Columns

Now that came as a real ‘shokku’, as the Japanese might say. With the recently elected local government mafiosos at each other’s throats trying to grab some dying garments to wrap around another’s neck, who would have time to spend on some visiting nonentities trying to sell second-hand ideas that even Trump will knock his tariffs on?

But a sudden break in the impending fisticuffs made me turn to a newspaper lying around. Well, lo and behold. There is this coloured photograph on the front page with two groups of seeming pugilists seated on either side of the table. And excitedly waiting for somebody to throw a punch was who I thought was the referee, though he seemed hardly in a position to take to the ring without spoiling his suit.

Right across the coloured picture was a sentence in huge letters. “Government officials engaged in strategic dialogue with Tony
Blair Institute representatives,” it read.

And that rang the bell, loud and clear. It took me back virtually 10 years to the middle of a big war in the Middle East (or West Asia, if you like) and much talk of peace. It reminded me of a recent prime minister of the UK who led his country into a disastrous war that eventually led him out of politics and helped the Western powers to negotiate a peace, playing the role of a peacemaker.

One wonders how many remember the Iraq War and the numbers who died in it, and there was a bitter political battle in the United Kingdom and the terrorist attacks that occurred in the way of ethnic clashes.

If they do not, then it is time they recalled the name of Tony Blair. It is the same Tony Blair whom even his own Labour Party called a warmonger and others wanted him charged as a war criminal and charged for war crimes.

Even today, British politicians and the US continuously accuse Sri Lankan soldiers of war crimes and want to try them in criminal court while totally covering their pangs of severe guilt and pointing the finger at those who fought terrorists with arms from the very countries that sell their weapons to those who must defend themselves.

I recall that 10 years ago, Tony Blair and his Labour Party were involved in an invasion war against foreign nations, which they invaded, as well as ethnic and other communities. At the same time, it did not stop their domestic forces from hunting down who and what they suspected as homegrown terrorists.

Nor did it stop them from joining hands with their Western powers to incarcerate suspects arrested in other countries in its little prison in Cuba and engage in torture.

In February 2003, a month or so before Blair joined hands with the war-mongering President George Bush (Jr) and his neoconservative and belligerent cohorts to invade Iraq, over one million people marched in London to oppose the Anglo-American plans for war.

Blair’s reaction to this unprecedented opposition to war was to argue that the essence of democratic governance was the willingness of political leaders to defy popular will. The price for Blair’s arrogant stupidity was not paid by him but by the British people who were killed and their families. A demand for a public inquiry into the
bombings and the causes that led to it was summarily dismissed by Blair, who declared that such an inquiry would divert resources from the daily destruction going on in Iraq in the name of a war against terror.

What is galling is this. Blair led the British forces into war against Iraq and other Islamic countries. We had nothing to do with it. It was a UK/US offensive war, but Sri Lanka too was dragged in because we were fighting a domestic
war that was being supported and helped by those who were their residents and now
their natives.

Yet today the very people who condemned us in the chambers of the United Nations and the floors of the international flora are walking the floors of foreign government buildings trying to find a place where they can park themselves and pretend to be the good Samaritans come to help those in need.

Somewhere in August 2015, when I heard that the Blairs were visiting Sri Lanka, I was quite certain what they were up to. By this time, discarded by the Labour Party and generally by the British people, Tony and Cherie were changing route and changing gear.

They were using their talents and highest-level connections in various activities that will not only make a name for themselves but also plenty of moola for their bank accounts.

So when I heard what the Blairs are likely to do during this time in Sri Lanka—making friends with the highest class and saying what international ventures they were into—I headlined my August 16th column “Beware of Blair Bearing Fibs”.

The way the Blair couple and their children’s presence was hidden as though they needed to be safeguarded and their contacts hidden was proof enough.

But for those who have forgotten what happened, let me think of something else—especially new public officials, some of whom are educated and qualified but may not have mingled with others in governance.

Read some of what the short news report said:

“Officials from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change to align support with the new Government’s development agenda.”

“Explored providing financial and technical support for key initiatives…”

And now this. Remember…

“Delegation will conduct ministry-level talks to assess ongoing programmes and determine tailoring support strategies.”

There you are. So now
you can sell half to Tony and half to Modi; others can live underground.

All so simple.

(Neville de Silva is a veteran Sri Lankan journalist who was Assistant Editor of the Hong Kong Standard and worked for Gemini News Service in London. Later, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in Bangkok and Deputy High Commissioner in London.)