{"id":120878,"date":"2014-03-03T12:08:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T06:38:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=120878"},"modified":"2014-03-10T18:14:08","modified_gmt":"2014-03-10T12:44:08","slug":"implications-of-geneva-resolution-being-a-political-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/implications-of-geneva-resolution-being-a-political-process\/","title":{"rendered":"Implications Of Geneva Resolution Being A Political Process"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jehan Perera<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jehan<\/a>

Jehan Perera<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/strong>The government seeks to give an impression that it is untroubled by the impending US-sponsored resolution on it at the latest session that has just commenced at the UN Human Rights Council<\/span><\/a> in Geneva.\u00a0 In his first meeting with the Foreign Correspondents Association in Sri Lanka in three years, President Mahinda Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> is reported to have said he was not disturbed by it and that it would only be a single black mark against the country.\u00a0\u00a0 However, other reports said he admitted feeling disturbed at being censured by the UNHRC and compared the US treatment of Sri Lanka as being similar to Cassius Clay\u2019s \u201cpunching bag.\u201d The Sri Lankan media which is usually respectful of the President showed him in a cartoon in a boxing ring looking flustered across from a much larger President Obama.<\/p>\n

However, the government has not given up trying to win over countries to its side.\u00a0 It sent a high ranking Parliamentary delegation over to South Africa, but who appear to have returned with a request to forge a wider consensus from the national polity if they are to receive the South African government\u2019s support for a Truth and Reconciliation<\/span><\/a> process.\u00a0\u00a0 Such a process holds the key to Sri Lanka\u2019s ability to deal with the past issues of political violence that go beyond merely the last phase of the war.\u00a0 India also appears to have become a focal point of the latest governmental initiative with President Rajapaksa seeking a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh<\/span><\/a> when they attend a regional conference in Myanmar this week. In addition, Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> is reported to be visiting India for another regional dialogue at which he will meet his counterparts from India.<\/p>\n

The importance of lobbying with supportive countries is amplified by the fact that the UNHRC process is primarily a political one in which countries vote on the basis of a variety of reasons, rather than being a judicial process where judges make rulings according to strict guidelines of law.\u00a0 Political processes are also incremental and do not take place with sharp breaks.\u00a0 The government still has the possibility of slowing down the political process.\u00a0 The government appears to be considering two options in responding to the US-sponsored resolution in the UN Human Rights Council that is expected to set the stage for an international investigation.\u00a0 One is to mobilize its friends in the UN to sponsor a counter-resolution.\u00a0 The other is to more fully make positive changes on the ground in a verifiable manner that could satisfy the majority within the international community.<\/p>\n

Friendship First<\/strong><\/p>\n

External Affairs Minister Prof. G L Peiris<\/span><\/a> gave an indication of the government\u2019s positive expectations on this score. Speaking last week at a public event at the prestigious Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute for International Affairs he affirmed the prime importance of self respect and dignity of the Sri Lankan nation.\u00a0 He also contradicted the 19th century British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston (1846- 1851) who said that “Nations have no permanent friends or allies, they only have permanent interests.\u201d\u00a0 This dictum of Lord Palmerston is widely cited in the discussions on foreign policy in academic institutions and foreign policy think tanks worldwide. It is seen as a building block of rational foreign policy.\u00a0 Prof. Peiris said that Sri Lanka, as a nation, had friends.\u00a0 Sri Lanka was loyal to its friends, and in turn Sri Lanka\u2019s friends were loyal to it.<\/p>\n

The validity of the critique by Prof Peiris of Lord Palmerston\u2019s dictum can be seen in the relations between countries that have a special affinity to each other.\u00a0 The US-UK special relationship is one example in which there is a civilisational bond which goes back to the time of emigration to the US by people from the UK and other European countries that commenced in the 17 century. Today the US and UK are bound together by ties of kinship, language, culture and democratic traditions.\u00a0 In the last century they fought two world wars side by side. Therefore, it is not difficult to see how Prof Peiris\u2019s perceptive observations about the incompleteness of Lord Palmerston\u2019s dictum applies in the case of the US and UK.<\/p>\n

A similar analysis can be made of the special relationship that exists between China and Sri Lanka.\u00a0 The relationship between the two countries goes back to the ancient past.\u00a0 Prof Peiris pointed out that Sri Lanka was on the ancient Silk Route and there were many Chinese travelers and merchants who have visited Sri Lanka.\u00a0 More recently in the 1950s, Sri Lanka defied the displeasure of the Western countries when it entered into the Rubber-Rice Pact and was able to save valuable foreign exchange at a time when it was in short supply.\u00a0\u00a0 This earned it the disfavor of the US in particular, which led to the restriction of US aid to the country.\u00a0 But it sealed the relationship with China, the fruits of which were seen in the donation of the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, and later in the unceasing supply of military assistance during the time of war, and now in massive economic assistance for development.<\/p>\n

Old Bonds<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the other hand, Sri Lanka\u2019s bonds with the African countries are still too new to be tested in the firmament of world politics, especially in a contest with the world superpower.\u00a0 Sri Lanka also shares little in common with the African continent, as indeed with China, in terms of kinship, language, culture or democratic traditions.\u00a0 It is these commonalities that form the basis of the special relationship that has existed for over three centuries between the peoples of the US and UK.\u00a0 In this context it is unfortunate that Sri Lanka has failed to develop its relationship with India, with which it shares a civilisational bond and a common heritage of religion and culture.\u00a0 Indeed, it is with India that Sri Lanka has the best potential to emulate the US-UK special relationship.<\/p>\n

The potentiality of Sri Lanka\u2019s special relationship with India was seen recently when the Indian government took Sri Lanka\u2019s side in the dispute over Kachativu Island. This small and uninhabited island near the Jaffna peninsula in the north, has been a source of dispute for many years.\u00a0 But despite its overwhelming advantage in terms of size and military strength, since 1974 India has taken the position that Kachativu is a part of Sri Lanka.\u00a0 This has been a source of grievance in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu which has now become even sharper due to the problem of fishing by large numbers of Indian fishermen in Sri Lankan waters.\u00a0 Earlier this year, in a case filed in the Madras High Court, the Indian government said that Sri Lanka\u2019s sovereignty over Kachativu was a settled matter and that Indian fishermen did not enjoy the right to engage in fishing there.<\/p>\n

The manner that India has dealt with Sri Lanka on the issue of disputed territory is in stark contrast to the way other countries deal with similar disputes.\u00a0 The continuing disputes between China, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines over various islands have even led them to deploy military assets against each other.\u00a0 The India-Sri Lanka special relatlonship on the issue of disputed territory is a model of how other countries should resolve their own disputes.\u00a0\u00a0 The Sri Lankan government needs to utilize its special relationship with India to cope with the demands emanating today from other parts of the international community.\u00a0 The Indian government has always made it known that devolution of power and a political solution to the ethnic conflict is its priority, not the issue of war crimes.\u00a0 Even if it is too late to make a change in the way the current US-sponsored resolution is voted upon, the future can be better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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