{"id":28104,"date":"2014-02-15T18:27:22","date_gmt":"2014-02-15T23:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=28104"},"modified":"2014-02-15T18:50:41","modified_gmt":"2014-02-15T23:50:41","slug":"cabinet-minister-wimal-weeraansas-antics-boomerang-on-rajapaksa-regime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=28104","title":{"rendered":"Cabinet Minister Wimal Weeraansa’s Antics Boomerang on Rajapaksa Regime"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lesser known fact about Minister Weerawansa\u2019s actions boomeranging on the Government surfaced this week.
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the visit to Colombo by US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes issues, Stephen J. Rapp, the US Embassy had offered to keep his engagements on a \u201clow key\u201d with little or no publicity. This assurance ended when Weerawansa had organised a demonstration outside the US Embassy. The fact that a Government Minister was behind such a protest incensed US officials. \u201cThe Embassy had agreed with the External Affairs Ministry (EAM) that it would keep matters on very low key with little publicity as possible. However, this protest changed it all,\u201d said an authoritative EAM source. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When the Embassy protested, the EAM response, according to the source, was that the demonstration was only by one Minister and should not be treated as that of the Government. As a result, the US retaliated with a Twitter message. Accompanied by a photograph, the message on the US Embassy Twitter account in the name of Ambassadors Michele Sison and Rapp said \u201cSt Anthany\u2019s Ground \u2013 Site of Jan 2009 killing of hundreds of families by Army shelling.\u201d<\/p>\n

These alleged attacks on religious minorities figured even at Thursday\u2019s weekly meeting of the cabinet of ministers. It came in the backdrop of reports that both Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, members of the UNHRC, are poised to vote in favour of the US resolution. Kuwait voted against the resolution (i.e. in favour of Sri Lanka) last year whilst Saudi Arabia is a new member. President Mahinda Rajapaksa told his ministers that the \u201cwhole purpose\u201d of the upcoming US resolution was to bring about a regime change. He raised issue about a document circulated by the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) listing places of Muslim worship where attacks have allegedly been carried out.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister Rauff Hakeem, the SLMC representative in the Cabinet, maintained stoic silence. Later on Thursday, Minister Wimal Weerawansa, known for publicly airing views of UPFA leaders, hit out at the SLMC. He charged that the SLMC, an ally of the UPFA, had figured among groups that had provided information to UN Human Rights Commissioner Pillay against the UPFA Government. Though he did not refer directly to his ministerial colleague Hakeem, Weerawansa told an election rally in Seeduwa, that the SLMC was enjoying ministerial posts. He alleged that an SLMC delegation which met Pillay during her visit to Sri Lanka had included Hassan Ali. They had provided (anti-Government) information to her. He said this was how media reports had spoken about Pillay submitting a 10,000 word report before the UNHRC.<\/p>\n

As news of Weerawansa\u2019s remarks circulated on Friday, Hakeem summoned his own insiders in the party for a meeting at his residence that afternoon. He told them that he chose to remain silent when the President raised issue at the ministerial meeting on Thursday. This was because Rajapaksa had telephoned him days earlier about the same SLMC document and he had explained to him why it had been published.<\/p>\n

He alleged that his colleague Weerawansa was being used as a cat\u2019s paw and charged that he had even violated cabinet responsibility by \u201cmaking those wild accusations\u201d against a ministerial colleague in public. Incidentally Rajapaksa was livid over a similar case where Fisheries Minister Rajitha Senaratne had summoned a news conference to berate External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris over the issue of Indian fishermen poaching in Sri lankan waters. Peiris had in fact issued a statement thereafter slamming his cabinet colleague Senaratne basically giving him a lecture on how foreign affairs are conducted.<\/p>\n

A source at the SLMC high command meeting said Hakeem was \u201cdefiant.\u201d He had declared that his as well as the party\u2019s position \u201cwere vindicated\u201d after he explained matters on the phone to Rajapaksa. \u201cWe are not against the Government. We want the full implementation of the LLRC recommendations. Beyond that, we are opposed to any probe into alleged war crimes. That is going beyond the mandate of the UNHRC,\u201d he had told his confidants. <\/p>\n

