October 27, 2011, 10:00 pm
by Shamindra Ferdinando in Perth
President Mahinda Rajapaksa addressing the Commonwealth Business Forum yesterday.
Sri Lanka hadn’t received so much media coverage, at any previous Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) or any other regional event, as it did this time.
The much awaited visit by Queen Elizabeth II and President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s arrival here on Monday for the three-day summit scheduled to commence today (28) received almost equal coverage, with both print and electronic media focusing on the Sri Lankan issue.
The simmering controversy over accountability issue also had a negative impact on the recommendations by the 11-member Eminent Persons Group headed by former Malaysian Premier Tun Abdullah Ahmad to strengthen the 54-member grouping and the proposed Charter for the Commonwealth.
Sri Lanka strongly objected to those moves.
A smiling President on Wednesday evening told Sri Lankan journalists, covering CHOGM 2011, that his programme was on track despite attempts by those who couldn’t stomach Sri Lanka’s triumph over terrorism.
Delivering the keynote address during the session on ‘The Indian Ocean and the Pacific Rim: Fast Growing Markets’ yesterday at the Commonwealth Business Forum, President Rajapaksa said that CHOGM 2013 would be held in Colombo. The declaration was made amidst the ongoing efforts to undermine the Colombo summit spearheaded by those supportive of the LTTE’s eelam project. President Rajapaksa said that the key to Sri Lanka’s success was nothing but the eradication of terrorism paving the way for a rapid post-war recovery and development process.
The Western Australian gave space to Secretary General of the London based Amnesty International, Salil Shetty, on its editorial page on October 27 to go on the offensive against Sri Lanka. Shetty repeated unsubstantiated allegations in an article headlined ‘Commonwealth values put to test by Sri Lanka’, while accusing a section of the Commonwealth of turning a blind eye to what was going on in Sri Lanka.
MP Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, a member of the GoSL delegation told The Island that those pursuing war crimes allegations had been silent for years as they felt the LTTE’s eelam project was on track. Referring to the recent statements attributed to TNA MP Saravanapavan Eswarapatham, during a visit to Australia, the MP emphasised that the LTTE couldn’t be revived.
He said it was unfortunate that the TNA continued to turn a Nelsonian eye on post-war developments, including the ongoing dialogue among political parties represented in parliament. Responding to a query, the Galle District MP said that the TNA had forgotten that it could freely engage in politics in the Northern and Eastern Provinces today due to eradication of terrorism. The TNA had to accept the LTTE as the sole representative of the Tamil speaking people in the run-up to the April 2004 parliamentary polls. This was done at gun point. Had the government failed on the war front, the LTTE would have retained that position, Gunawardena said.
Source: The Island, October 28, 2011
