{"id":132693,"date":"2014-11-09T00:08:08","date_gmt":"2014-11-08T18:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=132693"},"modified":"2014-11-15T13:41:21","modified_gmt":"2014-11-15T08:11:21","slug":"mr-zeids-integrity-gripe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mr-zeids-integrity-gripe\/","title":{"rendered":"Mr Zeid\u2019s Integrity Gripe"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Malinda Seneviratne<\/a><\/span>\u00a0–<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Malinda<\/a>

Malinda Seneviratne<\/p><\/div>\n

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra\u2019ad Al Hussein<\/span><\/a> is upset with the Government of Sri Lanka. He said, \u2018The Government has refused point blank to cooperate with the investigation (into allegations of human rights violations in the last phase of the war); such refusal does not undermine the integrity of an investigation set up by the Council \u2013 instead it raises concerns about the integrity of the government in question.\u2019\u00a0 He then asks, \u2018Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international investigation?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

What he has not mentioned (why not?) is that the Government has explained ad nauseam <\/i>its position on the matter detailing the lack of consistency, impartiality, rigor and integrity on the part of his office and especially his predecessor, Navi Pillay<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 He is correct though when he says such refusals don\u2019t undermine the integrity of the said investigation.\u00a0 It is not the refusal that questions integrity but the pathetic track record of his office, especially with respect to its dealings with Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

This was abundantly apparent in the collusion of his office with the inglorious machinations of the United States of America to insult, humiliate and in other ways harass Sri Lanka in multiple sessions of the UNHRC.\u00a0 The US Embassy in Colombo as well as senior diplomats representing countries that have consistently sided with the USA in these moves have been interfering in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka for years and especially in what can only be called \u2018the manufacturing of \u201cevidence\u201d to support a conclusion that has been desired\u2019.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka has every right to object. Sri Lanka has every right to question Zeid\u2019s integrity when his office, so ready to unleash invective on Sri Lanka, indulges in scandalous navel-gazing when certain countries have rejected the commissioning of similar processes against them. In the case of Israel, for example, the UNHRC has to contend with irrefutable evidence whereas in Sri Lanka\u2019s case, Zeid is working with vague allegations made by persons of dubious repute citing equally compromised \u2018witnesses\u2019.<\/p>\n

This is why his last question is ridiculous. He asks, let us repeat, \u2018Why would governments with nothing to hide go to such extraordinary lengths to sabotage an impartial international investigation?\u2019\u00a0 The issue is, Mr Zeid, the absolute lack of integrity on your part and that of your office. Simple. If you have any doubts, try answering the following questions.<\/p>\n

Why has your office not questioned the investigating team about \u2018evidence forms\u2019 getting into the hands of terrorists?\u00a0 Does it not bother you that signatures have been collected on unfilled forms?<\/p>\n

If the Government did nothing about such activity then indeed it would be supporting \u2018interference\u2019 in the UNHRC investigation, compromised though that process is. Mr Zeid should be applauding the Government for acting swiftly on this issue and bringing to light something that clearly indicates that the entire investigative process has been compromised beyond rectification.<\/p>\n

Mr Zeid dismisses the entire matter by saying that his team is equipped to detect fraud.\u00a0 Collusion in fraud and a track record of selective targeting on the part of his office doesn\u2019t really give credence to the claim, but let\u2019s go along with it.\u00a0 He ought to be concerned by the fact that some people are actively engaged in a massive fabricating exercise.\u00a0 Worse, the agent of fabrication in this instance has had close relationships with certain diplomats in Colombo as well the Tamil National Alliance, the principal Sri Lankan political entity that had been supporting the patently flawed UNHRC exercise.<\/p>\n

Integrity is the issue in contention here.\u00a0 It would be much simpler and so much more honest if Mr Zeid came out with the truth.\u00a0 All he has to do is to put the following in Diplospeak: \u2018We have, for reasons we don\u2019t have to state but which you all know, decided on the conclusion that is convenient to our purposes, we are in the process of manufacturing evidence to support this and so Sri Lanka can go fly a kite!\u2019<\/p>\n

*Malinda Seneviratne is the Chief Editor of \u2018The Nation\u2019\u00a0and his articles can be found at\u00a0www.malindawords.blogspot.com<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":105560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nMr Zeid\u2019s Integrity Gripe - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mr-zeids-integrity-gripe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mr Zeid\u2019s Integrity Gripe - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mr-zeids-integrity-gripe\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-11-08T18:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-11-15T08:11:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Malinda-Seneviratne-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"130\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"135\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mr-zeids-integrity-gripe\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/mr-zeids-integrity-gripe\/\",\"name\":\"Mr Zeid\u2019s Integrity Gripe - 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