Pointing out that we \u201care within our political rights\u201d to raise issues, sometimes \u201cwe find ourselves like square pegs in round holes,\u201d Hakeem had declared adding that \u201cwe are very much with the Government and have not betrayed anyone or compromised on cabinet responsibility.\u201d Commenting on alleged attacks on Muslims, Hakeem had argued that when there is \u201ca lack of enforcement of the law,\u201d it was the collective responsibility of the cabinet of ministers. Hakeem had also said the SLMC was for the fuller implementation of the LLRC recommendations.<\/p>\n

The main opposition United National Party (UNP) also drew attention to the recommendations of the LLRC in a three-page statement issued on Thursday. It said that it is \u201ctragically comical\u201d that the Government has asked for a further five years (from July 2012) to fully implement the LLRC recommendations. It said: \u201cFor a regime that had the eagerness to repeal the 17th Amendment and introduce the draconian 18th Amendment virtually overnight, for a regime that impeached the Chief Justice through a process that lasted less than two weeks and for a regime that grants approval to any multi-billion dollar deal over the counter it is nothing short of ridiculous to ask for five more years to implement recommendations that were made by a Sri Lankan commission tasked with looking into bringing about peace and reconciliation in our country. These absurdities once again demonstrate the insincerity of the ruling regime.\u201d The UNP said it was \u201cprepared to support the regime\u201d to \u201crestore the systems and institutions of democratic governance, if it pledged to restore the 17th Amendment and prioritise a return to civilised values and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this backdrop, it became increasingly clear, this week or it\u2019s now official, that domestically the UPFA will launch an \u201call-out campaign\u201d against the United States and its allies over the latest resolution.<\/p>\n

Ministers and organisers for the Southern and Western Provincial Council elections were briefed on Thursday at a meeting in \u2018Temple Trees\u2019. President Rajapaksa also took part for a short time but it continued with Minister Maithripala Sirisena in the chair. Sirisena told the participants that they should focus their campaign on the efforts made by President Rajapaksa to end terrorism by defeating the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He said Rajapaksa was willing even to face the electric chair to defend the troops who had taken part in the \u201chumanitarian operation\u201d and liberated the North from LTTE terrorists.<\/p>\n

All participants were given copies of a DVD detailing out the points they should emphasise in their speeches and also in their interaction with the voters. Other awareness campaigns are also to be launched. That will no doubt see a spike in anti-west sentiments and may prompt adverse travel advisories from some countries at least. That is not good news for the tourism industry.<\/p>\n

The UPFA polls campaign will formally be launched next week though individual candidates are holding their own meetings. President Rajapaksa is to address two meetings in each district in the Southern and Western Provinces adding up to 12 rallies. UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said whilst his party candidates had launched their respective campaigns, all party leaders would take part in a number of rallies beginning only early next month.<\/p>\n

That notwithstanding, the Government is now taking a second look at the offer by the US Pacific Command to reconstruct three different schools in the North. The fact that Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena forwarded a proposal together with a draft Memorandum of Understanding with the US Pacific Command and how it was rejected was revealed exclusively in the Sunday Times (Political Commentary) of February 2. Now, the Cabinet has asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Education Anura Dissanayake to forward a comprehensive report on the subject. The schools in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Mannar Districts were to be reconstructed into a modern educational facility. It would be a two pronged project, one primarily for educational purposes and the other for it to be used as relief centres in the event of a national emergency where hundreds could be housed. The project comes under the Overseas Humanitarian Disaster Assistance and Civic Aid (OHDACA).<\/p>\n

COURTESY:SUNDAY TIMES<\/em><\/p>\n

Tweet<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lesser known fact about Minister Weerawansa\u2019s actions boomeranging on the Government surfaced this week. During the visit to Colombo by US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes issues, Stephen J. Rapp, the US Embassy had offered to keep his engagements on a \u201clow key\u201d with little or no publicity. This assurance ended when Weerawansa …<\/p>\n

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