Thoughts from London

Await Amnesty’s thrilling dodgy dossier
Somehow Shakespeare’s dark drama Macbeth comes to mind when I read these days the statements and comments of Amnesty International, paraded before the world as verities.

It is surely not the incantation of the three witches “fair is foul and foul is fair” as they stir the broth. Foul deeds seem to be in the air. And I dare say that AI’s Secretary-General Irene Khan and her Asia-Pacific Director Purna Sen could certainly stir a stew though it is hardly likely to pass a Cordon Bleu test or get past a celebrity chef.

Perhaps it is AI’s efforts to bury a highly critical report of the LTTE by its own research team that stirs memories of Lady Macbeth’s single-minded purpose.
Her mind worked with the clarity of a syllogism that went like this:
“Duncan is king.
Macbeth must be king.

Therefore kill Duncan.”
Amnesty’s syllogistic approach is a little messy but the intention is clear enough.
AI wants to go to the Wanni.
The Wanni is controlled by the LTTE.
So neutralise the report critical of the LTTE.

The findings of that research team were to be published in November possibly as a summary ahead of the full report shortly after.
But even that brief statement has not appeared. Since then it has been procrastination and prevarication echoing the opening line of Macbeth’s famous speech “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.”

The last promised tomorrow, January 10, has come and gone and we are asked to look forward to a brighter tomorrow in February.
But will tomorrow ever come and, if it does, will that report be as dodgy as the dossier that Prime Minister Tony Blair produced to justify his invasion of Iraq?

Purna Sen in her reply to my earlier column on AI said I had not been at Irene Khan’s Colombo press conference after her visit.
She tried to make capital out of this fact, though I had admitted earlier that I was not present.

But then Sen showed neither sense nor sensibility for she made a major faux pas in accusing me of relying on fellow columnist Rajpal Abeynayake’s comments when I had clearly stated that I based my comments on AI’s own press release.

She is said to have a doctorate (I don’t know in what, nor do I care). All I care about is whether she cannot understand simple English or was dragging a red herring in the false hope of discrediting my comments.
Anyway I have now watched three times a videotape of the Irene Khan press conference. She is flanked on the one side by Purna Sen and on the other by a chap called Lars Jorgensen of AI’s Denmark chapter (to that perhaps another time) and Liz Rowsell who was on the research team to Sri Lanka last 14 August spending eight days in the East.

Khan says at the briefing that the LTTE invited AI to send a team to the area it controls to study the human rights situation including the universally condemned recruitment of child soldiers.
Subsequently Purna Sen has been talking of sending another team to Sri Lanka apparently charmed by Thamilselvan’s winsome smile that could easily eat a banana sideways.

Sen has already raised the thought of a second going with the Sri Lanka High Commission in London. Perhaps Sen forgets that Thamilselvan does not run the country.
In case Irene Khan and Sen have forgotten, Sri Lanka is a sovereign nation and any coming and going on missions such as this should be with the approval and sanction of the State.

Khan might have the whole world at her feet and Sen Asia-Pacific. But they don’t own any real estate.
They are subject to the rules and regulations of sovereign states they visit.

They could certainly sit down in London and write reports that the public are not allowed to read. But they cannot go running around the world like headless chicken without a by-your-leave from sovereign nations.
I suppose Khan and Sen have south Asian origins. Even otherwise would they be able to walk into India or Nepal to talk to Kashmiri armed groups, Naxalities or Nepalese Maoists operating on the Bihar border with suicide squads trained by the LTTE (according to Indian media reports) without the express permission of the Indian or Nepalese governments? Or even Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Maldives, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, etc.
They would be shown the door, if they are not slammed in a cell to cool their ardour for interfering in domestic affairs.

So why should Sri Lanka be different? This is not to say human rights obligations are not important or there should be a cover up of human rights abuses. Or that Sri Lanka should not allow such surveys.
But responsibilities and obligations are reciprocal not one sided. Previously Sri Lankan diplomats went to the extent of officially arranging appointments for the AI mission with the president, the foreign minister, state officials and even cleared visits to the Wanni for Khan and her team.
AI shouts from the rooftops about responsibilities and obligations (listen to the Khan press briefing) but forgets its own obligations.
First publish the findings of the first research team that we know very well are highly critical of the LTTE.

Sri Lanka Government should insist on the publication of the delayed report before even considering allowing another AI mission to enter. No visas should be granted nor permission given by the Ministry of Defence to cross over into “uncleared areas”. If AI is not ready to play ball, then Sri Lanka should kick these cabalistic whitewashers into the long grass for a period of re-education and hibernation.

When I telephoned AI’s press office on January 11 to ask why the report was not released the previous day as promised, Saria Rees-Roberts said: “Our team is currently making decisions about scheduling and work plans for Sri Lanka including the report. And we’ll get back to you as soon as those plans are finalised.”

Later when I raised more questions about the delay in releasing this report she e mailed this reply: “It is true that we decided not to publish the report ahead of our High Level Mission in December because we were concerned for the safety of our delegates who were due to visit LTTE-controlled areas. It is common practice in AI to ensure the security of mission delegates in every way possible.

In January we have been updating the report to include the latest developments. We intend to release the report in February……….”
Khan and Sen have been shivering in their court shoes in case Smiling Selvan laid his hands on them.

AI did not wish to anger the Tigers ahead of Khan’s visit. But they could have released it after the visit as they said earlier.
No, AI is hoping to go to the Wanni. So hold back the report.
In the meantime, if AI cannot tamper with the earlier findings, it will try to minimise the impact on the LTTE by producing another report, or injecting material into the first that chastises the Sri Lanka Government for even greater abuses.

What AI appears to be doing is trading its security for a toned-down report or one in which it could heavily criticise the government. Could we then depend on AI for impartiality and objectivity?

The first shot was fired on January 11 after my inquiries, when Purna Sen issued a “public statement” about the escalating violence and listing various killings and abuses but made only a passing reference to “60 security forces personnel” being killed. The implications are obvious enough. There are several human rights watchdogs. Some, unfortunately, have gone to the dogs.

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