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Military conference, public relations exercise- HRW | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The army in Sri Lanka says representatives from 42 countries have confirmed they will visit Sri Lanka next week to learn from the country’s experience in defeating militancy. They are to attend a special three-day seminar entitled “Defeating Terrorism: Sri Lankan Experience”. But the conference has run into controversy because of allegations of widespread civilian deaths during the defeat of the Tamil Tigers; and the campaign group, Human Rights Watch, says foreign governments should not attend. The army chief, Lt-Gen Jagath Jayasuriya, said that Russia is sending six military delegates to this seminar – the highest number – while India is sending three. Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia and Brazil are among the others who’ll attend, he said. Among 10 countries declining were the UK, France, Japan and the Netherlands. The sponsors of the three-day seminar include two Chinese military manufacturers who’ll also be exhibiting their goods. Most of the speakers are Sri Lankan officers and ministers; they also include two Americans including a counter-insurgency expert, David Kilcullen. The government and military here portray their defeat of the Tigers as a source of pride and a model for others to follow. Model country They say Sri Lanka is the “only country to defeat terrorism” and that the army rescued hundreds of thousands of civilians, inflicting minimum civilian casualties. Others, however, say Sri Lanka should be seen as anything other than a model.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said governments should decline to attend the conference which – it said – “seeks to legitimize the unlawful killing of thousands of civilians”. Whitewash It said the event was an exercise in whitewash which “no professional, law-abiding military” should attend. The lobby group’s comments came a month after a report commissioned by the UN said there was credible evidence that both sides may have committed war crimes. Asked about that report, the army chief said its contents were merely “hearsay” and there was nothing in it worthy of countering. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This conference is nothing more than a public relations exercise to whitewash abuses
India's frustration with Sri Lanka over Tamils