SPECIAL REPORT : Part 341
By Shamindra Ferdinando
US Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, at the conclusion of a brief visit to Colombo recently acknowledged that the US decision to slap a travel ban on Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva could be wrong.
Responding to questions raised by a local journalist on behalf of a dozen scribes invited by the Foreign Ministry to cover the joint media briefing at the main auditorium of the Foreign Ministry following Pompeo meeting President Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Presidential Secretariat, one-time CIA Chief said (verbatim): “All right. Thank you. I think there were three questions there. The last one, look, it’s a legal process in the United States. We’ll always continue to review it. We want to make sure we get it both(sic) technically, factually, and legally right. We’ll continue to do that.”
The writer was among those subjected to the RT-PCR test at the Foreign Ministry on the afternoon of Oct 26 in preparation of Pompeo’s press engagement along with Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena. Print and electronic media assigned to cover senior Chinese leader and top foreign policy official Yang Jiechi, who is a member of the Communist Party of China’s Politburo and the director of its Central Committee’s Foreign Affairs Commission, the top policy-making body, over a week before too were subjected to PCR tests.
Media denied an opportunity
Having asked both print and electronic media to be present at the venue by 9 am to avoid inconvenience, the briefing got underway just over two hours later. About 30 minutes before the much delayed commencement, the local media were told only one could be allowed to raise a question. We were told the US media accompanying Pompeo, too, would be given one opportunity. Local media present there quickly discussed and decided on a set of questions. Many an eyebrow was raised there as questions were directed to Pompeo, who responded first to the question as regards Lt. Gen. Silva’s predicament. The local media asked (1) why he chose to visit Colombo less than a week before US presidential election (11) whether US wants Sri Lanka to be part of its strategic alliance (US, India, Japan and Australia)) against China by finalizing MCC (Millennium Challenge Corporation) agreement and SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) and finally (III) what is the status of US travel ban on the war hero and whether Sri Lanka requested him to reconsider the action taken against its Army Chief in terms of the Geneva Resolution co-sponsored by Sri Lanka in Oct 2015.
Sri Lanka media were deprived of an opportunity to raise contentious issues with Pompeo-the highest US State Department official to visit since then Secretary of State John Kerry in May 2015. We wouldn’t have minded an exclusive given to one private television station, if sufficient time was allocated for at least three or four local print media representatives to question Pompeo.
Pompeo’s declaration that the US wanted to make sure their decision on the Sri Lanka Army Chief is technically, factually, and legally right over six months after the imposition of the travel ban highlighted the need to raise additional questions. In fact, the writer earnestly felt the need to question the Foreign Minister as regards incumbent government efforts to address accountability issues. Having announced Sri Lanka’s decision last March to quit Geneva Resolutions, the SLPP (Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna) government hadn’t taken tangible measures to address concerns expressed by a section of the UN community obviously directed by the US.
Controversial Pompeo tweet
Pompeo brashly tweeted on Feb 14, 2020: “I’m designating Shavendra Silva, making him ineligible for entry into the US due to his involvement in extrajudicial killings during Sri Lanka’s civil war. The US will not waver in its pursuit of accountability for those who commit war crimes and violate human rights.”
What about brazen committing of war crimes by the US servicemen in Iraq for example as amply reproduced by Wikileaks in one incident in particular, where an American helicopter gunship ruthlessly cuts down a team of Iraqi journalists with its machine guns, despite ability to see from the air they the victims were working for Reuters? To top it all the head of the above news messenger Juliange Assange is being persecuted by the UK/US for telling the truth to the world.
Pompeo conveniently side-stepped the local media query whether the Sri Lankan government requested him to reconsider the travel ban imposed on the Army Chief. The local media was also deprived of an opportunity to raise the issue with Minister Gunawardena. Statements issued by both the President’s Office and the Foreign Ministry made no reference whatsoever to the accountability issue.
Before dealing further with Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva’s matter, let me briefly discuss the US response to the 2019 Easter carnage, over a year after the National Thowheed Jamaat (NTJ) carried out nearly simultaneous suicide attacks. Minister Gunawardena appreciated US support provided in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks and the proscription of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) before 9/11 attacks.
In spite of the absence of conclusive evidence to prove a link between the Easter attacks and ISIS (the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, aka the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State. Daesh is its Arabic acronym), Pompeo blamed the carnage on ISIS. We were denied the opportunity to seek a clarification from Pompeo. Did the US receive information that could prove a direct link between Zahran Hashim’s group of killers and ISIS? Did the US share such information with the government of Sri Lanka during the previous administration or after the change of the government last Nov?
