Battles against external forces
Victory likely for UPFA in two provinces, but EPC'S fate in balance
Lankans. They told others not to follow that example. A few of the envoys did not take part in the cross country tour after the two day workshop ended. They withdrew from Diyatalawa.
It was not all work and no leisure for the envoys. On Sunday, soldiers clad in sarongs and banians sang as they served a Lotus leaf (Nelun Kola) lunch by the side of a pond within the Diyatalawa military cantonment. It was traditional rice and curry meal prepared and served the way it is done at a village event. Though scheduled to end on Thursday, the extended programme concluded for the envoys only on Friday. In Jaffna, besides scheduled events, the envoys also visited the Delft Island. They drove by road to Kilinochchi and thereafter to Vavuniya. At least two envoys were, however, reported to have got special treatment. They were excused from the gruelling journey by bus and afforded Land Cruiser jeeps for the trip. Muttering envoys echoed the famous Orwellian theme from the book Animal Farm; "all are equal but some are more equal".
After the road trip, the envoys were given some respite when they were flown from Vavuniya to the Sri Lanka Air Force base at Katunayake, but the cross country journey continued by road as they were driven to nearby Gampaha. There they visited a fair (Pola) and a newly built maternity ward in a hospital. That ended their eight-day workshop intended to give the participants a new orientation on the UPFA's foreign policy with a domestic perspective. Needless to say, not all the critical issue facing Sri Lanka in the world, were discussed.
Even whilst Sri Lanka's envoys abroad were learning how to project various issues that the government wants, elsewhere another event, the formulation of Sri Lanka's response to the UPR (Universal Periodic Review) was taking shape. Mahinda Samarasinghe, the President's envoy on human rights issues, chaired a meeting with Colombo based civil society organisations on July 9 (Monday). The UPR is a process by which the UN through its Human Rights Council reviews the human rights record of its member countries at regular intervals. Samarasinghe's meeting was to obtain their views on their responses to issues that will come up for discussion during the UN Human Rights Council meeting on November 1 in Geneva. The groups were told to give their written submissions by last Friday to be considered for incorporation in Sri Lanka's response. Some have already sent in their responses before the deadline. Others are expected today.
After consultation with a number of ministries and government agencies, Minister Samarasinghe has formulated a 10,700-word report on Sri Lanka's human rights record. This document is based on recommendations made by UN officials and the government's own pledges over some 65 issues that have come up before the UNHRC. Some of the issues raised in the US-backed resolution adopted by the UNHRC in March this year too have been dealt with. That includes the implementation of the LLRC. A critical area, the Sunday Times learns, are matters relating to the provisions of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. UN officials, according to EAM sources, had wanted responses to the "full implementation" of the 13th amendment. However, Sri Lankan officials had pointed out that Sri Lanka never made any such commitment and referred to the joint communique issued after the visit to Sri Lanka by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on May 23, 2009. The visit came in the aftermath of the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas. The relevant part of the joint statement said: "President Rajapaksa expressed his firm resolve to proceed with the implementation of the 13th Amendment, as well as to begin a broader dialogue with all parties, including the Tamil parties in the new circumstances, to further enhance this process and to bring about lasting peace and development in Sri Lanka."
Yet, the issue has assumed greater significance for an altogether different reason. The implementation of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution has turned out to be a thorny issue between Colombo and New Delhi. This is particularly after the visit to Colombo by Indian External Affairs Minister, S.M. Krishna in January this year. He announced at a news conference after talks with President Rajapaksa that the latter had agreed to the fuller implementation of the 13th Amendment. However, Rajapaksa told national newspaper editors thereafter he had indeed given such an assurance, but that it was the duty of Parliament to tell him what the 'plus' factor was to be. He said a political package to resolve Tamil grievances would have to be determined by the proposed Parliamentary Select Committee. However, the main player in such an exercise, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), has refused to take part until the Government resumes its bilateral dialogue with it. The stalemate continues.
