Issues
Channel 4 Video, Darusman Report and world opinion
“The West won the world not by superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact, non Westerners never do”
– Samuel.P.Huntington as quoted by J.B.Muller in his dissertation ‘Anglophiles,Eurocentric arrogance and Reality’.(The Island 5thNovember 2010)
J.B.Muller in the above dissertation refers to the General Order issued in 1818 during the British Colonial Rule in Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) to put down the rebellion in Uva-Velassa as follows: ’Kill every man, woman and child including the babes suckling at their mother’s breast. Destroy all dwelling houses. Burn all crops. Cut down all fruit trees. Slaughter all cattle; take what meat is necessary to feed the troops and burn the rest. Destroy all reservoirs, canals and channels. Poison the wells. Lay waste utterly the countryside denying any relief whatsoever to the rebels.’ Muller further states: ’This order was carried out, laying waste Uva and Vellassa, a destruction from which it is yet to fully recover. British writers commented that every tree from Ratnapura to Badulla was devastated with hung bodies of rotting human beings that gave off a revolting stench. The word ‘genocide’ was coined in the 1940s meaning the wiping out of a people, but if this wasn’t genocide then, what is?’This is the manner in which the British who have now become human rights crusaders against Sri Lanka dealt with a rebellion by the Ceylonese people at that time.
Rebel soldiers swarmed a military compound in western Libya on Tuesday after driving out its garrison of about 100 soldiers. The rebels found plenty of ammunition, but no rifles.Photo taken from The New York Times
Rebel soldiers swarmed a military compound in western Libya on Tuesday after driving out its garrison of about 100 soldiers. The rebels found plenty of ammunition, but no rifles.Photo taken from The New York Times
I read an article on the ‘Lanka Independent’ Website titled ‘Why the media sometimes has to shock’ criticizing the Sri Lankan Army for purported war crimes written by L.I.Desk published on 12th June 2011.At the beginning of the Article was a horrific image from the Channel 4 Video ’The Killing Fields’ sub titled ‘The documentary shows harrowing scenes from Sri Lanka that its makers say are evidence of war crimes.’ This statement itself is evidence that the writer herself was not confident of the authenticity of the image produced. It is well known that some war films carry worse horrific scenes shot under the direction of experienced film makers. It was reported in the local media that the Channel 4 journalist Isipriya was a former ‘Lt.Col’ working for the ‘Voice of Tigers’ the official propaganda radio station run by the LTTE.
The international media carried reports of the NATO carrying out continuous raids in Libya under UN license. One such missile had struck a residential area resulting in the massacre of a large number of innocent human beings including helpless unarmed women and children. The NATO expressed its regret over the mistaken strike the human rights crusaders of the Channel 4 and the UN have maintained a deafening silence over this senseless massacre of thousands of innocent human beings in Libya. This reminds one of the massacre of innocent Jews by Hitler in the gas chambers. At that time the World watched in silence and in horror. The writer of the Article ‘Why the media sometimes has to shock’ states ‘Some times the world needs to be shouted at.’ This is what I intend doing in this article.
British Apache helicopters were involved in the raid in Western Libya
People of the World get up from your deep slumber and speak aloud against the massacre of innocent fellow human beings in cowardly air strikes in Libya.
It is obvious that a master plan is being launched against Sri Lanka using the Channel 4 video and the Darusman Report to destabilize our country. Sri Lankans all over the World must unite with the friendly nations to overcome this threat. If we do not counter the machinations against our heroic armed forces, soon it may result in the massacre of the innocents in Sri Lanka as happened in 1818 under the General Order during the British Colonial Rule, but this time from the air. There is a saying that ‘History repeats itself.’
The double standards maintained by the UN indicates that the concept that ‘Might is Right’ is being followed by the World body. Killing innocent human beings by indiscriminate air strikes with scant respect for human life in Libya appears to be sanctioned by the UN Rappoteur on extra judicial killings. The people who point a finger at Sri Lanka on human rights violations should remember that a thousand fingers are pointing at them. Sri Lanka is in a process of reconciliation and peace and harmony prevails in this country whereas Libya is in turmoil and daily massacres are taking place.
The Secretary General of the United Nation now on an extended term has to win the confidence of all Nations by acting impartially without any discrimination if the Peoples of the World are to respect the United Nations and have faith in its impartiality. The pilots of the NATO planes who made the terrible mistake of hitting residential areas in Libya have to be arrested and brought before the International Criminal Court to answer for their terrible mistakes. The Channel 4 team would do well to document the harrowing scenes from the residential areas in Libya hit by NATO air strikes. If this is not done we may continue to hear such harrowing tales of mistaken air strikes. If the UN is taking action it must take action on all human tights violations. The UN shedding crocodile tears for alleged violations in Sri Lanka is silent on the day to day blatant human rights violations taking place presently in Libya.
The writer, an attorney, has a masters degree in law and was a former Senior Consultant in the Law Reform Project funded by the UNDP for the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka