{"id":44743,"date":"2012-06-09T18:18:00","date_gmt":"2012-06-09T18:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=44743"},"modified":"2012-06-15T06:12:45","modified_gmt":"2012-06-15T06:12:45","slug":"surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/","title":{"rendered":"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Rajpal Abeynayake\u00a0–<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Rajpal Abeynayake<\/p><\/div>\n

Navi Pillai, the UN Human Rights Commissioner may be an example \u2013 to take a best case scenario \u2013 of someone who is an idealist of sorts, now in the business of being an international civil servant.
\nAfter all, Sri Lanka voted for Navi Pillai\u2019s next term as the UN Human Rights Commissioner. But now we find that the Sri Lankan ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Tamara Kunanayakam, has faulted Pillai for being partisan, and exceeding her mandate in pursuing a UN Human Rights Council resolution pertaining to our country.
\nThere is no doubt that Pillai is a loose cannon UN civil servant, persecuting Sri Lanka virtually \u2013 when what was required was a dispassionate role within the framework of general UN procedure.
\nSo, there are zealots all over. But it\u2019s a blot on Her Majesty\u2019s armed forces and their general image that in Britain, they cannot province security for a visiting invited head of state against overzealous and misguided supporters of the Tamil Tigers, a banned terrorist organization. And if such security was available, as reported elsewhere, why did the Commonwealth Business Forum not avail itself of its use?<\/p>\n

Tendency, now routine<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the current chairman of CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting) President Mahinda Rajapaksa was to address a Commonwealth Business Forum in London when he was in the city last week<\/a><\/span> as a head of state invited for the queen\u2019s diamond jubilee celebrations.
\nBut a decision was made for the president by the organizers; he could not address the forum as a security breach was possible due to the\u00a0massed presence of\u00a0diaspora protestors outside the venue.
\nThis tendency has now become routine each time the president visits the United Kingdom. Last time around, he could not address a meeting of the Oxford Students Union as the British police in the city of Oxford could not guarantee security.
\nThe very routine nature of the happenings in Britain last week \u2013 the protests that prevented the president\u2019s speech \u2013 thankfully prevented them from becoming a major story.
\nThat was a silver lining in a situation that should not go without appropriate censure. Of what worth are Her Majesty\u2019s armed forces and Her Majesty\u2019s police<\/a><\/span>, if they cannot be mustered to provide the necessary security cover for the person who is after all the chair of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting?
\nArguably, the fact that British security could not ensure that the president would be able to deliver his speech at the forum is an insult to the Head of the Commonwealth, Queen Elizabeth II herself. If a clear guarantee of security was there, no doubt the organizers would have gone ahead with the event.
\nIt is also rather shocking that the defence authorities in the UK and the Commonwealth organizational elite does this type of thing so casually, without as much as a by your leave. \u2018You are advised to cancel your speaking engagement in your capacity as the president of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting,\u2019 say the organizers. And that\u2019s it.
\nFrom a country whose representative here in this country, Ian Rankin, who stated that there is no necessity for troops to remain in the northern and eastern parts of the island\u00a0 because there is no terrorist threat anymore, this is to put it in the mildest of terms \u2013 rather odd.
\nIn Rankin\u2019s own country, the defence establishment cannot provide security for a head of state who is also the current chairman of the CHOGM, due to the security threat posed by the rump of the terrorist LTTE.<\/p>\n

Virulent LTTE menace<\/strong><\/p>\n

But yet, Rankin in his wisdom believes that in the country in which that virulent LTTE menace originated, there is no terrorist threat that remains! If only Rankin could put his money where his mouth is, and get his government to provide the adequate protection for the Sri Lankan president whenever he visits the UK, he could probably claim that there is no terrorist threat from the LTTE with some degree of conviction.
\nThe question is whether a reasonable effort was made in Rankin\u2019s country to ensure that there was no threat to the security of an invited Head of State at a forum he was scheduled to address in an event organized by an international body.
\nObviously, in a country which possesses one of the most sophisticated armies of the world \u2013 which intrudes into other countries in search of weapons of mass destruction for instance \u2013 the idea that there was not enough adequate security to shield President Rajapaksa from a terrorist security threat is not tenable.
\nPerhaps it is true that there was some amicable decision arrived at, after consultation with the Sri Lankan side that it\u2019s best that President Rajapaksa does not address the forum<\/a><\/span>.
\nThe point is, the Sri Lankans were left with no choice. No security guarantee, no game \u2013 or so said the organizers. But was it a proper way to treat an invited head of state, who after all is the current chairman of the commonwealth body that the queen heads with distinction? If the Commonwealth Business Forum itself decided to cancel the event, shouldn\u2019t the queen herself or her government which was responsible for inviting the president, prevailed upon the organization to go ahead with the event under the circumstances? Or is it for nothing that the queen is the head of the commonwealth?<\/p>\n

Lakbima News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,2187,8],"tags":[2715],"class_list":["post-44743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-most-popular","category-editorial","tag-mahinda-rajapaksa-queens-jubilee-speech-cancelled-latest-news-opinion"],"yoast_head":"\nSurely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - 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\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-06-09T18:18:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-06-15T06:12:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"141\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\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=\"5 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\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/\",\"name\":\"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-06-09T18:18:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-06-15T06:12:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg\",\"width\":\"141\",\"height\":\"200\",\"caption\":\"Rajpal Abeynayake\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This?\"}]},{\"@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\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - 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\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2012-06-09T18:18:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-06-15T06:12:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":141,"height":200,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/","name":"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This? - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg","datePublished":"2012-06-09T18:18:00+00:00","dateModified":"2012-06-15T06:12:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg","width":"141","height":"200","caption":"Rajpal Abeynayake"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/surely-the-queens-government-can-do-better-than-this\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Surely, The Queen\u2019s Government Can Do Better Than This?"}]},{"@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\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Rajpal-Abeynayake.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44743","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\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44743"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45298,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44743\/revisions\/45298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}