PLAYING TO THE GALLERY

These days there are massive protests going on not only by the government but also by the opposition with regard to the appointment of a UN panel. The government members are threatening that leave alone the United Nations, no country in the world will be allowed to poke their fingers into internal affairs of Sri Lanka.

The opposition is also crying that the UN does not have powers to appoint such a panel.

The Foreign Minister and other influential ministers of the government are threatening that none of the members of this UN panel will be allowed to set foot on Sri Lanka.

And so, those sitting in the public Gallery are shouting Hoorahs and singing Hosannas, and clapping at this display of bravado by our politicians.

So, now everybody is happy. That’s the end of the matter. Or. at least that’s what they all think.

But nobody bothers to look into the origins of this problem. Nobody wants to study how past instances of a similar nature had been handled by those in charge. And nobody even thinks of learning any lessons from the past.

There is one thing that everybody should pay attention to in this instance. That is the fact that nobody could initiate legal action against Sri Lanka in any International War Tribunal. If such a thing is to be feasible, Sri Lanka should have entered into and signed a convention to accept its contents. Although such a Convention had been presented to Sri Lanka in the year 2003, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe who was the Prime Minister at that time had wisely refused to sign it.

At that time, those advocates of human rights who were in the opposition saw this act as a violation of human rights and isolation of the country from the international community. But Mr. Wickremasinghe did not budge an inch and refused to sign that convention. Therefore, no one has a right to file legal action against Sri Lanka in a War Tribunal now.

But since, the USA has signed this convention, it is possible for American citizens to be brought before such a tribunal. The government says Sarath Fonseka is an American citizen. The opposition says Gotabhaya Rajapakse is an American citizen. If these claims are true, then these are the people who should be afraid of going before a War Tribunal.

Therefore, it is clear that this talk of someone summoning Sri Lankans to go before a War Tribunal is pure imagination in the minds of the government, just to draw a red herring and to earn kudos from the public. So these protests about the UN Panel are also just a magic show aimed at satisfying the Gallery.

During the latter part of the eighties, the United Nations was initiating an investigation into human rights in Sri Lanka in response to a petition filed by the then opposition member Mahinda Rajapakse. At that time, what President Premadasa did was to send Ranil Wikremasinghe to USA as his personal emissary. Whilst in USA, Mr. Wickremasinghe invited the members of Human Rights organizations and the American Congress to visit Sri Lanka to see for themselves the actual situation. Also, the government at that time facilitated such visits by extending all due courtesies to them.

After visiting the country and getting a first hand knowledge of the situation, these members reported back to the United Nations that the actual situation in Sri Lanka was not so bad as Mahinda Rajapakse had complained and therefore, there was no need to appoint any investigative commissions.

It is indeed poetic justice that Mahinda Rajapakse who at that time went after the UN begging for investigative commisisons to be appointed to look into human rights violations in Sri Lanka; has to now shy away from facing such commissions himself.

If Mahinda Rajapakse wants to avoid facing such commissions, all he has to do is to do what President Premadasa wisely did at that time.

Otherwise, issuing threats to the UN and declaring that members of the panel will not be allowed to set foot in Sri Lanka is not going to take us anywhere and will only result in getting the country into a worse situation as far as the world body is concerned.

Because, although those members may not be allowed to come to Sri Lanka, the government might not be able to stop people who want to give evidence from going out of the country to other venues in order to do so.

So, at least now, what the government should do is not to play to the Gallery with its foolish acts but to act intelligently and diplomatically following the precedents.

What the Government has forgotten or deliberately ignored is that not everybody likes to sit in the Gallery and enjoy cheap shows and there are other people too who sit in Balconies and other classes, and observe such foolish acts with much disdain.