Is this our best? – Mahinda Samarasinghe’s words written by a toddler!

Sri Lanka is given 10 minutes to make a speech at the UNHRC and we just go through a list of irrelevant issues that no one will question! This gives the onus on to the prosecution, to say that SL still does not realize, namely what is at stake, by either pretending not to understand or deliberately sidestepping the issues at hand. This may be fine for the local audience where the papers will be replete with kudos for a speech well made, where the writers have no clue as to what all this fuss is about, but not for an international organization whose mandate is to seek accountability for questionable actions of violations of international law.

Now it is accepted in the recently released statistic that excess of 8,000 lost their lives in the last month of the conflict, it merely requires the explanation as why it occurred in the greater good of the war, rather than continue to pretend it never happened. The speech should have been more accommodating and magnanimous taking account of the concerns and either deftly explaining them away or telling them that it is not within their ambit to even question the internal actions of a sovereign state that was just protecting itself from internal terrorism. Neither of which was done. It was stated that SL is acting on the LLRC recommendations, something that has not genuinely commenced. This kind of bald faced lies in the face of such pressure is not good diplomacy meant at deflection, but instead draws a red rag to a bull.

I fail to understand why this government is drawing this country through the proverbial ‘kunu goda’ when they could have solved this issue years ago without as much as a whimper if it was handled by professionals and not amateurs, a weakness and responsibility that is solely the President’s.

I cannot help feel that the President has no intention of clearing this up, preferring to have it drag on ad infinita so that goodwill this generates at home allows him to plunder the people (daylight robbery) without being accused of any of the misdeeds of the regime. It is a clever ploy if it is not a traitorous act of greed and personal arrogance that is holding the country to ransom, when we could have obtained all the credit internationally for a period of peace and development, which is only a mirage that is now much harder to believe let alone accept.

We are spending so much time and effort to say nothing of money to keep up this charade, so the motley cast of characters who we euphemistically call the country’s leaders continue to pull the wool over our eyes in their quest to hold on to power and gain the sympathy of a nation that has been fooled, exploited and cheated.