Commenting on the US stance that it will support a resolution against Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in March, Prof. Wijesinha said that “All this speculation that those opposed to the government are engaging in brings home the need for a coherent foreign policy, instead of the knee-jerk reactions to crises that we now see occurring endlessly.”
“Fortunately the Human Rights Action Plan, which we fast forwarded while I was Secretary to the Ministry, but which was then allowed to languish because we had wrongly assumed External Affairs could look after Human Rights, has now been approved by Cabinet, and its implementation entrusted to Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe who is aware of what needs to be done,” he said.
Something similar should be done with regard to the LLRC Report, and a Minister of the calibre of Sarath Amunugama or D.E.W. Gunasekara should work on its recommendations, Prof. Wijesinha said.
He further stated that American foreign policy “seems to be based on ignorance and thuggery, though this is sandwiched between a plethora of good intentions that often tend to pave a road to Hell.”
“The problem is that, given their power and prestige, the Hell they create is for other people, like the Afghans who suffered the Taliban the Americans supported to get rid of the Soviets, or the Iraqis who died in tens of thousands so the Americans could get rid of the Saddam Hussein they once supported when Iran seemed the greater enemy,” he added. (Ayesha Zuhair)
DM