Let me reproduce the relevant section verbatim from Pompeo’s speech: “Finally, this afternoon, I’ll travel – it’s important for me to take a moment to go and visit the Shrine of St. Anthony, one of the five sites that were attacked by ISIS on Easter Sunday of 2019. I’ll shortly have the chance to pay my respects to the hundreds of victims of evil terrorists, including five Americans. I’m proud that the State Department has offered substantial counterterrorism assistance to help Sri Lankans bring killers of Americans and their own people to justice. These Easter Sunday attacks represent the kind of sectarianism that Sri Lankans are ready to leave behind forever. Sri Lankans of all backgrounds –Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims alike – want a peaceful nation where their human rights are respected.
Did the US, too, warn Lanka over the Easter Sunday carnage?
Obviously, the State Department Chief lacked knowledge of the circumstances leading to the Easter carnage perpetrated by a group that had been infiltrated by the Indian Intelligence services. Sri Lanka received advance Indian intelligence on April 4, 2019. Perhaps, the Indians alerted the US, simultaneously. The day after the attacks, the then State Minister Dr. Harsha de Silva claimed on CNN, Sri Lanka received advanced warning from both the US and India regarding impending imminent attacks. But when CNN’s Christiane Amanpour sought clarification from the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina Teplitz, she contradicted Minister De Silva. Ambassador Teplitz claimed they had no prior knowledge of Easter attacks.
Against the backdrop of Pompeo confidently blaming ISIS for the Easter carnage perhaps the on-going Presidential Commission (P CoI) should write to US Ambassador Teplitz seeking the State Department cooperation. Sri Lanka needs international support, particularly the US to establish the identity of those responsible for the attacks. Archbishop of Colombo Rt. Rev. Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith on several occasions demanded that the government should make a genuine effort to identify those behind the dastardly crime against humanity, in addition to inquiring into lapses on the part of the then administration.
India offered support to Sri Lanka in dealing with the common threat of ‘Jihadi terrorism’ following the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed nearly 270 people, including 11 Indians and injured more than 500.
The then Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Taranjit Singh Sandhu gave the assurance close on the heels of the attacks.
Obviously Pompeo hadn’t been properly briefed of the Easter attacks. Had he been aware of the NTJ deliberately targeting Tamil Catholics too, in addition to Sinhala Catholics, he wouldn’t have compared Easter violence with over three decades of bloodshed caused by Indian military intervention in the early 80s.
Pompeo’s tweet on Feb 14, 2020 and his subsequent response at the Foreign Ministry revealed the failure on the part of Sri Lanka to properly present its case before the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) well over two years after Lord Naseby provided the country required ammunition. Pompeo appeared to have conveniently forgotten that US travel ban on Lt. Gen. Silva was imposed in terms of the Geneva Resolution. Sri Lanka remained silent in an obvious bid to describe the US travel ban as an isolated US matter rather than something in line with the Geneva project.
Pompeo’s tweet was nothing but an affront not only to Lt. Gen. Silva but the war winning Sri Lankan security forces, who achieved that almost impossible task despite the West forever repeating like a mantra that our fighting forces were incapable of defeating the LTTE militarily.
Pompeo’s motorcade escorted by elite personnel moved out of the Foreign Ministry, adjoining the President’s House about 10 minutes after the conclusion of the media briefing. Outside the Foreign Ministry across the road were several bomb disposal units, including that of the Army. The security contingent certainly found it easy to move Pompeo and his wife, Susan to St. Anthony’s church about three kilometres away as Colombo was under ‘quarantine curfew.’ Security was extremely tight due to Pompeo being high on the hit list of those fighting the US. The possibility of international terrorists mounting an attack on a visiting foreign dignitary can never be ruled out. In spite of Pompeo, in his capacity as Secretary of State designating Lt. Gen. Silva, who is also the Acting Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) as a war criminal, the US official received security fit enough for a President.
Lanka’s failure in Geneva
Sri Lanka never really challenged international action against senior military officials, both serving and retired, since 2015 on the basis of Geneva Resolution 30/1. War winning Army Commander the then Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka is one of those who had been humiliated by international sanctions. The US denied him a visa on more than one occasion during the yahapalana administration. Top military strategist Major General Chagie Gallage, too, was denied an Australian visa during the yahapalana administration. The previous government did absolutely nothing on behalf of those unjustly dealt with in terms of the shameful Geneva Resolution carried to a fruition by our then Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera.
