An anti-Tamil crusader and ardent apologist for the Sinhalese, Hariharan fails in his attempts to cast doubts on the authenticity of the execution video. (‘Some comments on the Execution Video’) That the video slipped through the elaborate Sinhalese iron curtain painfully put in place to prevent even a trickle of incriminating war crimes evidence leaking out into the world is remarkable. For damage control should a leak occur the Sinhalese have at the ready apologists like a Hariharan to discredit the leaks as fakes? Hariharan following his Sinhalese masters’ orders acted in such haste to appear as an accomplice (at least morally) in the Sinhalese war crimes. The leak caused much nervousness in the Colombo ruling circles with a reputation for finesse in committing successful genocide/human rights crimes and still escaping criminality. Accordingly B Raman recommends to Pakistan the Sinhalese model to crush the Baluchi resistance there. In the land of dharma the most vehement apologists and collaborators for such genocides are the gayatri mantra chanting who readily undertake any sinful assignment.
The ‘massacre’ video rekindles the debate on the Sinhalese human rights crimes more so even when the professional work of the UNHR office and other mandated Human rights organizations, were frustrated at the May UNHRC meeting in the immediate aftermath of the Wanni massacre. The ‘massacre video’ is a bombshell. It is the tip of an iceberg before torrents of incriminating war crimes evidence flood the public domain no sooner the IDPs in the Menik concentration camps are released. The reaction of the nervous Sinhalese killers/their collaborators is to deliberately delay the release of the interned civilian POWs as long as possible, their sufferings being inconsequential.
The Delhi trio’s role in the beach massacre is unraveling fast. Gothabhaya in a recent interview tore apart Delhi’s ‘covert role’ to reveal the Delhi (Narayanan) ‘trio’ collaborating in Colombo’s planning of operations in the no fire zone that led to the massacres of tens of thousands of civilians and the surrendering white flag waving LTTE leadership. Thus Delhi ensured that Rajiv’s order to General Harikirat to kill the unarmed invitees (Prabhaharan/LTTE leaders) for talks in 1987 not killed then were killed in this massacre.To cover up this massacre Delhi acted to kill off any progress on the Sinhalese human rights crimes in the UNHRC May meeting and also authored a toothless resolution that ‘failed to ..(call for) an effective and independent inquiry into the violation of human rights and ..(provide solutions) to the problems faced by human rights defenders and journalists due to lack of freedom of expression..(and denying) access to humanitarian agencies to the displaced. Above all it does not include (any) mechanisms for follow-up by …the UN High Commissioner’s office for Human Rights to independently monitor the human rights situation in Sri Lanka’.
Of the 29 that supported the Sinhalese crimes 15 are listed amongst the top 50 human rights offenders/abusers. They invariably vote against any UN intervention in human rights cases. China (ranked 9) is the notorious Tibet abuser, Egypt (7) Saudi Arabia (20) Russia (40) Pakistan (22) also India (ranked 28) for abuses in Kashmir. Delhi partnering the SL genocide and its trio’s complicity in the now notorious Wanni beach massacres once factored in will dent Delhi’s human rights abuser ranking much further. India’s dharmic heritage enriched with the Tamil blood spilt earned it membership of the notorious human rights abusers club that includes China/Pakistan/Iran/Ceylon. Delhi’s support encouraged the Sinhalese to opt for the China’s Tibet occupation model to resolve the Tamil problem. Only South Africa’s vote; a reputable NAM member whose voice is Desmond Tutu remains a puzzle.
The 12 (except Mexico ranked 16) who voted for war crimes action have impeccable human rights record. In this group Bosnia, Slovakia and Slovania were freed from Serbian tyranny when the UN High Commissioner’s office intervened successfully and brought genocider Milosovic before the war crimes tribunal.
