Against the backdrop of impeachment of the Sri Lankan chief justice, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake has said the country is moving backwards on democracy.
“We have been disappointed that there have been some backward movement on democracy things like the 13th amendment but also recent impeachment of Sri Lanka’s chief justice (Shirani Bandaranayake),” Blake told the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
“We’ve been disappointed that there hasn’t been a conclusion of the dialogue between the Tamil National Alliance, the umbrella group for the Tamil groups, as well as for the TNA to dialogue with the government on devolution.”
President Mahinda Rajapaksa had last month signed the decree removing Chief Justice Bandaranayake from her post after the country’s Parliament impeached her.
Responding to questions, Blake also said that progress on the part of the Sri Lankan government in implementing the recommendations of the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) has been slow.
“The US decided that it would support a Sri Lankan domestic process to try to get to the bottom of that and to investigate that and to develop what has now been called the Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission process. But we did so with the understanding, that there would be rapid progress towards reconciliation and accountability,” he said.
“So for that reason, last year we supported a resolution in the UN Human Rights Council to put additional pressure on Sri Lanka to implement its own lessons learned and reconciliation report.
“We did so with the support of countries like India that voted yes and a large majority of other countries in the Human Rights Council. I think there’s good support thus far to have another vote this year to continue to urge Sri Lanka to implement its own report, and that’s why we’re pursuing that again this year,” he said.
He also recalled that at the end of the Sri Lankan war there were many questions raised about the number of civilians killed during the conflict. “At the very end of the war the question is, what happened to those 10,000 to 40,000 civilians who were killed?” he asked.
“I think everybody in Sri Lanka believes that there needs to be closure on that question, and closure needs to be achieved through this Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission process. It’s a domestic process so it should have the support of the government, and we hope that that will continue and that’s the purpose of this resolution,” he said.
“But there needs to be justice for there to be closure.
And there needs to be reconciliation between these communities. So that’s what we’re trying to achieve,” he said.
Comments:
The US is accusing Sri Lanka for moving backwards. The truth is; not a
single bomb had exploded in the country since ending the vicious thirty
year war four years back. But we are truly witnessing how the US is
moving forward in Libya with 'no boots on the ground' but arming their
selected terrorists after their 'boots on the ground' invasions of Iraq
and Afghanistan has failed miserably. The US has enhanced misery on
unfortunate citizens of those countries even to date. Hypocrites.
Leela
The 13th amendment was not something that came about after a referendum, which is the democratic way. It was something that India thrust on Sri Lanka after a threat of an invasion following forced air drops by IAF planes over Sri Lanka, violating that countries sovereignty.
As far as the impeachment of the AG goes, spot on. It was an act of revenge on her by the government. I have absolutely no objections to the govt being criticized over that.
The truth is majority of Sri Lankans do not want to closure or even believe in 40,000 deaths in the last phase which is a highly exaggerated number misinformed by LTTE. According to the government, death toll is ~7000 which sound like the right number coming from reliable census. What Sri Lankans need is to enjoy and maintain the hard earned peace and harmony and not bullying and discrimination by US and the West. This is nothing other than LTTE elements in the US and the West influences. US and the West should be ashamed for falling prey into LTTE elements including Rudrakumaran, Poopalapillai and the criminal gang. I would say GO TO HELL to them!
WHAT? THEN READ THIS AS THE LATEST INFO.
Mr Kariayawasam’s performance at the recent leaked out YouTube interview has been an excellent one. The Yankees no doubt have felt the heat and is working on a sudden change of course from an offensive to a defensive one on Sri Lanka’s purported wrong doings at the foregone war against LTTE Tamil terrorists. Hopefully, this is an eye opener to all those who oppose Sri Lanka’s rapid progress – especially a good lesson to those separatist Tamils that will never be allowed to go back and create trouble in peaceful atmosphere of present-day Sri Lanka. At the end of the day the truth shall remain and all the negative propaganda churned by LTTE rumor mill will disappear to the thin air. LTTE’s efforts to sensationalise Prabhakaran’s son’s death are a good case in point. BBC’s Chanell-4 should be held responsible for concocting and doctoring perpetrations; it is a dangerous precedent set by a crown corporation of the UK.
Is Sri Lanka moving backward regressively or progressively? What kind of
bulls**t is this? I mean coming from the paragon of virtue and the
indefatigable defender of human rights in the world the the US. Please
US don't make the world's people laugh, you are a real first class
joker.
Robert Blake is a CIA agent and his duty is to create problems in Asia. Americans are the worst war mongers that there are in this world. It has a massive warring industry to support in America that may go bust if arms are not tested for devastation and no sales made. In a sense, people like Blake are salesmen that keep the arms industry going. Never ever trust these sinners that are responsible for millions human lives lost due to arms and ammunition supplied by the Americans.
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