Expectedly, the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is upset with the vote on US sponsored resolution going against Sri Lanka in the UN Human Rights Council. Whatever be the factors that promoted Washington to table the resolution and whatever be the factors that led India to leave it imprint on the resolution, the Sri Lanka government appears to have used the issue for sectarian ends. It has stirred up anti-Western sentiment, and roused nationalist spirits saying that Colombo is the target of an “international conspiracy.”
Sri Lanka Freedom Party of President Rajapaksa and its allies in the ruling coalition have hit the roads with “Save the motherland” campaign. They have staged demonstrations in various parts of the country. Socialist commentators like K. Ratnayake see these officially sponsored and encouraged demos as a clever attempt to divert public attention from a much bigger fundamental issue, which is the economy in bad shape.
“The reactionary patriotic campaign is directly aimed against the emerging struggles of workers, peasants and the poor, who have been accused of betraying the motherland”, Ratnayake wrote in a commentary posted on world socialist web site (wsws.org). He has a point. Protests and strikes have erupted after the government embarked belt tightening at the behest of International Monetary Fund (IMF). Substantial increases in fuel and electricity rates are a consequence of the IMF drill, which has hit the poor as usual.
In his first comment to the UNHRC resolution was passed, President Rajapakse said: “Sri Lanka, as an independent country will not give into any arbitrary interference in its affairs.” The government will not allow terrorism or any force supporting terrorism to raise their heads again in the country to destabilize the hard-earned peace, he told a public meeting.
Rajapakse is not a man in hurry to fall in line with the UNHRC resolution or for that matter implement the assurances he has been regularly and religiously giving to his Indian interlocutors who are sharply focused on the ethnic Tamil issue. He knows, unlike his critics abroad that time is on his side with no election for the next three-four years. He has what may be called the southern consensus with him with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Marxist oriented Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) —are on his side on issues that range from civilian deaths to human rights abuses during the Eelam War. Even amongst the beleaguered Tamil community, there is a view at least amongst some not so vocal sections of the community that the war crimes were no greater than the crimes perpetrated by the LTTE.
The Tamil National Alliance, (TNA), which was known as Tigers’ proxy before the War, is trying to put its best foot forward. It has welcomed the UN resolution but it is goal post is not war crimes punishment. It is more immediate – a political solution to the ethnic issue and provincial autonomy to Tamil areas.
The post-UNHRC resolution phase in Sri Lanka will depend as much on what President Rajapaksa does as on how the United States of America goes about its task of checkmating the growing Chinese influence in the region. There is no gain saying that Rajapakse, the astute politician that he is, will quietly seek to move closer to Washington. He will not abandon the Chinese card straightaway but will deposit it in his bank locker.
This approach has begun to pay some dividends. The US has lifted the ban on selling maritime and aerial surveillance equipment to the Sri Lankan military. Also significant exemption have been offered from US sanctions regime on Iran. This is no mean relief since Sri Lanka largely depends on Iran oil.
– malladi rama rao
