{"id":76649,"date":"2013-03-09T18:59:27","date_gmt":"2013-03-09T18:59:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=76649"},"modified":"2013-03-15T04:29:35","modified_gmt":"2013-03-15T04:29:35","slug":"time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva\/","title":{"rendered":"Time To Face The Music In Geneva!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

A few weeks ago, the word from Delhi on US-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka the UNHRC<\/a><\/span> Sessions in Geneva was \u2018yes\u2019.\u00a0 Let us translate: \u2018Yes, we will vote \u2018yes\u2019 on the resolution\u2019.\u00a0 No surprises there because a) India voted \u2018yes\u2019 in 2012, and b) India is India (read \u2018Not Sri Lanka\u2019s friend) and c) this is an INDIAN Resolution, an INDIAN doosra<\/em> although it is being delivered by the USA.<\/p>\n

The latest though is that India is \u2018undecided\u2019.\u00a0 Now, in diplomatic circles, this indecision would be correctly read as evidence that the main protagonist is trying to extract the maximum juice from the Sri Lankan orange while not appearing to be anywhere near the fruit.<\/p>\n

Delhi has a problem.\u00a0 It is called \u2018Tamil Nadu\u2019.\u00a0 No, it is not Tamil Nationalism<\/a><\/span>, which has been safely offshored to Sri Lanka.\u00a0 It is about elections and related arithmetic.\u00a0 It\u2019s a political reality that figured in the calculations of all Indian political leaders.\u00a0 So Delhi needs to \u2018deliver\u2019 something that\u2019s at least halfway sweet to Jayalalithaa<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0 On the other hand Delhi has to do this without appearing to be the bad guy that Delhi is because that might constitute the last brick in the Great Wall of China that India is building. So Geneva 2013 would ideally (for India) end\u00a0 with Sri Lanka agreeing to India\u2019s \u2018solution\u2019 (plus some other benefits, just like the Indo-Lanka Accord<\/a><\/span> was not just about sorting an \u2018ethnic\u2019 conflict) for the price of the resolution being \u2018watered down\u2019 or even withdrawn (by the USA, not India, of course!).<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka\u2019s main strength at this point is the fact that it is weak.\u00a0 In other words Sri Lanka is in \u2018Nothing to Lose Land\u2019.\u00a0 There\u2019s no way that the Government can agree to India\u2019s proposal (a re-hashing of the various Eelam proposals or Interim Eelam proposals) and still hope to retain popularity among all ethnic groups.<\/p>\n

Equal rights by definition cannot exclude anyone.\u00a0 A 13A Plus, in the way India envisages, would concretize an Eelamist myth regarding traditional homelands. That would threaten the Sinhalese.\u00a0 That would exclude the Sinhalese.\u00a0 Equal rights can be obtained in other ways and should be obtained too. Sri Lanka doesn\u2019t need India\u2019s permission or India\u2019s recommendations on such matters.<\/p>\n

We must recollect at this point that those who ruled India (either as whole or in part) have always attacked the Sinhalese; one remembers the Chola invasions and the tyrannies of the likes of Raja Raja and Magha.\u00a0 Dr. Manmohan Singh<\/a><\/span> is but a 21st<\/sup> Century avatar<\/em> of these gentlemen.<\/p>\n

President Mahinda Rajapaksa observed recently, \u2018Sri Lanka is like a volley ball; everyone is taking turns at punching it to cover up their sins\u2019.\u00a0 He did not elaborate, but here\u2019s a list that ought to be read by whoever is negotiating defeat for Sri Lanka in Geneva:<\/p>\n

We have the German SPD needing to cover up history of killing millions in the 20th<\/sup> Century. We have the USA, wanting us to forget the monumental crimes against humanity in all parts of the world as well as against the First Nations in America and African Americans. We have Britain\u2019s genocidal conduct in colonies and subsequent crimes against humanity as partner-in-crime of the USA. We have India and the Kashmir they want the world not to talk about.<\/p>\n

The bottom line though is that given the amount of bucks and weapons of mass destruction these countries possess and given Sri Lanka\u2019s poverties in these respects, the \u2018cover up\u2019 will continue.\u00a0 But since Sri Lanka can only be expected to be goaded to sign agreements against Sri Lanka\u2019s interest, each one more pernicious than the ones that came before, this is as opportune a moment as any to call India\u2019s bluff.<\/p>\n

Sri Lanka can take the following position:<\/p>\n

\u2018Go ahead.\u00a0 Table the resolution. We\u2019ll face the vote, we\u2019ll face the music.\u00a0 All we can do is do our best and we have.\u00a0 We\u2019ve done what you have not done, ever. Try rescuing 300,000 people held hostage by the Al Qaeda (or by the US Marines), trying feeding them 3 meals a day.\u00a0 Try thinking about releasing over 10,000 terrorists after rehabilitation.\u00a0 Stop. Don\u2019t even try. You cannot.\u00a0 So let\u2019s cut to the chase.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take the vote. We want to see who are friends are.\u00a0 Ms. India, go ahead, vote.\u00a0 We want to know where you stand, so that we can decided in which direction we should move.\u00a0 Wait, did we hear someone mention China? Maybe we heard wrong. So, to get back to the point, vote.\u00a0 We have little to lose, but even in defeat we would like to see the face of the enemy, we would like to know the names of those who did us in.\u00a0 Simple.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44732,"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-76649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\nTime To Face The Music In Geneva! - 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\/time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time To Face The Music In Geneva! - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-09T18:59:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-03-15T04:29:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Malinda.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\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\/time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/time-to-face-the-music-in-geneva\/\",\"name\":\"Time To Face The Music In Geneva! 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