Sri Lanka & IMF Loan

Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G. Canada

14th May 2009

Brad Adams
Executive Director
Human Rights Watch 350 Fifth Avenue, 34th Floor New York, NY 101118-3299

Dear Brad:
Two days ago, around 10nish in the morning there was a knock on my front door. I opened the door and found two smartly dressed ladies hugging several slim publications, with two folio cases slung over their shoulders. They smiled and I greeted them with a smile.

The older one pushed a small brochure at me and said, “We just want to tell you that there is so much suffering in the world, and there is one person who could help all of us”. “Who is it?” I asked!
Pointing to the sky, she said, “its God”.

“Really”…I responded turning my face towards the sky to spot this person. “I never met this person. May be because I am a Buddhist”, I continued.

After exchanging a few God-thoughts, and I holding back my comments with disbelief, she got out the May 2009 publication of AWAKE, opened to page 15 which had a photograph of a Mammoth skeleton with the article ‘When Giants Roamed Europe”, she asked, “Do you know about Dinosaurs. Do you know who created these monsters, because they just did not happen?” I was amused.

“Have you been to the Museum of Nature, down town?” I asked. “Yes”, the older one said.
“Have you been to the Dinosaur Hall”, I asked. “Yes”, the older one said again.
“I created that Dinosaur Hall, with two other scientists and a designer. I know dinosaurs fairly well, and I believe in evolution,” I said.
The four eyes popped out in disbelief. “You must be having a lot of credentials?” the older lady said in jest.
“I am not sure of that”, I said. “But one thing that I do know for sure is that I do organize Buddhist breathing meditation sessions at the Buddhist Temple on Heron Road. You should join me for one of those sessions. It will do you a lot of good”, I said.
The ladies did not accept my invitation and they thanked me for listening to them and they turned around and went on their way to knock at another door. They were Jehovah Witnesses.
Brad, then I happened to read your letter to the Executive Directors of the IMF of May 13, telling them, “We urge you and other IMF members to delay approval of the standby arrangement (of the loan of US$1.9 billion emergency support) until the government of Sri Lanka takes the following steps to ease the humanitarian crisis…”

“Oh Man, Oh Man! This man is God”, I thought, who believes he has the power to play Russian roulette with the lives of 200,000 displaced Tamil civilians, who the Sri Lankan government is trying to do its best to normalize their lives by feeding them, taking care of their health, build shelters to house them, de-mine the surrounding terrain for their safety, build temporary schools for the children, et cetera, and that need funds. And along comes God Adam, who thinks that he has the power to hold back the normalizing of these 200,000 suffering civilian lives, who fled the clutches of the Tamil Tigers dodging bullets fired at them for abandoning the human shield. Some were not lucky and they caught the bullets and dropped dead.

You know Brad, I wish those two ladies will turn up at my door again, so that I could reveal to them what I had discovered.
I would tell them, “Do you know what? You were right. There is a God, or a pretend God, who wants to manipulate the lives of 200,000 Tamil civilians who are “suffering” in Sri Lanka. His name is God Adam. His office is closer to heaven on the 34th floor of a building, about 550 feet above ground, and it is in New York. You ought to try and find this God. He thinks he has the power to screw the lives of innocent people who had suffered enough for 25 years under the jackboots of Tamil Tiger terrorists. And he wants to prolong this suffering, and there is a motive for all this which I will reveal to you later.”
God Adam, you are obviously concerned about the 20,000 civilians still held hostage by the Tamil Tigers and caught between the cross fire of the Government Forces and the Tamil Tigers. You know what God Adam, if you have a Manual How to Make War for Dummies instructing how one could fight a war without shooting a bullet or throwing a bomb and without having collateral deaths, then you should throw that Manual at Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa as well as President Barak Obama whose forces are killing thousands of innocent Afghanis, specially children for the want to get rid of the Taliban terrorists.
Just do that, God Adam. Teach these world leaders how to fight a war without killing people other than their enemies, and I promise you that I will certainly come over and spit and polish your halo.
By the way, today’s The Ottawa Citizen reported, “Pakistan: 170,000 flee as jets attack Taliban. About 170,000 more civilians registered as refugees with the UN after fleeing the offensive in the northwest where Taliban fighters have terrorized the population. Residents trapped in Mingora, the district’s main town, said militants had planted mines and were digging trenches.” God Brad, sounds familiar isn’t it with the Tamil Tiger terrorists at play with their war games.
I am just hoping that the perverse, pretend God Adam of Human Rights Watch will not misuse his powers to try and screw the lives of these 170,000 Afghani civilians the way he is trying to screw the 200,000 displaced Tamil civilians in the North east of Sri Lanka by wanting to delay the IMF loan for Sri Lanka. Brad, I suppose pretend God’s don’t realize how cruel it is to misuse their powers.
Do I suspect that all this huffing and puffing and exaggerating by God Adam, and threatening to blow Mahinda Rajapaksa’s house down, is to seek more international funding to pay his staff and continue running his questionable humanitarian business? Do you know what God Adam, I smell a rat here!
Sincerely Asoka Weerasinghe