It is against this backdrop that India's National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon arrived in Colombo for meetings with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. New Delhi believes that it is these three key players in the Government who could deliver. He completely by-passed Minister Peiris who was only invited for the informal breakfast President Rajapaksa hosted for Menon after the one-on-one official talks between Rajapaksa and Menon earlier. Though Menon did deal with the process of reconciliation during his talks, thus referring to the 13th Amendment, his main thrust this time was to urge the government to hold Northern Provincial Council elections early. He sought a formal official announcement by the government. It was during talks with Minister Basil Rajapaksa, the Sunday Times learnt that Menon received a detailed answer on why the government could not hold early elections to the North. However, the TNA leader, Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, whom Menon briefed thereafter, was to counter the response. He said the government had held presidential, parliamentary and local elections in the north.
Interesting enough, President Rajapaksa's public response on the matter came this week. This is when he met Kanchan Prasad, the outgoing All India Radio correspondent in Colombo who is concluding her tenure when she made a farewell call on him. She was accompanied by R.K. Radhakrishnan, The Hindu newspaper's correspondent in Colombo. In what turned out to be an hourlong interview, the President declared that Northern Provincial Council elections would be held in September 2013. That sparked widespread speculation that Rajapaksa is planning a presidential election ahead of the NPC polls. He told a confidant recently that the vast majority of the votes he received were from Sinhala voters whilst those in the minority community had voted against him. Others speculated, though not quite logically, that by September next year, Rajapaksa's government would have got over most of the international issues he is facing. Hence, there would be a 'clean slate' climate to facilitate the polls.
Yet, the Sri Lanka report to the UPR, which Rajapaksa will receive from Minister Samarasinghe, is fraught with some problems. Once it comes up for discussion at the UN Human Rights Council in November this year, it will be a three-nation committee headed by India that will formulate a response to the Council together with Benin and Spain. There are concerns already in government circles over how India would react to references made to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, or in more general terms on how the Government is responding to the process of recon- ciliation. Since both Benin and Spain have no diplomatic representation in Colombo, the two countries will, without doubt, go along with India's conclusions on the matter. How would the UNHRC react to this during UPR remains a moot question. Sri Lanka is required to hand over its report to the UNHRC Secretariat on or before July 23. It will thereafter be translated into the official languages recognised by the UN and later posted in their website. The Government is permitted to forward its own addendum to the report as and when it wishes but before the UNHRC sessions begin. The likelihood of the troika - Minister Basil Rajapaksa, President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa - visiting New Delhi is not being ruled out.
The next hurdle on the human rights front will come when the Human Rights Council meets next March. In terms of the US-backed resolution, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is required to report on the progress made. The Government has not yet responded to an offer by Navaneetham Pillay, the Human Rights High Commissioner, in keeping with the resolution, sending a team of experts to assist the Government. The resolution said, it "encourages the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and relevant special procedures to provide, and the Government of Sri Lanka to accept, advice and technical assistance and requests the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to present a report to the Council on the provision of such assistance at its 22nd session." Pillay's letter offering assistance has not yet been replied, a government source said.
As President Rajapaksa sits down this week to assess his government's human rights record before submission to the UN Human Rights Council, there are a number of domestic priorities of equal importance.
This week, he ensured price reductions in essential consumer items including cooking gas. More are to follow. There is little doubt that it would be salutary in the light of elections to the North Western, Sabaragamuwa and Eastern Provincial Councils. Rajapaksa has cancelled his District Development Committee meetings in these three provinces in view of the polls. However, he took part in the DDC meeting for Kalutara District on Thursday and Colombo District on Friday.
A hitherto unknown feature that precedes these meetings is a visit to the district by a team of officials assigned by Rajapaksa. Among their tasks is to identify foundation stones laid for different projects, take photographs and report to him on why they have not been executed. The issues are later raised at the DDC meetings. The move is reminiscent of what the late President Ranasinghe Premadasa did when he was Minister of Local Government. There, he urged heads of local bodies to inform him of priorities and tasks not carried out.
With the opposition parties still in disarray, sections of the man opposition United National Party (UNP) beating the worn out drum calling for a new leader, and with no signs of party unity being forged, the edge appears to be again for the UPFA in at least two of the PCs, Sabaragamuwa and North Central. How the Eastern Provincial Council will poll remains an important question and will no doubt be a test of strength for the UPFA. That is why the UPFA is keen on an alliance with the Muslim Congress for the Eastern Provincial Council. The results in the three PCs will not only be a pointer to the political direction the country is headed but how the Rajapaksa administration will meet the challenges it faces thereafter.