Norwegians and SLMM: Are they same?

I do not want to spend much time on the latest letter in your columns that refers to me, but given the headline ‘SCOPP chief and the Norwegians’ I would be grateful for some space to respond.This time Mr. Ratnaweera's attack on my positive remarks is less vicious, though I am sorry he cannot bring himself to apologize for suggesting that I had been influenced by desire for a Norwegian job. Sadly, he does not seem to understand the implications of the words he uses, because in denying that he was not able to distinguish between Norwegians and SLMM he goes on to claim that they are two sides of the same coin.

To return to the main point, he refers to 'a sweeping statement', indicating that he has not understood the meaning of the words 'on the whole' and 'in general' that I used in praising the SLMM. I continue to be positive on balance because their rulings, that the LTTE violated the CFA 3830 times, GOSL just 351, suggest an objectivity throughout their tenure that must be appreciated. Sadly successive Sri Lankan governments failed to highlight a plethora of rulings that were extremely critical of the LTTE, including the categorical headline in January 2006 - 'SLMM questions whether there is still a Ceasefire in Sri Lanka' - for its report on 'the latest attack on Sri Lanka Navy soldiers... It 'is safe to say that LTTE involvement cannot be ruled out and we find the LTTE's indifference to these attacks worrying'. Again, the risks some of the monitors ran in the face of LTTE violence happened long before my brief tenure of this office.Mr. Ranaweera is right to criticize what happened over Mavil Aru, and indeed over Mutur and Muhumalai, but that was under General Henricsson.

He has obviously failed to record that I have asked the Norwegian Facilitator to take disciplinary action against Gen Henricsson for his lapses, and that the response was they are no longer in touch with him. Gen Henricsson incidentally was Swedish.Mr. Ranaweera's failure to look at facts, while indulging in sweeping generalizations, is of a piece with recent attempts by critics of the current government to 'vilify and portray the security forces as evil', as he so elegantly puts it. These are the two sides of the same coin, to use the phrase more appropriately', that this government has sadly to deal with in trying to promote a democratic pluralistic peace while resisting terrorism.Prof.