Stop the bloodbath

G. de Silva

14 May 2009
Come off it Luis, when the US killed 100s of innocent Afghani civilians a week or so ago none of you guys had the guts to say even ‘boo’ and life went on as if nothing unusual had happened. When the Tamil Tigers are cornered you have suddenly found your voice to protest against ‘a modern day bloodbath’. Do you guys have any sense of integrity? I guess it matters little to AVAAZ and others like HRW and AI because you are being paid and well looked after by the CIA and MI5.

It is high time that you reveal the true objectives of your so-called humanitarian concerns!

Guess what…thanks to the Internet, half the world now knows the true agendas of organizations such as HRW, AI and AVAAZ and they know that these are front line organizations set up to protect the capitalist neo-colonial economies and that you don’t give a damn about protecting democracies struggling under terrorism or human suffering caused by terror activities. You want the terror activities to continue so that your masters can sell more arms and make sure the economies of your pay masters’ countries are humming along – especially when economic recession is almost here.

Just give up your game guys! It may be better if you spent your time helping the poor and destitute in your own countries.

G. de Silva

PS -  just wait till the Tamil Tigers are brought to justice and when the Sri Lanka Govt. publishes its findings about covert work undertaken by NGOs, INGOs and all the other ‘humanitarians’ in the war torn parts of the country. We already know about how Anna Neistat (a self appointed guardian of the ‘TRUTH’) of HRW travelled to Sri Lanka on forged travel documents.

UN Security Council refuses to swallow LTTE propaganda pills

Sri Lanka News

12 May 2009
Top diplomats from Britain and France were rebuffed Monday (May 11), when UN Security Council members refused their request to discuss on the on-going hostage rescue operations in Sri Lanka, despite extensive and relentless LTTE propaganda efforts to spin tables in favour, expecting a breather for the internationally proscribed terrorist outfit now facing total defeat.

The council members that opposed taking up the issue were not named publicly.

Foreign Ministers David Miliband of Britain and Bernard Kouchner of France were also joined by Austria’s Michael Spindelegger, the Federal Minister for European and International Affairs, to protest inaction by the 15-nation council at UN headquarters in New York.

When asked which council members opposed their request, Miliband said, ‘We can only speak for ourselves. Others can speak for themselves.’

‘We are clear, this is an issue that the UN Security Council should address, it involves major civilian loss of lives and distress,’ Miliband said. ‘It does have ramifications for the region. We as European members of the UN Security Council, we believe that the issues belong here.’

As a rule and unless a crisis is already on the council’s agenda, a majority of nine council members have to approve a new issue be put on the agenda of discussion. Some council members have opposed discussion over matters they consider domestic matters.

China in the past opposed discussion of Myanmar’s political crisis and Russia opposed discussion of Chechnya, where armed opposition was fighting Russian troops for independence.

‘Thousands of Sri Lankans have already died in the past several months due to the conflict, and more still remain in grave danger,’ Ban said, adding that he was appalled at the killing.

‘The reckless disrespect shown by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the safety of civilians has led to thousands of people remaining trapped in the area,’ Secretary General Ban said.

