{"id":181326,"date":"2017-08-23T10:12:08","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T04:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=181326"},"modified":"2017-08-27T00:02:19","modified_gmt":"2017-08-26T18:32:19","slug":"new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/","title":{"rendered":"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><b><strong>By\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Sanja+De+Silva+Jayatilleka&amp;x=10&amp;y=7\">Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka<\/a>\u00a0\u2013<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_167444\" style=\"width: 160px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-167444\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-167444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg 293w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-167444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The new Foreign Minister has assured us, according to the <i>Daily News,<\/i> that Resolution 30\/1 which was co-sponsored by the Unity Government of Sri Lanka \u201cwas in no way harmful to the country\u2026\u201d <i>The Island<\/i> of 19<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s2\"> August 2017 reports that the new Minister had said that he had \u201cexamined\u201d this resolution as a member of the cabinet, and that it \u201cwas certainly not inimical to Sri Lanka\u2019s interests&#8230;\u201d Since he was also the former Attorney General, he must know what he is talking about. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In this context, one would expect that he would have no concerns in facing either the written update at the 37<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s2\"> (March 2018) session of the UNHRC by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zaid al Hussein, as per the Human Rights Council Resolution 34\/L.1,<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>in which it \u201cRequests the Office of the High Commissioner to assess progress on the implementation of its recommendations and other relevant processes related to reconciliation, accountability and human rights in Sri Lanka\u2026\u201d, nor the written report to be followed by a discussion on the implementation of 30\/1 at the 40<\/span><span class=\"s3\"><sup>th<\/sup><\/span><span class=\"s2\"> session. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Before the new Foreign Minister examines the High Commissioner\u2019s oral update however, one hopes he resolves certain contradictions between his statement after taking over as Foreign Minister that the Sri Lankan Constitution does not permit foreign judges and the provisions actually contained in the resolution that he describes as \u201charmless\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Before going any further, it must be pointed out that the \u201charmless\u201d Resolution 30\/1 was not co-sponsored by a single Asian country (other than Sri Lanka). Not even India. Since no vote was taken due to the new practice of co-sponsoring all resolutions on Sri Lanka by the Unity Government, this is the only indication one can glean of the actual support of the Council. The 12 co-sponsors however paint a picture: only 7 voting members of the Human Rights Council (Albania, Germany, Latvia, Montenegro, Macedonia, UK, and USA), while the other 5 were only observers (Australia, Greece, Poland, Romania, and of course Sri Lanka). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Why is this important? When a country co-sponsors a resolution, it is assumed that it is satisfied with the content. And the new Foreign Minister has confirmed that indeed the Govt was. We can assume that he considers it \u201charmless\u201d then, the operative paragraph 18 of the resolution which requests the High Commissioner to assess progress on his recommendations, which includes his call to all 193 members of the United Nations to use the concept of Universal Jurisdiction to prosecute those whom he has declared with certainty have committed War Crimes. While the Sri Lankan Constitution may not allow foreign judges, Universal Jurisdiction by definition certainly comes under the purview of foreign judges\u2014certainly \u201cforeign\u201d to Sri Lanka\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Another example is Operative Paragraph 1 in which it welcomes the OHCHR investigation on Sri Lanka and encourages the GoSL to implement its recommendations. Paragraph 88 of the OHCHR investigation report says: <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\"><b>\u201cThe High Commissioner remains convinced that, for accountability to be achieved in Sri Lanka, it will require more than a domestic mechanism. Sri Lanka should draw on the lessons learned and good practices of other States that have succeeded with hybrid special courts, integrating international judges, prosecutors, lawyers and investigators.\u201d<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">They are, for sure, honorable men (and women), in the Unity Government. But would you co-sponsor a resolution on your country which had these paragraphs? And what of the paragraph 6 that welcomes the proposal <b>of the Government of Sri Lanka<\/b> to \u201c<b>establish a judicial mechanism with a special counsel<\/b>\u201d and \u201c<b>affirms&#8230;the importance of participation of Commonwealth and other foreign judges, defence lawyers and authorized prosecutors and investigators<\/b>\u201d ?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Usually, country specific resolutions are not co-sponsored by the country concerned. The Unity Government set a new trend. If they wanted to do so, why would they not negotiate the text? We can only assume that as declared by the new Foreign Minister, that they were perfectly satisfied with it or at least viewed it as \u201charmless\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Consider the alternative scenario in which this was contested by the Sri Lankan government. Since our Constitution bars foreign judges etc., it would be perfectly within the bounds of reason to oppose paragraph 6 and to introduce amendments keeping it in line with our Constitution, since we were planning to co-sponsor it. In doing so, it is possible that the other co-sponsors wouldn\u2019t agree to our amendments. If we felt strongly enough, we could try to garner support from the rest of the 39 voting members who did not co-sponsor the resolution to support our amendments. If there was a stand-off, this would go to a vote. If enough voting members supported us, we could get the amendments in. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">There was a seriously good chance we could do this. The very next resolution taken at <i>the same session<\/i> of the UNHRC was called \u201cHuman rights and unilateral coercive measures\u201d, moved by Iran on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0<\/span>A preambular paragraph states:<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">\u201cExpressing its grave concern that the laws and regulations imposing unilateral coercive measures have, in some instances, an extraterritorial effect not only on targeted countries but also on third countries, in contravention of basic principles of international law, in a manner that will coerce the latter also to apply the unilateral coercive measures.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The operative paragraph 3 states: \u201cCondemns the continued unilateral application and enforcement by certain powers of such measures as tools of political or economic pressure against any country, particularly against developing countries, with a view to preventing these countries from exercising their right to decide, of their own free will, their own political, economic and social systems.