Now if the Government of Sri Lanka, which represents the
people of Sri Lanka, thinks a resolution is ‘for’ the country, it would not
oppose it. The main opposition parties
blame the government for putting the country in a position where such a
resolution could be tabled and approved, have not exactly endorsed the
document. Only the Tamil National
Alliance has openly cheered the resolution. The TNA, one time mouthpiece of a
terrorist organization which continues to let pro-LTTE elements or
LTTE-remnants to dictate party policy, is but a regional political entity whose
sway is limited to just one province.
For Sison to imply that she knows better than Sri Lankan
what is ‘good’ or ‘bad’ for Sri Lanka and Sri Lankans is unadulterated
condescension. From any other diplomat
it would deserve the tag ‘unbecoming’, but she’s the representative of a
country that has the word ‘ugly’ stuck on diplomacy and diplomat. She got it wrong, but that’s not a surprise
then.
It must be mentioned that the USA didn’t cover itself in
glory when other resolutions were debated, in particular five resolutions
condemning Israel (the USA was the sole ‘nay-sayer’) and the Pakistan-led
resolution on drone attacks which sailed through over the objections of the
USA, Britain, France and a handful of other members who interestingly had voted
against (yes) Sri Lanka.
The USA objected to ‘the singling out of
Isreal’, even though not too many hours before it put its full weight on
‘singling out Sri Lanka’.
Sison got it wrong, but British Prime Minister David Cameron
did not. Cameron said ‘the UNHRC
decision on Sri Lanka is a victory for its people’. He got the wording right. His reasoning was
off the mark and in that he was quite ‘Sisonic’.
It was a victory for Sri Lanka but not in the sense that
Government spokesman mean ‘victory’. The
vote was a defeat, never mind that the US got one less than half the voting
members to vote ‘yes’. It is less than
consolation to count each abstained vote as a ‘no’. It was a victory, again in a consolation kind
of way, that Sri Lanka, given the massive mismatch vis-à-vis the USA managed to
have 12 countries support her, including China and Russia, not counting out the
fact that there were political blocs to contend with.
It was also consolation that India abstained, but too much
should not be made of India’s position since the Indian ‘explanation of
position’ demanded rejection and not ‘hands-off’. A perusal of the Congress Party’s election
manifesto would reveal the truth of India’s oft-uttered assertions of ‘friendly
relations’ with Sri Lanka. The
Bharathiya Janathan Party is no better since it is talking ‘Monroe Doctrine’
these days with obvious reference to Sri Lanka’s ties with Pakistan, China and
Russia. These three countries backed Sri
Lanka to the hilt. Their statements were
unambiguous and not compromised by the kind of pernicious meddling India is
known for.
But Cameron got it right because any process which reveals
friend as well as enemy is a significant positive. The vote revealed that India is no friend.
The vote revealed that Pakistan, China and Russia are solidly on Sri Lanka’s
side. The vote revealed that there is
absolutely no point in going beyond general courtesies in relations with the
USA, UK, France and India; placating will not purchase a ‘back-off’.
The bigger victory is that the government is now forced to
acknowledge all this but especially the fact that its own survival and that of
the country is dependent on the people standing as one. The government must realize that such unity
as necessary to meet the obvious threats articulated in Geneva cannot be
obtained without rectifying institutional, constitutional and policy-related
flaws that are patently anti-people.
Without redressing general grievances that are of economic and political
nature, the government cannot count on continued support that is the final and
most effective bulwark against meddling of any kind from the likes of
Washington and London.
That ‘truth’ is political and pertinent. ‘Geneva’ has produced it. In
that sense and that sense only, David Cameron, side-kick to Barack Obama though
he is, is quite spot-on. There’s
‘victory’ that counts in all this, subject to the caveat ‘if recognized,
digested and acted upon’.
msenevira@gmail.com
1 comments:
Even a general election proving these pseudo do-gooders wrong will not satisfy their hidden agendas. Sadly though some countries fall for their tricks. E.g. the Arab Spring wholly engineered by the CIA oustered their not so perfect leaders but brought in worse and rendered the countries in total chaos. The US was the money behind the democratically elected leader in Ukraine being removed and an unelected puppet installed. That leaders only crime was he supported Russia.
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