It’s time now to heal wounds and move ahead. President Mahinda Rajapaksa must act swiftly to ensure that participation in the country’s political and economic process by all Sri Lankans including minorities should be treated as an immediate priority, says the Arab News.

Tariq A. Al-Maeena, writing for the West Asian daily adds, “Bravo, Sri Lanka. Maintain your sovereignty and carry out independent and impartial probes into such allegations yourselves. For the thousands of refugees including Tamils who were displaced from their homes, it is imperative that they understand that they belong to the island nation of Sri Lanka and not remain burdened as refugees withering in some squalid camps and facing an uncertain future.”

Last month, the Sri Lankan government refused to issue visas to members of a UN panel selected to look into the possibility of war crimes in Sri Lanka’s war against Tamil Tigers, and turned down conditions by the European Union for relaxed trade concessions.

Foreign Minister G.L. Peiris stated bluntly, “We will not issue visas to the panel. We don’t think we need them,” adding that such charges were the malicious fabrications by LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam) supporters.

The LTTE, a separatist organization, had been involved in such a conflict since 1976, with the purpose of creating an independent homeland for its Tamil members in the north and east of Sri Lanka. In the course of this conflict, hundreds of thousands of Tamils, Muslims, Christians and Sinhalese people had lost their lives or were stripped of their possessions, displaced and ferreted to refugee camps.

Finally in May 2009, after a fierce battle with the full might of the Sri Lankan Army, the LTTE was defeated and all talks of separatism ended. In the aftermath of the event, accusations were raised against the Sri Lankan government for their heavy handedness in putting an end to the conflict that had disrupted this beautiful island for more than 30 years, and cries of war crimes echoed from several Western countries.

Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean secretary-general of the UN was obviously not impressed. Portrayed by many in the Arab world as a Western stooge, Moon and his toothless organization have lost credibility when it comes to showing impartiality in regional matters that affect us most. 

While Iran and its pursuit of nuclear power seems to occupy him and members of the Security Council most, very little merit is given to calls by regional governments to free the region of all nuclear arsenal, including those held by Israel.

And why should the Sri Lankan government accommodate his request? Has he or his organization ever demanded a similar probe against the continuing war crimes being perpetuated by the Israelis against the people of Palestine? Crimes that are witnessed by most of the free world on live television, and yet remain ignored on the agendas of the UN body?

Or are there separate rules for Israel from the rest of the world? In his eagerness to investigate Sri Lanka, does not Moon believe that that there are far worse instances of atrocities that have been carried out in recent memory by the Israelis, such as Sabra and Shatila massacres spearheaded by Ariel Sharon, or the indiscriminate bombings and use of incendiary explosives against the civilians of Lebanon in 2006, or the tortures and theft of land and property in the occupied Palestinian territories for the past six decades?

Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka can be brought out onto the carpet and full investigations are demanded at the risk of sanctions or embargoes. President of Sudan, Omar Bashir is charged with genocide over the Darfur killings; yet Netanyahu, Sharon and Olmert and others in the Israeli government, past and present, escape the tentacles of justice. A rogue country with the most recorded acts of war crimes in recent history such as Israel continues to get off with immunity against such UN sponsored probes.

Bravo, Sri Lanka. Maintain your sovereignty and carry out independent and impartial probes into such allegations yourselves. For the thousands of refugees including Tamils who were displaced from their homes, it is imperative that they understand that they belong to the island nation of Sri Lanka and not remain burdened as refugees withering in some squalid camps and facing an uncertain future. Efforts to provide basic living amenities such as jobs, housing, electricity, water and education for children must be accelerated to secure a lasting peace.

It’s time now to heal wounds and move ahead. President Mahinda Rajapaksa must act swiftly to ensure that participation in the country’s political and economic process by all Sri Lankans including minorities should be treated as an immediate priority.