Rajiva Wijesinha

“ It is in this context that the rest of Senator Leahy’s statement must be read. He is certainly right in stating that there are human rights problems, but he cannot leap from that to the assertion that ‘the Sri Lankan government’s respect for human rights and rule of law has deteriorated even outside conflict-affected areas’. Such an assertion would be on par with allegations against the American or British governments because there are significant abuses of human rights by official personnel, and not only with regard to the war on terror. ”

“ Sadly, Senator Leahy, like most foreign observers of the Sri Lankan scene, has no sense of time. This is accompanied by an imprecise use of English, doubtless promoted by those who have said loud and often that the Sri Lankan government is responsible for the breakdown of peace talks. Senator Leahy is more circumspect than most, in qualifying with the words ‘at times’, his perception of the past willingness of the LTTE, regarding which the use of the perfect tense seems inappropriate. ”

“ It needs to be combined with the rule of law and pluralism, and that is why we should look carefully at the concerns Senator Leahy has expressed and deal with them as possible through the development of strong institutional safeguards. But it would be very sad if, because of misinformation and the general proliferation of prejudice against the elected government, the democracy that Sri Lanka and the United States shares is subverted in the ultimate interests of terrorists, who will be the only beneficiaries of concerted weakening of the elected Sri Lankan government. ”