Colombo::Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has said that she found no evidence of human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
She has already expressed her doubts that the US sponsored resolution at the present meeting criticizing Sri Lanka's human rights record would be effective.
Bishop implied that the anti- Lanka campaign would have lost its pace down the line and would die down in time to come. It was very clear that pro-LTTE activists were angry with President Mahinda Rajapaksa for ending terrorism in Sri Lanka.
The Australian Human Rights Centre, a pro-LTTE organization in Sydney organised a forum on Post War Justice and the Indefinite detention of Refugees held on March 4 at the New South Wales Sydney University on the topic 'Sri Lanka and and Australia after War'.
This pro-LTTE organisation used "Eventbrite", an event organizer to manage registration for this forum as they were unable to muster a decent crowd for the forum.
It was rather amusing to read the email sent out with Eventbrite's caption "We hope you enjoy Sri Lanka and Australia after the war: A forum on post-war justice and the indefinite detention of refugees!"
The pro-LTTE Australian Human Rights Center alleges that almost five years after the end of the 30 year conflict in Sri Lanka, there has been no credible investigation of Sri Lanka's alleged war crimes.
The Forum had three speakers: Elaine Pearson, Human Rights Watch. MP M.A Sumanthiran and Stephen Blanks, a Lawyer representing "several detained Tamil refugees".
Elaine Pearson, speaking to an almost half empty theatre, mostly students of the University who were forced to attend , where some young members of the audience were seen chatting, playing with their iPhone or engrossed in their Facebook accounts.
It seems she had run out of steam and was just recalling facts and suggesting that Australia must not look the other way on Sri Lanka. It was notable that she was repeating the inanities she has been writing to papers such as The Age, The Jakarta Globe, The Guardian, Sydney Morning Herald since 2010.
The only thing she managed to add was the fact that the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced in November his government would give Sri Lanka two Bay-class patrol boats, to help the country stem the flow of asylum seekers to Australia.
She was very upset that Australian PM Abbott jogged around Colombo City with President Rajapaksa's son, Namal which showed their anger and the petty mindness
After visiting Sri Lanka earlier this year, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said she found no evidence of human rights abuses prevailing.
Addressing the gathering MP Sumanthiran was quick to admit that he is a Member of the Parliament representing the TNA which he defined as the largest democratically elected political party representing the Tamil community of Sri Lanka, and did not mention about his role as a lawyer. But, the chair of the forum tried to portray him as a HR lawyer and Sumanthiran kept mum.
Courtesy : Daily News
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