Call to Investigate Sri Lankan President – January 19,2011
Posted on January 20th, 2011

Ira de Silva London, Canada

The Director
Amnesty International USA
5 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10001
Dear Sir:
I have just read your statement of January 19, 2011 calling on the United States to investigate Sri Lankan President Rajapakse during his visit to the U.S. In the statement it is  claimed that your organization “investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied”. If this claim is to be believed, why is it that AI has not started an investigation into the abuses that are been perpetrated by the United States in many parts of the world? 
 In the case of Sri Lanka it is “alleged” that there have been abuses, in the case of the abuses by the United States it is a proven fact. The documentation of the abuses are documents and videos from the U.S. Government.  AI should not only have had many investigations but should have had the results of the investigations made public so that the world  would have by now been “educated and mobilized” and millions of people protected from the continuous killing of civilians, torture, rendition and other such activities that are making news worldwide on a regular basis. There are not thousands but millions of people worldwide who “demand accountability” for these abuses they have and are suffering from because of the actions of the U.S. forces and their contract killers such as Blackwater but AI has yet to investigate, educate etc.  Before even thinking of investigating Sri Lanka, the United States should ” investigate these allegations and support calls for an international investigation into the United States role in war crimes” and establish a precedent and guidelines. Furthermore, there is no need to wait for those responsible to “visit” the United States, they are resident in the U.S., the documents are also in the U.S. and  now made public to the world.  Why has there been no call for investigation, accountability, and redress if, as AI claims, it exposes abuses and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied? Is it because it is biased or because it is paid to be blind to abuses committed by western countries?
As for quoting the cable published by Wikileaks sent by the U.S. Ambassador from Colombo, the contents of which have no proof and are but a reflection of U.S. chagrin that their attempts to save the Tamil terrorist leadership failed, what is AI doing about the many other cables and videos published by Wikileaks regarding  actions in Iraq and Afghanistan which clearly indicate that the responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the senior and military leadership of the United States and the United Kingdom. President George Bush even as late as November 2010 stated on national T.V. that he approved and promoted water boarding which is by international standards a form of torture.  Videos clearly show U.S. forces deliberately targeting and killing civilians. Is the Geneva Convention applicable only to non-western countries because it is the west that provides the funds for organizations such as AI to harass the rest of the world? When is the U.S. and other countries such as the United Kingdom going to be judged by the same standards of accountability – it is nothing short of  bullying and attempting to intimidate smaller countries, particularly in the third world, when the western countries  and organizations such as AI speak of accountability as by their actions it is clear that they do not believe or subscribe to such standards for themselves.  
“The United States has an obligation under international law to investigate and prosecute people who perpetrated war crimes and grave human rights violations such as extrajudicial executions, torture and enforced disappearances,” said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific director. Could your organization explain who has given the U.S. such authority particularly when the U.S. does not subscribe to this concept. If that is what AI believes, then why has your organization not pressured the U.S. to investigate itself for it’s war crimes, not just human rights violations but gross violations of human rights and torture. Again, whereas in the case of Sri Lanka where they are mere allegations, in the case of the United States there is ample proof. If “under international law military commanders may face criminal responsibility if they knew, or should have known, of such crimes being committed by their subordinates” the prime candidates to face criminal responsibility for the U.S. are well known to the public but so far there there has been no investigation or accountability. If these claims by AI are applicable to Sri Lanka why not the U.S and the United Kingdom?  Why has AI not called for the United Nations to initiate an international investigation. Is it because it is been paid to harass Sri Lanka and stay silent about the U.S. and U.K? 
For any call by AI to be valid or credible, let AI apply it’s claims equally to all countries starting with those western countries who provide it with funding to make false claims while ignoring the gross violations of human rights in it’s own backyard. Also, let AI live up to it’s own claims of investigating and exposing abuses no matter where they take place and who is responsible. Until and unless AI does this it has no right to call for investigations on Sri Lanka.
Yours truly,
Ira de Silva
London, Canada

4 Responses to “Call to Investigate Sri Lankan President – January 19,2011”

  1. gdesilva Says:

    Ira, there is not much point in asking CIA front line organisations such as AI and HRW to investigate the CIA! AI has done what its paymaster has asked it to do – simple as that. I hope the day when ordinary people of this world wake up to the truth won’t be far away.

  2. Susantha Wijesinghe Says:



  3. lal Says:

    No, keep AI in Sri Lanka and let them suffer the indignation of being seen as an organisation that worth less than a cent. They can stay in Sri Lanka to investigate atrocities of the British against the Sinhala men, women and children in the Uva province, the treatment of estate tamils by enslaving them in plantations and the raping of women in plantations by the British planters. AI should insist that Britain compensate Sri Lanka for those crimes. Will they do it? I doubt it, for they are only a front funded by former colonists.

  4. Sri Rohana Says:

    2 million Iraqis and Afghanis have been killed violently since 2001 by the US-led invasion and should prosecute U.S, U.K, Australia, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Italy, Denmark, South Korean and Japanese leaders for war crimes.

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