Sri Lanka and the Art of Lying

If his op-ed in the Philadelphia Inquirer is any indication, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa is either a) a master of the art of delusion, or b) completely deluded himself.

The article uses undeserved praise from the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee as its opener to make a case to Americans that the Sri Lankan war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency was part of the global "good fight" against those nasty terrorists. Yes, the rebels were a terrorist organization, but the government's counterinsurgency was so brutal that UN experts and human rights activists are calling for investigations into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A bit of fact-checking of the president's claims are thus in order. I could write an entire dissertation picking apart all of the lies in the article, but here are a few highlights:

"We are redoubling our efforts to rejuvenate democracy." Actually, your shoddy human rights record and repressive governance tactics are quite well-known, and recent expert analysis shows little indication of intent to change.

"We continue to deal with a humanitarian crisis in parts of the country." Interesting! Because you severely restricted humanitarian aid to the hundreds of thousands displaced by the conflict (a violation of international law, by the way), held them in camps with little food, water, or medical care after the war ended, and have allowed limited access to monitor returns.

"The need to temporarily house people from the conflict zone was born out of the need to stabilize the region and provide a haven for the displaced." By "temporarily house," I believe you mean "forcibly intern" (yet another violation of international humanitarian law, fancy that), and I'd bet money that most of the displaced would describe the conditions more along the lines of "hell hole" than "haven."

"We have demonstrated our commitment to and respect for human rights by ensuring freedom of movement in the temporary centers for internally displaced people." Do you even believe what you're saying?

Rajapaksa shamelessly tries to justify the high civilian toll of the brutal war as an unfortunate by-product of a valiant war against terrorism. But given the deliberate targeting of civilians for abuse, this argument is beyond disingenuous. If the U.S. Senate views Sri Lanka as an admirable example of defeat of terrorism, we are in serious, serious trouble.

Photo credit: Indi Samarajiva (Demonstrators at the funeral of an assassinated Sri Lankan journalist burn an effigy of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.)