Defeat Ban Ki – Moon At UNO

By Nalin de Silva

(March 10, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is clear that the western countries led by USA and UK would like to brand Sri Lanka as a pariah state sooner than later. The fast by Sarath Fonseka on the issue of having telephone conversations allegedly with his daughters is connected with Ban Ki- moon’s decision to go ahead with the appointment of a so called advisory panel on "accountability issues" relating to possible human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Though Fonseka is not the opposition leader in Sri Lanka many news media continue to call him so. There will be economic sanctions imposed on Sri Lanka and these are the well known western tactics used to bring down a government that the west does not like. We should only hope that the government of Sri Lanka would not resort abuse of powers as a response to the pressure applied by the western countries, unlike those countries.

The western countries are reacting in this manner simply because they do not like the victory of the armed forces over the most ruthless terrorist group in the world until they were defeated last year. They had supplied the LTTE with arms and supported them at the so called international conferences had abused diplomacy in order to meet the front organisations of the LTTE, which they sponsored. They would always claim that the LTTE is banned in their countries and that they are meeting either human rights organisation or pressure groups. The west can always hide behind these interpretations as the laws as well as the interpretations are their creations.

The USA and UK had always wanted to take revenge from President Mahinda Rajapakse and the Defence Secretary Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse for defeating Prabhakaran and his terrorist outfit. Even before the defeat of the LTTE the USA had indicted Sarath Fonseka and Mr. Gotabhaya Rajapakse in one of the courts of law in California. However, things changed when Sarath Fonseka said on or about 10th July 2009 at Ambalangoda that the Army had shot those who came with white flags. On the 15th of July he was removed from the post of commander of the Army and it is clear from that day onwards (or even before that) he had been in communication with some UNP and JVP members on various strategies. He paid a visit to USA and he had been telling the world since December 2009, through the Sunday Leader the newspaper once edited by one of the people whom he has appreciated as evident by his garlanding of a photograph of the latter by him recently, that the Defence Secretary had ordered Major General Shavindra de Silva to shoot even those who came with white flags. This is a change of position after he has become a "crown witness" of the westerners against the President and the Defence Secretary. This statement by the former commander of the army tantamount to treason whether it is true or not as we have argued elsewhere, and the Retd. General had to be brought before a court martial.

Sarath Fonseka was not arrested as the oppositional candidate at the Presidential elections but as a retired army commander and a retired chief of defence staff and now he is kept in the official residence of a high ranking navy officer. He is not treated the way Colonel Richard Udugama, a former army commander was treated by the then UNP government and then no human rights organisation came in support of the commander. Now Sarath Fonseka has apparently begun a fast until he is allowed to communicate with his daughters through the telephone. I wonder why the army allowed Sarath Fonseka the facility of telephoning the daughters in USA when it would have been obvious that the "crown witness" would have taken the opportunity to speak to his masters in USA and do what they instruct if only to save his life. Would it be possible to have a "journalist" listening to the conversation between Sarath Fonseka and the "daughters" as in the case of the much publicised conversation between the Defence Secretary and Major General Shavindra Silva, on that fateful day in May last year.

Sarath Fonseka would have learnt of these fasts from his allies in the JVP, which has organised numerous "akhanda upavasa" in the recent past. Almost all the fasts have ended up as farce becoming "kanda upavasa". It is clear that the west wants to make a hero out of Sarath Fonseka dead or alive as the westerners are not bothered about the life of a person as long as it serves their political purpose. They could claim that the human rights situation in Sri Lanka is horrible as it did not allow a person (the so called leader of the opposition as Ranil is of no use to them now) taken into custody by the military police to telephone his daughters. In any event the strategy is clear. Let Fonseka fast for his so called right to telephone his "daughters" in USA, when there is no right as such, and let the JVP create trouble in the country in the name of democracy. Are there any laws in USA that allows a person taken into custody to telephone his offspring in Russia, China or even in England?

There is no point in discussing double standards of the west in respect of Ban Ki- moon to appoint a so called advisory panel when there are no such panels for Iraq, Afghanistan etc. Recently it was revealed that as a result of USA- UK using poisonous gas in Iraq children with various defects have been born in recent years. It is pointless asking Ban Ki – Moon to appoint panels advisory or otherwise with respect to what is happening in Afghanistan. There are no double standards. The west simply tries to safeguard their culture, economic and political structures and any country going against their wish is punished.

Ban Ki – Moon coming from South Korea knows how American forces are occupying that country but he would not raise a finger against such action. If he does he would not be the UN Secretary General anymore as USA would not tolerate such persons. Ban Ki – Moon is interested in keeping his job for a second time and he would do anything that the west dictates to him. There is no point in discussing so called liberals in the west as they have no power at all. What power or influence Chomsky has in USA? He is better known in Sri Lanka than in USA as the USA knows how to deal with such persons while talking of freedom of speech and other so called democratic rights.

It is necessary to have a different kind of a non aligned group and Sri Lanka could give leadership to the world in this regard. It need not be anti western per se but for example should go all out to protect the sovereignty of the states in the UNO. Ban Ki – Moon is trying to interfere in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka and should be banned from the UNO. The new non aligned group should not only protect the countries from colonial concepts such as R2P that come in the guise of human rights protection, but help each other economically. More trade should take place between these countries and if possible should ban not only Ban Ki – Moon but the western economic products as well. These countries should realise that they can live without the west if there is enough cooperation among them. It is the west that has given us the impression that we cannot live without their products, funds and also their knowledge. Sri Lanka is striving to be the knowledge centre of Asia but it can be achieved only if we create our own knowledge without depending on the western knowledge.

We know that Miliband was in Colombo to save Prabhakaran and with people such as Nambiar of Ununited Notorious Organization (UNO) were here after organizing that ship to carry the LTTE leaders. However, all these attempts failed and now Miliband, Blake and Ban Ki- Moon and others are trying to play chaggudu/ kabadi with Sri Lanka. If there was a kind of non aligned group we could have out played Ban Ki – Moon and voted him out of that notorious organization called the UNO. It is time for the non western countries to take over the UNO and run it on a smaller scale so as to help the world at large and not the western countries at the expense of the others.