Human Right Watch’s war on Sri Lanka

By: Dr. Chandrani Gunaratna

11 May 2009
On the eve of the scheduled informal UN Security Council meeting on Sri Lanka where the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and his French Counterpart Bernard Kouchner will attend on Monday May 11th, the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) who is constantly attacking the Sri Lankan government has written, this time, to the Japanese Premier.

In a joint http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/05/10/joint-letter-japanese-prime-minister-sri-lanka report with representatives from other similar agencies that show clear sympathy towards Sri Lanka’s terrorist group LTTE, Kenneth Roth, the Executive Director of HRW urges Japan to “support efforts for the Security Council to keep the situation in Sri Lanka under close and regular review and to consider the situation in Sri Lanka formally at the Security Council.”

It is amazing how determined HRW is to prosecute the Sri Lankan government. It churns out report after report against Sri Lanka showing clear hostility and citing mountains of allegations based on questionable evidence.

Combining anecdotal unverifiable evidence and speculations convincingly, HRW writes to every organization, every donor, who supports Sri Lanka and urge them to take actions against Sri Lanka.

In the letter to the Japanese Prime Minister on Sunday May 10th HRW writes that “the Sri Lankan government has refused access to the conflict-affected areas to the United Nations, impartial humanitarian and human rights organizations and the media. It should be clear that the world needs to know what is actually happening on the ground so that it can prevent abuses and help those in need.”

This allegation is far from the truth. The aid workers of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross have access to the no-fire zone as well as to the welfare centers for the Internally displaced Persons. ICRC is allowed to be present at the screening points and UNHCR is present at the main screening point at Omanthai. There are about 20 aid organizations including Caritas, World Vision, IOM and UNICEF providing relief at the welfare centers.

On May 1st Huffington Post published a report by James Ross of HRW titled “Tigers End Game in Sri Lanka.” In the report Ross, reiterating the allegations that Army is shelling the war-zone says “Disastrously, the Sri Lanka army has obliged the Tiger’s death wish by indiscriminately firing heavy artillery into the strip, littering the area with bodies and body parts.”

Then he goes onto say that support for the Tamil Tiger cause remains strong for many Tamils in Sri Lanka and among the large Tamil Diaspora.

If he was in Sri Lanka lately and listened to the nearly 200,000 Tamils escaped into what HRW calls “internment camps” he would have learned that the LTTE have lost the support from Tamils in Sri Lanka. And only the demonstrators in several European cities and Canada are the ones now support the LTTE. It is clear Ross and the rest of the HRW are hoping for a LTTE resurrection.

The report continues to say that ‘instead of addressing Tamil concerns about governance, property rights, and civil liberties, the administration of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has only heightened them, pandering to the most nationalistic Sinhalese elements in society.’ In the same vein Ross says “Several Tamil politicians and journalists have been murdered and others have been prosecuted on dubious political grounds” attempting to level a thinly veiled accusation against the government.

The HRW really bares its teeth against the Sri Lankan state here. If they are not so blinded they would have learned that not a single Tamil politician is murdered by Sri Lankan governments but all the Tamil voices were silenced by the LTTE. Here is a http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/05/07/world_opi.asp?id=s10” list of all the Tamil politicians killed by the LTTE starting from the killing of Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa on July 27, 1975.

The HRW however, was not satisfied with the coverage it received from the Huffington Post so it posted the same report in their web site on May 4th.

HRW issues another report on May 08 titled “Sri Lanka: Repeated Shelling of Hospitals Evidence of War Crimes” with few pictures it has received from the LTTE.

HRW, echoing the pro-LTTE media, says they received information about at least 30 attacks on permanent and makeshift hospitals in the combat area since December 2008 from the patients, medical staff, aid workers, and other witnesses and concludes that commanders responsible for ordering or conducting such attacks may be prosecuted for war crimes.

Citing anecdotal accounts, keeping in mind that these stories come from the individuals in the LTTE dominated no-fire zone, Human Rights Watch says that each time a hospital was established in a new location, the doctors transmitted GPS coordinates of the facility to the Sri Lankan government to ensure that the facility would be protected from military attack and on several occasions, attacks occurred on the day after the coordinates had been transmitted in a clear attempt to implicate the Sri Lankan government.

