Worst performer in War Crimes premiere
Gotabhaya’s language, more to the point his body language, which showed the man blinking and screwing up his face several times when awkward questions were posed at him, throwing up his arms in the air and the incessant clearing of his throat spoke volumes for his trying to thwart questions. He obviously does not have a personal trainer in etiquette and public presentation which most VIPs in the West have to avoid embarrassing their countries in public.
by Pearl Thevanayagam
(August 13, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The UNSG commissioned Darusman report, Channel 4 videos and more recently India’s Hard Lines Today report on the war that annihilated a good proportion of Tamils on the pretext of wiping out the LTTE have ample evidence to indict the Sri Lankan government for committing war crimes.
US State Secretary Hilary Clinton’s visit to India did touch on the subject of war crimes and it is no co-incidence that Hard Lines Today chose this opportune time to release fresh evidence through their covert media investigation into war crimes with war survivors. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s abysmal performance in the interview with Hard Lines Today does not bode well for the government and in fact only confirms his role in the whole scenario which was that he was complicit in war crimes.
Gotabhaya’s language, more to the point his body language, which showed the man blinking and screwing up his face several times when awkward questions were posed at him, throwing up his arms in the air and the incessant clearing of his throat spoke volumes for his trying to thwart questions. He obviously does not have a personal trainer in etiquette and public presentation which most VIPs in the West have to avoid embarrassing their countries in public.
Bill Clinton had an aide to advise him on how he could put his hands in his pockets to avoid acting like a yob by splaying his arms when provoked. Tony Blair was cautioned to dangle one leg and keep the other firmly planted on the ground to prevent himself from springing out of his seat during question time. But then it takes seven generations to make a gentleman and Gotabhaya has a very very long way to go. His constant disruption of and speaking above the interviewer and his predilection to rattle on showed that he was evading pertinent issues for which he had no plausible answers.
From its stubborn stance that there were zero casualties until the eleventh hour and its now changed tune that some civilian casualties were inevitable, the government is tightening its own noose and making the way easier for an international inquiry and subsequent indictment for war crimes. When Gotabhaya spoke of a sovereign nation with democracy he seemed to be saying so with tongue-in-cheek. The fact that General Sarath Fonseka who won the war for him is now incarcerated behind prison bars all because he chose to be a Presidential contender eluded him. The fact that the media were totally banned on the frontline and journalists threatened, incarcerated, abducted and killed goes against the grain of democracy and Gothabhaya exposed himself as a complete liar and an idiot savant.
We are now at a crucial juncture and approaching a turning point when the international community would decide whether or not to prosecute Sri Lanka for its role in the genocide of Tamil civilians by their thousands. The LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission) has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that its sole aim is to sidetrack international probe into atrocities committed by the government defence forces.
The government missed a golden opportunity to justify its stance in conducting the war to finish off the LTTE. Had it admitted that in any war, civilian casualties were inevitable, allowed the media into the war zone and allowed them to witness how the war developed from both sides, then the international community could have assessed the scenario; the advancing of the army and the shooting of fleeing civilians by the LTTE terrorists and using the same as human shields, and there was a chance its crimes would have been mitigated.
But it tried to bury a whole pumpkin in a plate of rice with inept and insane representatives who were despatched post-haste to missions abroad to challenge international outrage at the eugenic mindset of the Sinhala government whose soldiers were let loose among desperate Tamil civilians fleeing violence from air, land and sea and went on a ruthless mission to kill, pillage and rape at random.
The tell tale signs the international community is not ignoring war crimes are the removal of GSP+ concessions, US with-holding aid, India urging accountability along with UN, UK debating the issue in the House of Commons and meeting with Tamil refugees and Commonwealth contemplating the possibility of co-operating with the UN on this issue should send out warning signals to the government that it has a heavy load of homework to cram before it could present its case. Even so, irreparable damage has been done to Sri Lanka’s reputation on the human rights front.
Sri Lanka successfully buried the bodies of Tamils in mounds of earth in Wanni and built up structures above them as was done in Batticaloa Stadium in 1990 underneath which lie 2,000 murdered students from Eastern University.
But can it bury the truth?
(The writer is Asia Pacific Journalism Fellow at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, California and a print journalist for 21 years. She can be reached at pearltheva@hotmail.com)
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