Lankan envoy criticizes Canada over inquiry calls

17 October 2011 04:00 am - 1 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

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OTTAWA — Sri Lanka says Canada is falling for terrorist "propaganda" with its newfound criticism of the Asian country's human-rights record and its demands for an international inquiry.

"We are not happy about the statements being made. We want Canada to see the correct situation," High Commissioner Chitranganee Wagiswara told The Canadian Press in a recent interview.

Wagiswara's remarks are the first public rebuttal of the hard line the Conservatives have recently adopted against the Sri Lankan government.

Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird has criticised Sri Lanka for blocking international efforts to investigate the conduct of its forces in the final days of its long civil war against the terrorist Tamil Tigers.

Human-rights organisations estimate tens of thousands of innocent civilians were killed in the Sri Lanka military's crushing defeat of the Tigers in May 2009.

In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, and in the House of Commons, Baird said last month there are "credible" and "serious" allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka. Baird also pressed Wagiswara directly on the issue during a meeting last month in Ottawa.

Baird's rhetoric marked a shift for the Conservative government, which until last month appeared firmly aligned with the Sri Lankan government in its 26-year civil war. The Tories officially listed the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organisation in 2006, and have moved to toughen the immigration law partly to dissuade boatloads of Tamil migrants for setting sail for Canada's west coast.

Wagiswara said that even though the Tigers were devastated militarily in Sri Lanka, they have a strong political wing that is alive and well in Europe, and "their propaganda machinery is very much intact."

She said the Tigers have launched a "propaganda war" aimed at turning international opinion against her government.

"This is still the Tamil Tigers in a different phase. Canada doesn't recognise the Tigers."

The Sri Lankan envoy said she wants Canada "to see this point of view and not be taken in by this propaganda that is going on."

A leading human-rights group said the Sri Lankan government is using terrorism as an excuse to keep from giving a full international accounting of its military action.

"There's been so much criticism coming from very independent sources. You had a number of special rapporteurs, (UN Secretary General) Ban ki-Moon's panel, Human Rights Watch, International Crisis Group, Amnesty (International)," said Elaine Pearson, deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.

"To allege that all these organisations are somehow on the LTTE (Tigers) payroll is just quite ridiculous."

Sri Lanka is also claiming a diplomatic victory at the United Nations Human Rights Council over Canada last month. Canada tabled and then suddenly withdrew a proposal that would have brought Sri Lanka's conduct in the civil war under closer scrutiny.

In mid-September, Canada sponsored a proposal calling for "an interactive dialogue" on the final report of Sri Lanka's Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission at the Geneva-based council's next session next March.

But Canada quickly withdrew the motion. The Foreign Affairs Department was not able to explain the action when asked about the matter a week ago.

Wagiswara said her government vigorously lobbied the council to block the Canadian initiative. "We got a lot of support because the countries understood," she said.

The council's 47 members include countries with dubious human-rights credentials, such as Cuba, China, Angola and Congo. Human-rights groups have dismissed interim versions of Sri Lanka's reconciliation commission report as a whitewash designed to absolve the government.

"If the Sri Lankan government put as much energy into initiating genuine criminal investigations and prosecutions as they do into their diplomatic charm offensives in Geneva and New York, then we'd actually see some genuine accountability," said Pearson.

"We wouldn't then be insisting on an international inquiry two years later."

Pearson said the international community, including Canada, is growing weary of Sri Lanka's unwillingness to openly talk about the final stages of its civil war.

She called Canada's initiative at the UN rights council a positive step, and said it should pursue further action when the panel reconvenes in March.

Meanwhile, Canada is using the coming Commonwealth summit in Australia to pressure Sri Lanka.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has threatened to boycott the 2013 Commonwealth summit that Sri Lanka is hosting unless the country shows that it is genuinely interested in showing accountability and taking meaningful steps toward reconciliation with its Tamil community.

In part, Harper and Baird are being driven by the fact Canada is widely viewed as the home of the largest Tamil diaspora in the world. An estimated 300,000 Tamils now reside in Canada, many in the Toronto area.

The Tories won their majority government in the last election by making major breakthroughs in the ethnic communities of Canada's major cities, and any goodwill they foster among Tamils would only solidify those gains.

The government's silence in condemning the actions of Sri Lanka's military sparked thousands of outraged Tamil protesters to take to the streets of major Canadian cities two years ago.

Now that the Harper government is speaking out, the Sri Lankan government is appealing for silence in the name of rebuilding after nearly three decades of civil strife.

"At this point in time, what we expect from Canada is that same friendship that has been maintained over the years and also understanding, because Sri Lanka has just come out of a terrible, traumatic, agonizing war," said Wagiswara.

Pearson dismissed the Sri Lankan government's line of reasoning as simply disingenuous.

"If they're genuinely concerned about moving forward, then they need to have a better process -- a genuine reconciliation and accountability process -- because otherwise these grievances are not going to be dealt with," said Pearson.

"It breeds more resentment within the Tamil population." (Source: CTV News)

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Comments - 1

YURI Monday, 17 October 2011 09:30 AM

OH CANADA, FINALLY WAKE UP.....

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Lankan envoy criticizes Canada over inquiry calls

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