While there are dozens more conflicts currently raging in the rest of the world HRW spends a disproportionate amount of time on Sri Lanka’s conflict. It is determined to include Sri Lanka on the UN Security Council’s agenda and to scrutinize the country at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

It is clear there is a concerted effort by the HRW and other forces to save the fast-vanishing LTTE leadership. HRW’s report on May 8th on the alleged shelling of hospitals by the Sri Lankan Army, the call by the UN Human Rights Council expert, Philip Aston for international scrutiny on Sri Lanka and yesterday’s outrageous claim by the LTTE of over 2000 civilian deaths supposedly due to Army shelling, timed correctly just before the UN Security Council meeting, are all directed towards one goal – to stop the military offensive and call for a ceasefire to give the LTTE leadership time to find a way to get out of the trap they are in now.

HRW has reputation of being biased against democratically elected governments and siding with terrorist groups. Following are few statements other countries have said about HRW.

“The Human Rights Watch often provides false information about Viet Nam. Its report dated May 4th 2009 is biased and does not reflect the real situation in Viet Nam.”

“Ethiopia’s government was so incensed by the description of ‘systematic atrocities’ in the Ogaden that it commissioned a report of its own that dismissed Human Rights Watch’s allegations as hearsay and its methods as slapdash..”

HRW’s sympathy for terrorist groups is clearly evident the way it criticizes Israel. An independent study by NGO Monitor has shown that between 2001 and 2004, during the height of the terror attacks against Israel, HRW focused one-third of its entire Middle East effort on condemnations directed at Israel. “This went far beyond legitimate criticism, and suggested an obsession,” NGO Monitor says.

Gerald M. Steinberg of NGO Monitor says “When it comes to war crimes committed by terror groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, time and again Roth [Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch] ignores the clear evidence, refusing to issue public condemnations or hold press conferences claiming the need for thorough investigations. In contrast, Israel was found guilty from the outset.”

Steinberg says “apart from the tendentious reporting, the extensive use of loaded terms, such as ‘war crimes,’ ‘violation of international law,’ etc.-used far more often in HRW reports on Israel than in reports on all other Middle East states-fed anti-Israel divestment and boycott campaigns.” Sounds familiar?

Dr. Avi Bell in an “http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=455” article in New York Sun referring to the bias against Israel says “HRW amplifies the image of Israeli wrongdoing by speculating as to the existence of improper Israeli motives and then sternly warning Israelagainst the speculated thought.” HRW is obviously demonstrating the same attitude towards Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka, also fighting a terror war similar to Israel receives the same treatment from HRW. The difference is in Israel’s case it has the support of the United States but when it comes to Sri Lanka unfortunately the US loses sight and believes the half-truths of HRW.

In an http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2008/12/17-2 to the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch, 118 academic experts on Latin America criticized the organization’s recent report on Venezuela, A Decade Under Ch vez: Political Intolerance and Lost Opportunities for Advancing Human Rights in Venezuela, saying that it “does not meet even the most minimal standards of scholarship, impartiality, accuracy, or credibility.”

The group questioning the credibility of the HRW report says “We find it troubling that a report on Human Rights depends heavily on unreliable sources. Would a report on human rights in the United States be taken seriously if it relied so heavily on Fox News, or even worse The National Enquirer?”

It seems that it is the practice of HRW to rely on the uncorroborated anecdotal evidences and pass them as the truth.

Anna Neistat of HRW clearly violated Sri Lankan government’s laws to gain entry into the conflict zone. She misrepresented herself as a lawyer, entered into the country on a tourist visa, visited the conflict zone without permission, interviewed patients at the Vavuniya hospital, and testified at the US Senate hearing. This is how HRW collects its evidence against “international war crimes” perpetrated by the Sri Lankan government.

Various organizations, governments, and journalists have often criticized HRW for its bias reporting and twisting tales. Looking at the above statements it is clear that HRW resorts to vicious propaganda attacks against certain governments and Sri Lanka is one of them subjected to the ire of HRW for whatever purpose.