In effect Delhi/Colombo exploited the Council’s weakness as presently constituted where notorious human rights abusers predominate, to shut out any UN mandated Human Rights scrutiny of the Sinhalese human rights crimes. The Sinhalese conveniently interpreted this (with Delhi’s covert nod) to undertake more outrageous war crimes; taking hundreds of thousands civilians from the ‘no fire’ zone as POWs, interning them in Nazi style camps behind barbed wire for months, extensive extra-judicial executions, disappearances, torture deaths in custody and rendition activities on Tamils living abroad; measures for the Rajapakse’s ‘Tibet’ style ‘final solution’ to wipe out all traces of Tamil influence in the island’s polity. Basil Rajapakse attributes delays in the release of the civilian POWs to their habitual abode to the mine clearing and that the areas have to ’rebuilt from point zero’; the latter is a clear admission of the wanton scotched earth destruction of areas of Tamil habitation in preparation for Sinhalese colonization to alter the demographics against Tamil autonomy demands for good.
Buoyed up by these successes the new Foreign Ministry Palitha Kohona claims an outlandish super-power privilege under a doctrine ‘no winner of a war has been tried (for war crimes)’ to elevate the Sinhalese win over LTTE a local resistance and non state player in a local war to a super power winner status in world level conflicts to avoid facing war crimes tribunal, This flawed thesis born out of the May UNHRC proceedings fiasco was effectively trashed/‘mocked’ by the eminent Francis Boyle an authority on genocide war crimes. The UNHC office intervened in Yugoslavia to launch the genocide and war crimes proceedings against Milosevic and his henchmen (Karadzic) and successfully midwifing the freedom of Bosnia, Slovakia and Slovenia from the yoke of Serbian oppression. Boyle issued an ominous “advisory” that ‘someday we shall hold the GOSL genociders as well, especially the Rajapaksa brothers and Fonseka for their …crimes, including the genocidal massacre of Tamils on the Wanni beach’. A healthy development for the war crimes initiatives is not the ‘massacre video’ alone, satellite witnessed massacres; and most important eye-witness accounts from the massacre escapees once released from internment. Un-nerved culpable officials are reportedly investing the ill gotten war booty in properties in countries where the diaspora live. The war crimes proceedings will catch up with these war crimes fugitives and save the diaspora from these fugitives sent to terrorise them into submission. .
One Nikini Jayatunga proudly claiming an English birth and grooming with a traditional Sinhalese upbringing views the universal human rights values through the dated prism of an East vs. West and ‘Never the twain shall meet’ mindset. Though living in the West she is surely a misfit there. Relishing the success for the Sinhalese tribal massacres cause in the UNHRC proceedings she speciously attributes it to support from the non aligned movement (NAM), the African group and the Organisation of Islamic countries (OIC). NAM has lost much of its relevance today and how genuine is NAM’s support for SL with its pro-western record since inception in the 50s. Nikini here twists history as it suits her – the Sinhalese trait in her upbringing. India minus its dharmic roots is morally adrift and incapable of acting in the spirit of NAM’s charter. To the OIC the Tamils as Hindus are Indians that Pakistan’s and Iran’s anti Indian prejudice explains their support for the Sinhalese. Likewise China a key NAM member and a notorious human rights abuser also supports the Sinhalese massacres for the same (anti-Indian) reason. Nikini revives the long dead anti-colonial and the irrelevant cold war logic to demean and demonise the European led group that championed the war crimes processes to deter the Sinhalese from more brutality. Nikini casually dismisses the tens of thousands civilians massacred in the beach as collateral and insignificant compared to the NATO and US casualties in Afghanistan and the World War II 80 000 Hiroshima casualties. By no established yardstick can the massacres of tens of thousands in the context of a local war on a narrow Vanni beach occurring within a couple of days fall within the definition of collateral casualties in the universally accepted sense.
The Jews waited centuries before an Israel was born, The Tamils do not have to wait that long as the war crimes noose tightens up on the murderers. A vigilant and committed diaspora would serve humanity by assisting the international war crimes tribunals in locating the fugitive killers seeking refuge overseas by deceit before they act as state terrorist agents haunting the diaspora. The Jews spread across the world acted commendably in pursuing the Nazi war criminals wherever they sought refuge.
V S Subramaniam
V S Subramaniam