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">This resolution, moved by Iran on behalf of the Nonaligned Movement, <i>won with a record 33 votes<\/i> \u2018for\u2019, zero abstentions, and 14 \u2018against\u2019 &#8211;being the countries of the EU, Japan, South Korea and the USA. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The point I am making is that the Western movers of Resolution 30\/1 had no moral hegemony at the Human Rights Council to guarantee a winning vote. It was a chance Sri Lanka could and should have taken, at least to keep it in line with our Constitution as it stands. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">But we didn\u2019t even try. The co-sponsoring started as soon as the Unity government assumed power. The texts were not negotiated adequately. Why? Was the Govt. worried that the people of Sri Lanka would see that it didn\u2019t quite have the support of the \u201cinternational community\u201d that they boasted about, in case it lost a vote? Or was the new government of one mind with the countries that moved the resolution?<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">One is inclined to think it\u2019s either both or the latter because of the indignity contained in the preambular paragraph in Resolution 30\/1 which says \u201cWelcoming the historic free and fair democratic elections in January and August 2015 and the peaceful political transition in Sri Lanka\u201d. Historic? Anyone sitting in the Council who wasn\u2019t familiar with Sri Lanka, would not imagine that we had democratic free and fair elections since 1947! And never were they other than peaceful transitions! <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Of course one can\u2019t predict if the restrictions on foreign judges would apply in a new or amended Constitution (endorsed by a new Minister of Justice). <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The latest academic work to appear on Sri Lanka, titled \u2018Push Back: Sri Lanka\u2019s Dance with Global Governance\u2019 by Judith Large (Zed Press, London Dec 2016), which is scathing in its criticism of the country, refers repeatedly to the Darusman and Petrie Report. At the time the Darusman Report appeared (2011), the then Sri Lankan government decided not to contest its findings, in a convoluted logic which sought to prevent \u201dgiving it legitimacy\u201d. The result of course is that those two reports are invoked by scholars and resolutions alike. With no immediate refutation by the GoSL, its weak responses later seem to have had no effect. The Marga Institute carried out an excellent study and published a reasoned criticism which the government of the day did not use!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>Resolution 30\/1 refers to all the previous resolutions that were lost by the previous regime, not because it did not oppose them but because it didn\u2019t have the faintest idea how to do so successfully. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">That government\u2019s entire strategy and conduct of diplomacy was woefully inadequate to convince the voting members of their case. It however has the dubious distinction of having tried, succeeding spectacularly once, then changing the team\u2019s captaincy and losing 3 times after that. Were the selectors to blame? I would think so. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">When the previous government lost Resolution 25\/1, no Asian country voted for that Resolution either. Russia, China, Pakistan, Cuba, Vietnam, Maldives were among the countries that voted against it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">\u00a0 <\/span>India abstained, with South Africa, Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines among the 12 abstentions. The resolution was won by 23 votes, mostly Western. We fielded the wrong team. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The last resolution on Sri Lanka at the UNHRC recalls the resolutions of March 2012 to March 2014 that Sri Lanka lost, and requests the High Commissioner to assess progress on their recommendations as well as resolution 30\/1. This too was co-sponsored by Sri Lanka with Australia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Japan, Montenegro, Norway, Macedonia, UK and USA. Again, only 4 of the sponsors of the resolution were voting members of the Council. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Wasn\u2019t there a better way? We await a closer (re)examination of the conduct of diplomacy at the UN Human Rights Council by the new Foreign Minister and the State Minister, in the national interest of Sri Lanka and its citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><em><span class=\"s2\">*The writer is author of \u2018MISSION IMPOSSIBLE-GENEVA: Sri Lanka\u2019s Counter-Hegemonic Asymmetric Diplomacy at the UN Human Rights C<\/span><span class=\"s4\">ouncil\u2019, to be released by Vijitha Yapa late this month.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":167444,"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-181326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - 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\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-08-23T04:42:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-08-26T18:32:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"293\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"293\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 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\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/\",\"name\":\"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-08-23T04:42:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-08-26T18:32:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/912c088bd97532b3fa0b2d5a425a0662\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg\",\"width\":293,\"height\":293,\"caption\":\"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/912c088bd97532b3fa0b2d5a425a0662\",\"name\":\"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/839c34a72ac225e05ee1cca23761f497d8fca7af23f4b17f5378e98d01dca95e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/839c34a72ac225e05ee1cca23761f497d8fca7af23f4b17f5378e98d01dca95e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/sanjadesj\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2017-08-23T04:42:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-08-26T18:32:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":293,"height":293,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka","Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/","name":"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0 - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg","datePublished":"2017-08-23T04:42:08+00:00","dateModified":"2017-08-26T18:32:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/912c088bd97532b3fa0b2d5a425a0662"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg","width":293,"height":293,"caption":"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/new-hope-with-a-new-foreign-minister\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Hope With A New Foreign Minister?\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/912c088bd97532b3fa0b2d5a425a0662","name":"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/839c34a72ac225e05ee1cca23761f497d8fca7af23f4b17f5378e98d01dca95e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/839c34a72ac225e05ee1cca23761f497d8fca7af23f4b17f5378e98d01dca95e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Sanja De Silva Jayatilleka"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/sanjadesj\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Sanja-De-Silva-Jayatilleka.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181326"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181452,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181326\/revisions\/181452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}