Perhaps the funding agencies of the HRW should take a note of this disturbing approach of HRW in evaluating human rights and its practice of passing around personal accounts as hard proof of human right violations. Until the HRW sheds its bias, its reports lack credibility.

HRW: Useful Idiots and Ambassadors of Evil

Tilak Dias , Ph.D.

11 May 2009
Wall Street Journal reported on May 05, 2009, that U.S air strikes had killed dozens of civilians in Afghanistan.   This was attributed to the bombing runs carried out by U.S. led-coalition jets.  The real number is not dozens but over a hundred according to Abdul Basir Khan, a member of the provincial council of Farah province. The villagers have brought bodies of men, women and children, which were mutilated beyond recognition and even difficult to count.  However, the surviving villagers have counted over 100 dead bodies and transported several truckloads of wounded civilians to Farah’s hospital.   

After reading this, my eyes glazed over the official websites of Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International trying to find out their response to this tragedy.  To my dismay, there was none.  Not even a symbolic condemnation, let alone any action to prevent such a tragedy in the future.  I assume that Afghans do not have human rights when they are being massacred by donors of these human rights watchdogs who make up the coalition.  The gratuitous praise at times of War-on–Terror under the pretext of new democracy being created and unassuming approval of these acts makes them “Useful Idiots” in the eyes of donors.  Yet the unconscionable silence of HRW on the face of such crimes committed by powerful coalition amply proves that for the suffering masses they are Ambassadors of Evil.  This proves their “malignant self love” not the human rights they profess to safeguard.  

The latest bombing run of coalition jets that killed over one hundred civilians is not the first one and may not be the last one either. In August 2008, U.S. bombing raid in Azizabad killed 90 civilians which was also confirmed by the U.N.  The U.S. denied it originally but later admitted that only 33 civilians were killed.  But the U.N.’s role is limited to verifying the deaths because it is some permanent members of the Security Council who are killing civilians playing mayhem in foreign lands.    

 Nonetheless, as the Afghan tragedy was unravelling, Legal and Policy Director of HRW, James Ross published an article in Huffington Post on May 04, 2009, fabricated with deceptive allegation against Sri Lankan security forces.   In it he claims “Tigers seem intent on fighting to the last man, woman and child. Disastrously, the Sri Lanka army has obliged the Tiger’s death wish by indiscriminately firing heavy artillery into the strip, littering the area with bodies and body parts.”  It is a fact that SL Forces have stopped using heavy weapons due to concern of the civilians.  Had the SL Forces used such weapons in an area equals to New York Central Park as Mr. Ross claims, war would have long ended.  Sri Lankan army has just rescued over 185,000 civilians from a death trap set by the terrorists. Yet Mr. Ross plays from the same old playbook of terrorists amply demonstrating HRW’s sinister motives to discredit the SL Forces.  

 He quotes the same death toll of 6,400 civilians that Navi Pillai of United Nations originally obtained from the Terrorist’s website and later repeated in the media giving it legitimacy. He conveniently and repeatedly uses the Terrorists’ playbook, that every terrorist clad in civilian clothes when killed in combat can be counted as a civilian.  His fallacy and cynicism seem to have no bounds when he asserts that “support for the Tamil Tiger cause remains strong for many Tamils in Sri Lanka and among the large Tamil Diaspora, most of whose families fled the country because of government abuses.”  and “even if the Tamil Tigers are defeated on the battlefield, few believe that their bombings and assassinations will end.” 

No one really knows how an ivory tower human rights watchdog formulates the beliefs for a majority about the possibility of new cycle of violence in Sri Lanka even after LTTE is eradicated.   Mr.  Ross’s attempt to manufacture an opinion in favour of a new war in Sri Lanka appears to be open invitation to terrorists and their cohorts to continue their lost cause.

