and that a triumph for some countries, such as the United Kingdom which pipped Spain at the post by a single apparently contested vote, is not a defeat for others. ”

“ If Mr Alston insists on being confrontational, so be it. Sri Lanka recognizes areas in which improvement is necessary, but we will not be deflected from dealing with terrorism whilst seeking a pluralistic democratic solution to our problems. We are saddened then by the tendentious attacks of reporters such as Ms Abrazzi, and would suggest that, if she does not understand the dangers of terrorism, she should at least aim for consistency, which Mr Alston at least does, in his aggressively scattershot fashion. ”

“ Sadly, stuck in what might be termed a zero sum mentality, she cannot understand what might be described as a win-win situation, in which good friends of Sri Lanka, such as Japan and Pakistan and Bahrain, were elected in our stead, friends who understand our difficulties and will help us to improve our situation whilst not permitting certain selected NGOs and their friends to ride roughshod over us. ”