Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN at Geneva with over 15 years in the UN, Tamara Kunanayakam commenting on the hypocrisy and the duplicity of reporting of the current events and said it was a partial reflection of the current situation in the country.
Speaking further she went on to say that media should be impartial when reporting. “I would like to respond to the narrative that is being propagated in the Western media, which is a partial reflection of the debate that is going on in Sri Lanka. The position that is being projected outside [the country] is that of the previous Prime Minister who is known to be a Western ally and the media should be impartial when you report on events,” she said.
She said that the message that is sent across is that this is an anti democratic coup.“That is the language used by the former Finance Minister Mangala Samaraweera and by the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. This whole discussion is presented as an unconstitutional decision taken by the President of the country. That is the removal of the former PM and appointment of the new PM and the prorogation of Parliament is unconstitutional. The focus of the whole discussion is on reconvening Parliament,” she said.
She said that this is the angle taken by the former PM as well as his allies, western governments, and added that it’s done with a particular purpose.
“I have recently been to the East; Passikudah and Batticaloa, and I have been told by people on the road and even former LTTE cadres have told me that they will vote for PM Mahinda Rajapaksa. Speak to the masses, three-wheel drivers and shop owners in their language and you will hear another point of view than what you are hearing from the politicians,” she said.
She further said that there have been very unsuccessful attempts to portray Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa as a Chinaman. “This is totally wrong and misleading and this has to do with a particular geo political strategic interest of those who are propagating that line.
Pointing out the hypocrisy of the claims by Ranil Wickremesinghe she highlighted a few instances where they themselves were guilty of the same acts they are complaining of now.
“When the previous PM, together with the President, dissolved Parliament to prevent the COPE report on the Central Bank bond issue scam being made public, there was no outcry. They were all very silent. This was the biggest ever corruption to have taken place, and the biggest ever cover-up story. There was silence over the postponement of Local Government elections for the next two years by the previous regime,” she said.
Germany, Northern Ireland and Belgium, did not have a government for a certain period of time. It was also pointed out that no Western Government called for a credible investigation on the attempted assassination plot on the President and former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.
This external intervention in the domestic political order, is a violation of international law, it is a violation of principals on which the multilateral system is based which is sovereign equality of states and the right of the people to self- determination. It is a right of the people to determine their own political, economic, social, cultural system in which they want to live in and all countries are obliged to respect it. But obviously this is not the case when it has to do with western interest. “Not only in our country but also in other developing countries where they have a strategic interest,” she said.
Condemning the action by foreign envoys to meet the former PM she said, “This special meeting that was held with an ousted Prime Minister at Temple Trees the day after. What is the normal procedure of communication for foreign envoys with regard to their hosting countries? The procedure is to go through the Foreign Secretary. Western countries have systematically violated that principle of going through an established channel.”
The real issue in my view is the opposite of what they describe as an anti democratic. It is a result of a legitimate reaction. There have been strikes and a public outcry from almost every sector be it railway, nurses, estate workers. I haven’t seen that reported outside. They left the national unity government because of the pressure from below, that is why they left. Because, they are politicians at the end of the day and had to go back to the people for their vote. The rupee was collapsing, the economy had collapsed. There was no local business which was going on. Ranil Wickremesinghe’s policies supported foreign capital not Sri Lankan capital. The sole purpose of distorting this issue is to internationalise a purely internal matter and to rescue an ally and thereby secure their own geo political interests. On this whole debate, there are obviously different points of view but there is only one that has been projected by the Western media.
Pic courtesy: dbsjeyaraj.com