 His hypothesis is that Sri Lankan government is unlikely to take up any initiative on its own to promote a multi-ethnic society in Sri Lanka.  Hence he suggests a role for the Unites States and others to play in shaping up the future of Sri Lanka.  Despite the unfounded allegations and malicious intents of HRW, the Sri Lankan government’s conduct of war has already rejected Mr. Ross’s null hypothesis with overwhelming evidence.   It has not only rescued 185,000 civilians but cared for them with utmost respect. Everyone admits that these camps are not the best but they are transitional points until the war zone is cleared out of all dangers such as landmines, which can kill and maim people and massive stocks of explosives and hidden weapons, which otherwise would fall into wrong hands leading to internecine gang warfare.  No one understands the haste of these HRW and other INGOs in trying to settle these people in danger zones.  Are they trying to influence the IDPs and sow the seeds of  hatred amongst the communities.  As the overwhelming evidence show that these INGos enriched terrorism in Sri Lanka, ( i.e. like the Danish Refugee Council delivered electric generators and satellite phone to LTTE leader), can the Sri Lankan authorities make sure that, if these same INGOs are allowed to operate freely in IDP relief, they would not deliver guns with bread and butter to terrorist sympathizers in order to begin a new cycle of violence? Is this the new cycle James Ross is predicting?

 This desperate call for a role to meddle in internal affairs of other countries is nothing new for creed of HRW and their donors.  I would like to reiterate the fact that Sri Lanka had been a country of tolerance since time immemorial until Ross’s forefathers came and sow the seeds of violence and social disharmony, and plundered the resources of the countries that are embroiled in violence today.  Therefore, I fervently urge HRW to clean its acts before it becomes irrelevant even in its role as a “Useful idiot.”   As for Sri Lanka’s ethnic harmony, I would like to mop up HRW’s ignorance with the fact that Sri Lanka is the only country, which crowned an alien Tamil as the King (Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe) of Sinhala Kingdom long before even British Empire knew it.

 As for the HRW’s roll-call for the United States and other countries for a role to play in shaping Sri Lanka’s future, Sri Lanka should say no thanks in one voice.  After all, it is a well known fact that the United States’ enemy number one, Osama Bin Laden was a strange bed fellow of CIA during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. So was Velupillai Prabhakaran of India’s.  Can Sri Lanka put its future in such hands?

Will HRW and AI charge the US for war crimes?

Simon Baker

09 May 2009
Will HRW and AI charge the US for war crimes?

A probe confirms deaths due to American airstrikes in Afghanistan:

Afghan officials have estimated up to 147 people died in the battle in the western province of Farah on Monday.

U.S. coalition blamed Taliban militants Saturday for causing what Afghan officials say are dozens of civilian deaths during a prolonged battle that included American airstrikes. The U.S. said an unspecified number of civilians died but did not take responsibility for any deaths.  Why not?

Secretary of State Hilary Rodham Clinton who tells that she is concerned about civilians in Sri Lanka has come under heavy fire from newspapers around the globe for simply saying sorry and doing nothing else after Americans killed of over 100 Afghan civilians including children.

Saudi Arabia’s leading newspaper The Arab News Said in an editorial, “stop killing and start caring about ordinary Afghans. Slaughtering them and then apologizing is contemptible.”
 
Aren’t civilians everywhere considered equal?

Will Human Rights Watch based in NY and Amnesty International based in London crucify us Americans for this?

What about war crimes? (Hope we get a free pass!)

Anna Neistat

Human Rights Watch official ban for violating immigration and emigration regulations

Lanka-e-News 08.May.2009, 6.15pm

Sri Lankan authorities have taken steps to ban Sri Lanka for a lady official of Human Rights Watch who has entered into the country in a false identity submitting fake information.

Ms. Anna Nistat, a senior researcher of the Human Rights Watch arrived in Sri Lanka under a tourist visa submitting fake information to immigration and emigration officials. She has then visited the camps of the displaced persons in Vauniya and recorded statements from inmates.

Following her Sri Lanka visit, she has passed this information to a US senator who then briefed to UN about Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan authorities later found that she had not obtained the credentials for such a research. Therefore, the Immigration and emigration Department of Sri Lanka has taken steps to ban visa for Anna Nistat of Human Rights Watch since she has found guilty of violating immigration and emigration regulations.