Before starting, let us invoke blessings of the Triple Gem to the brave men and women of our armed forces. The capture of Giranika (Kilinochchi) marks the irrevocable military and psychological blow to the terrorist cancer and Diaspora hypocrisy. The capture of Alimankada (Elephant Pass) brings back the memory of the great Corporal Gamini Kularatne (aka Hasalaka Gamini) whose selfless sacrifice was never in vain. No matter how hard conspirators try, victory for our nation is assured.
[ad#200×200] The old Sinhalese adage “Shamelessness is Greater than the Great Mudlierhood (Mahamudalikama)” fits perfectly for many countries who are the first and foremost to give advice on how we should deal with our internal affairs with plenty of skeletons in the closet.
The US embassy was among the first to condemn the attack (most likely self inflicted) on the Pro-LTTE Headless (Sirasak-Nethi) Media. However, if the report on the British Daily Mirror on November 24th 2005 was indeed correct, in April 2004 President Bush himself had plans to bomb Al-Jazeera HQ in Doha, Qatar. Nevertheless a US missile hitting the Bagdad Al-Jazeera office on 8 April, 2003 which killed reporter Tareq Ayyoub was much more than just a bad coincidence. Afterall in a country where Waterboarding (aka simulated drowning) is an accepted method of torture anything can happen!
The French NGO, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) issued a similar statement condemning the attack on the Headless Media. For the murder of Lasantha Wickramathunga, RSF issued the blatant statement, “President Mahinda Rajapaksa, his associates and the government media are directly to blame because they incited hatred against him and allowed an outrageous level of impunity to develop as regards violence against the press. Sri Lanka’s image is badly sullied by this murder, which is an absolute scandal and must not go unpunished.”
Like Action Contra la Faim (aka Action Against Hunger, ACF), the RSF has seriously got its priorities mixed up. It can start off by issuing a message of condolence to the family of fellow photographer Fernando Pereira. Fernando Pereira drowned while trying to save his photographic equipment (in short his livelihood) from the sinking Rainbow Warrior on July 10, 1985. The reason RSF should make this a priority is because the Rainbow Warrior (owned by Greenpeace) was bombed by the French DGSE agents on authorization by the President of France, François Mitterrand (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article542620.ece). The Rainbow Warrior was in protest of French nuclear tests in Moruroa Atoll.
Also RSF can look into French suppression in former French colonies, especially those where independence movements were brutally put down like in Madagascar during the Madagascar Revolt of 1947 and in Algeria where around 1 million natives were killed during French occupation. This can be extended to looking into media suppression and the “democracy” of French backed dictators like Idriss Déby of Chad and the permanent fixture president of Gabon Omar Bongo Ondimba who has been propped up since 1967! Looking into shady French involvement in the Ivory Coast conflict since 2002 should be another priority.
India was also quick to condemn the murder of Mr. Wickramathunga, the attack on the Headless Media and issued the statement “We urge the Government of Sri Lanka to investigate these attacks fully and bring the perpetrators of these reprehensible attacks to justice,” However, it is puzzling as to why India does not display the same amount of eagerness towards Indian journalists killed in trouble prone provinces of India like Vikas Ranjan (Bihar) who was killed on November 26th, 2008, Jagajit Saikia (Assam), killed November 22nd 2008 and Konsam Rishikanta Singh (Manipur) killed on November 19th, 2008.
On November 26th, the Asia Human Rights Commission issued a statement (Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-252-2008) blaming Indian security forces for the murder of Konsam Singh (http://www.ahrchk.net/ua/mainfile.php/2008/3072/). Thus, shouldn’t this investigation be a priority for India before worrying about what happens in Sri Lanka?
Finally there was the most anticipated condemnation from Britain. Little more can be expected from a country like Britain which can proudly boast the world’s first recorded pogrom on November 13, 1002 when English king Ethelred II ordered all Danes living in England to be killed. Also are the legendary massacres of the British Empire from North America, Australia, New Zealand, the 1818 and 1848 massacres of Sinhalese in Sri Lanka, the Amritsar massacre of India, the countless Kenyan villagers liquidated without trial during the Mau Mau rebellian and last but not least the millions of Igbo killed in Biafra.
Indeed, Britain is the most appropriate place for the HQ of double tongued Amnesty International!
By Janaka Yagirala
source: Lankaweb