Sunday Leader Editorial

APC: Not Only Talk But Solutions Too

25th October 2015

President Maithripala Sirisena has decided on a very democratic process to decide on a mechanism to implement the contentious UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution.

The government would consider opinions of all political parties in this regard, he told representatives of 21 political parties in parliament as well as some representatives of those parties not in parliament.

This method would not only provide opportunities for airing all diverse political views but also provide an opportunity of providing solutions rather than offering criticisms. The resolution will adhere to provisions of the Sri Lanka Constitution while preserving the human rights of Sri Lankans, he had added.

The opportunity of airing all shades of opinion at a forum specially devoted to formulate a judicial mechanism would take the wind off the sails of some critics who are attempting the make out that the UNHRC resolution is treason in the making and they are being denied their patriotic duty of exposing the resolution.

The furore caused in august assemblies alleging attempts to deny their rights to speak on the subject or being discriminated is a devious way to attract attention.

Parliament would have been the best forum for such discussions but unfortunately some appear to consider it a kind of bull ring on certain occasions which deny the opportunity for calm and rational debate.

This All Party Conference (APC) apparently intended to follow the same lines as All Party Conferences held before, but we do hope it will not end up in smoke or simply disappear as some APCs did. The Tissa Vitharana APC swotted for about two years and presented a report to then President Mahinda Rajapaksa. The contents of the report had not been heard of since then. How much of public funds, which could have been used for public benefit, the cost of intense attention devoted by the media, are not known. Only Vitharana and Mahinda Rajapaksa know of the fruits of this wasted labour.

Participants of this APC should realise that their soaring rhetoric will not result in the UNHRC resolution being thrown out. If that was possible, it should have happened when the former President Mahinda Rajapaksa ruled the roost. The proposed judicial investigation did not go away but kept coming back to the annual sessions of the UNHRC and getting worse every year. Threats of martyrdom with an imagined electric chair worked miracles in domestic politics but had no impact on the resolution which did not go away.

This is an ugly and deformed baby left behind by the Rajapaksa regime which Sirisena and Wickremesinghe have to carry. Thus the baby cannot be thrown out but something has to be done to make it look better.

Critics don’t want foreign elements involved in a judicial process but would go along with a domestic investigation. The government claims it is a domestic process. It is between these two posts that a compromise has to be worked out.

Can opposition critics come out with a solution or are they inclined to find one.

The impression conveyed by some of the strident critics of the UNHCR resolution is that they don’t give a damn for the resolution but want to use it as a tool for the political resurrection of Mahinda Rajapaksa!

We doubt very much if some of the critics who are more adept at flinging mud be able to fine tune the resolution. Perhaps only Prof. G. L. Peiris is capable among the critics to produce some valuable suggestions, but he appears to have forsaken such endeavours and is more inclined to play pandu (politics).

President Sirisena is also inviting representatives of political parties not represented in parliament which could result in enriching discussions of the APC. The clergy of all religions, who are close to the thinking of the people, and more particularly opinion of academics, should be welcomed.

But how long would all this take? APCs have gone for years and produced nothing. They fall into the category of modern day talk shops: NATO – No Action Talk Only.

Let’s hope Maithripala Sirisena can do better.