Lanka needs to do more
US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake says Sri Lanka needs to take more steps to encourage greater reconciliation and greater democracy and also noted the need for improvements in media freedom.
Blake noted that achieving reconciliation will be a key element in peace and one part of achieving reconciliation will be to finish resettling all internally displaced personas as soon as possible.
“Another key part of reconciliation is to ensure accountability for past wrongs. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had recently told External Affairs minister G.L Peiris that Sri Lanka’s Lessons learnt and reconciliation commission holds promise and we hope and expect it will fulfill that promise. A last pillar of reconciliation will be to advance democracy and human rights. Minister Peiris affirmed during his visit to Washington that Sri Lanka wants to review and strengthen its institutions of democracy,” he said
Blake added that progress in implementing greater power sharing with the provinces, implementing the 17th amendment to empower independent commissions such as the human rights, police and bribery commissions and efforts to safeguard media freedom will all be important steps in ensuring an important step of peace and prosperity for all Sri Lankans.
The US official, who met President Mahinda Rajapaksa during his visit to Sri Lanka today, said that the President understands the need for power sharing and wants to go forward.
Blake also said that there is some misunderstanding on the role of the UN panel appointed by UN secretary General Ban ki-moon to advice the UN Chief on Sri Lanka. Blake was of the view that the UN Secretary General appointed the panel to advice him about what might be done to help the Commission in Sri Lanka.
“The US believes the UN panel can play an important advisory role with Sri Lanka’s commission. The panel is only an advisory panel and does not have an investigative role. It can benefit Sri Lanka’s commission,” he said.
On the US decision to review GSP trade benefits for Sri Lanka Blake said that it is important to make a distinction on the US GSP process and the EU GSP plus process saying that while the US had initiated a process to look at human rights in Sri Lanka GSP will remain for Sri Lanka during the process.
DM online
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How dare US imperialists preach to us on accountbility, re-settling of IDPs, truth and reconcilliation, media freedom, power sharing etc ! Do we need such sermons from these imperialist arrogant dogs and bitches?
US imperialists are the most evil war criminals and human right abusers the world over for centuries. They have set a bad example to Israel who apes them in Gaza strip with wanton destruction and imperialistic impunity.
I call on Blake and other US imperialistic dogs and bitches to stop interfering in Sri Lankan internal affairs. Put your own house in order first, taking a leaf from Sri Lanka as a wonderful example of truth and raconcilliation. Are you blind to how well our disciplined heroic army waged the war on terrorism to liberate our citizens from the grip of evil LTTE who were supported by imperial West to serve their hidden agenda for Suth East Asia? Start by paying generous compensation to the true Native Americans first for centuries of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Pay generous compensation to the American Blacks who descend from the African blacks brought in as slaves to work in inhuman conditions for centuries to build USA to what it is today through their blood, sweat and tears. Stop the blatant discrimination of the native Americans and American Blacks even today. How about truth and reconcilliation for them leading to autonomy?
I call on US government to stop stomping around as if you own the world, to bully and trample the human rights of weaker nations by flexing the muscles of your military might. We abhor what is happening in Iraq and Afghanitan today by your imperialist occupying armies. Ban Ki-Moon is in US pocket, he is their puppet dancing to the Yankee doodle. BKM enjoys the privileges of UN and does nothing to stop US imperialism. He is afraid of being bumped-off or not gaining a second term in office. I long for the day China and Russia teach US imperilalist dog a lesson to cut-it-down to size and clip its imperialist ambitions.
I call on USA and Britain to leave SL severely alone. We can manage better than you with our own Home Grown Solutions to our internal problems, thank you very much. Stop you boring preaching!
Why don’t you get out of Iraq and Afghanistan before the Taleban kick you out for good as Vietnam did, with huge losses to US imperialists and their face rubbed in the sewage. Your economy is already torn to shreds along with Britain’s, the shameless lapdog. The great satan will be punished by God ere long.
A most stirring patriotic comment from Nicholas Dias. The comment is in the calibre of speeches by World Leaders who guided the destiny of this planet.
I agree with every word in the comment by Nicholas Dias. Such wonderful sentiments are rare to find in contemporary history of our beloved motherland.
I truly beleive that the Sinhala Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka belongs exclusively to the Sinhala Buddhist Citizens who have toiled for centuries to make this land what it is at present. The Sinhala Buddhist Citizens were held hostage by the Terrorist Tamils for 3 decades until HE President Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived with a sense of unsurpassed determination to eliminate the Terrorist Tamils. And this he did, the gloriuos victory and the death of the Terrorist Tamil Leader, the Sun God are defining moments in the contemporary history of the Sinhala Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka.
I hope HE President Mahainda Rajapaksa makes maximum use of his popularity and appeal to the Sinhala Buddhist masses to create a monolithic Sinhala Buddhist society. This could be achieved by the rebuilding the devastated infrastructure in the North and East, rehabilitating the lands in the North and East and return the ownership of those parts of our beloved land to its legitimate owners, the Sinhala Buddhist Citizens of the Sinhala Buddhist Republic of Sri Lanka.
The Americans have much to answer to the inhabitants of the World. They went to war in Iraq under the false pretext of Weapons of Mass Destruction. After the shock and the awe created in the first few hours of the vainglorious War, the World realised that the biggest ammunition installation in Iraq was nothing more than a match box factory. The UN SG should appoint a panel of experts to measure the accountability of George W Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard in relation to the war in Iraq. These gentlemen are the biggest war criminals of the 20th/21st century.
The current President Mr Obalma is rapidly following a criminal footpath in Afghanistan. Why is the UN keeping silent? Why is HRW keeping silent? Why is the ICJ unmoved? A month before Mr Blake’s lecture tour of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, this woman who is the HR advisor to the Obalma White House was lecturing HE President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Why did this woman not stop in Kabul on the way and take pictures of the mass graves of suspected Talibani Afghans for her boss in the White House?
I salute Nicholas Diaz for his brilliant and outstanding piece of nationalistic journalism. May the Triple Gem bless him for his courageous efforts.