Sri Lanka never really challenged the Geneva Resolution adopted on the basis of unsubstantiated allegations. Successive governments should also be ashamed of their failure to effectively use Lord Naseby’s revelations to counter Geneva lies. Lord Naseby fought the UK government for over two years to secure official dispatches from the UK High Commission in Colombo during January –May 2009. They proved invaluable in Sri Lanka’s defence though the country lacked a cohesive strategy. Almost a year after the last presidential election, the incumbent government is yet to address the accountability issue properly.
The British High Commission in Colombo was rattled by Lord Naseby’s disclosure. In early Dec 2017, the British High Commission declared that Lord Naseby’s House of Lords statement pertaining to accountability issues in Sri Lanka didn’t reflect the UK’s stand.
The British HC said so in response to The Island query whether the BHC had discussions with the Foreign Ministry here or the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) as regards Lord Naseby’s call for reviewing Geneva Resolution 30/1. The following is the text of the BHC statement: “Lord Naseby was not speaking for the British Government when speaking recently in a debate in the House of Lords. As a Member of Parliament he is entitled to express his own views”.
Having failed to convince the Rajapaksa administration to co-sponsor resolution against its own armed forces, the US threw its weight behind the political project to end the Rajapakas reign in January 2015. Within weeks after August 2015 parliamentary polls, the UNP-SLFP coalition co-sponsored Resolution 30/1.
State Department forgets
Smith’s revelation
Pompeo quite easily forgot war time US Defence advisor here Lt. Colonel Lawrence Smith’s revelation as regards war crimes accusations. Obviously, Smith made his position clear at the first Colombo Defence seminar held in late May-June 2011 on the inaugural day. Smith got it technically, factually, and legally right when he declared the Sri Lanka military didn’t commit war crimes. The American, perhaps inadvertently contradicted the Geneva Resolution (brainchild of the US) when he responded to a query posed by retired Indian Major General Ashok Metha to the then Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva. The writer was among those present there at that time. The US officer certainly based his assessment on official US data available to him and over two months after the UN released its Panel of Experts’ report – the basis for the Geneva Resolution. Lt. Gen. Silva is among those affected as a result of the Geneva Resolution.
The US State Department, quite embarrassed by its own defence attaché’s declaration, claimed Smith was there in a private capacity though in uniform. Funny isn’t it? Basically the US defence advisor and his British counterpart Lt. Colonel Anthony Gash basically defended Though the UN accepted allegations made by unverified sources in the so called Panel of Experts’(PoE)report, headed by very partisan Yasmin Sooka, that prohibited the release of its ‘sources’ for a period of 20 years thereby depriving Sri Lanka of a just inquiry. Ironically Sri Lanka never bothered to properly present its case against that hand-picked Kangaroo court appointed by the then UN Secretary General Ban KI-moon, especially for hiding the mystery accusers against us or before 47-members of the Geneva HRC in spite of a section of the UN quite brazenly exploiting bogus war crimes accusations to trigger political chaos here. Parliament ignored UN interventions. The UN went to the extent of recommending a new Constitution by way of addressing post-war reconciliation measures.
Having faulted the Sri Lanka Army, on three major counts, the PoE accused Sri Lanka of massacring at least 40,000 civilians. Let me reproduce the paragraph, bearing no 137, verbatim: “In the limited surveys that have been carried out in the aftermath of the conflict, the percentage of people reporting dead relatives is high. A number of credible sources have estimated that there could have been as many as 40,000 civilian deaths. Two years after the end of the war, there is no reliable figure for civilian deaths, but multiple sources of information indicate that a range of up to 40,000 civilian deaths cannot be ruled out at this stage. Only a proper investigation can lead to the identification of all of the victims and to the formulation of an accurate figure for the total number of civilian deaths.”
The military/the country paid a huge price for not properly addressing the accountability allegations. The US travel ban on Lt. Gen. Shavendra Silva is all part of measures taken by the West against Gotabaya Rajapaksa administration. If the wartime Defence Secretary, a US citizen at the time he held that coveted post, lost the 2019 Nov presidential election, the US may not have slapped the travel ban. The decision announced in mid-2020 is political. The US strategy vis-a-vis Sri Lanka is clear. The US threw its weight behind UNP- backed common candidate Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka at the 2010 presidential election. The US had no qualms in doing so having categorized Fonseka along with the Rajapaksa brothers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Basil Rajapaksa war criminals.
Sri Lanka needs to keep in mind that Lt. Gen. Silva’s matter cannot be addressed in isolation. The government should review its Geneva strategy without further delay. US travel ban is part of measures taken in terms of the UN response to war crimes accusations. Let there be a comprehensive examination of all facts before making representations to the international community.
