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How an Intruder in the General Assembly was Upstaged by a Foreign Minister

Published

4 years ago

2021/09/5

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS – Sri Lanka had its fair share of Foreign Ministers who made their annual visits to the UN during the General Assembly sessions in September when the world body traditionally hosted over 150 world leaders, including heads of state and heads of government.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister ACS Hameed had one of his memorable moments when an Eelam activist and lawyer from London, Krishna Vaikunthavasan, surreptitiously gate-crashed into the UN and tried to upstage Hameed by walking onto the podium of the General Assembly hall and momentarily took the speaker’s slot.

The incident, perhaps a rarity in the history of the UN, saw the intruder unleashing a diatribe against a member state accusing it of genocide and lambasting the government for committing war crimes against the Tamils fighting for a separate state in northern Sri Lanka.

When the president of the Assembly realized he had an interloper on his hands, he cut off the mike and summoned security guards who bodily ejected him from the hall and banned him from the UN premises. And as Hameed walked up to the podium, there was pin drop silence in the Assembly Hall.

As a member of the Sri Lanka delegation at that time, I was seated behind Hameed. But the unflappable Hameed, unprompted by any of his delegates, produced a riveting punchline: “Mr President”, he said “I want to thank the previous speaker for keeping his speech short,” he said, as the Assembly, known to suffer longwinded speeches, broke into peals of laughter. The intruder was in effect upstaged by the Foreign Minister.

Hameed’s canny sense of humor also went far beyond the confines of the UN. When he came under attack for staying in five-star luxury hotels during the UN General Assembly sessions in New York, he fired back at the Opposition MP in Parliament with a rejoinder dripping with sarcasm: “Where do you want me to stay when I travel overseas as the Foreign Minister?”, he asked. “in thosai boutiques?”

To put it in perspective, that would be like rooming at the Ambal Café in Hulftsdorf or Saraswathy Lodge in Bambalapitya. Or perhaps Saravana Bhavan in New York’s Lexington Avenue.

Hameed routinely pitched his tent either at New York’s Hyatt Regency, the Intercontinental Barclay, the Waldorf Astoria or the Palace Hotel—and he did it in style, like scores of other high-flying Foreign Ministers arriving for the UN sessions. A globe-trotter of near-biblical proportions, he was probably in Colombo only on transit, in between catching overseas flights.

Hameed was an unforgettable character in his heyday—enjoying every single moment of his tenure as Foreign Minister beginning 1977. And more so, because President JR Jayewardene (JRJ) never addressed the UN nor stepped into the UN premises (even while he stayed at the Waldorf Astoria in New York during his state visit to Washington DC in April 1983.) The reasons for shunning the UN remains a mystery.

With Sri Lanka holding the chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) during 1976-1979, Hameed was constantly called upon to preside over some of the thorniest international issues of the mid-1970s: which of the two Cambodian factions had the rightful claim to the seat at the UN (the General Assembly session that day was held up for over four hours as he negotiated behind closed doors to help resolve the dispute, with backing from the UN’s Legal Adviser)? Was it Kampuchea under the Khmer Rouge regime (1975-1979)?

And, in another dispute, should Egypt, which had signed the Camp David peace agreement with Israel in 1978, be driven out of NAM? There were also sharp divisions in NAM over the disputed territory of Western Sahara in the Maghreb region of North Africa and the split over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (1979-1989).

As he sat in judgement, Hameed’s closest advisers during the General Assembly sessions included two outstanding career diplomats, Jayantha Dhanapala and Nihal Rodrigo, along with Ernest Corea, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Canada and later Ambassador to the United States.

Ernest was one of Hameed’s longstanding friends, having known him long before he became Foreign Minister, and was the only Sri Lankan Ambassador who addressed him by his first name: Shahul, throwing protocol to the winds.

As Ernest once told me : “Shahul faced many challenges in his life – one of them was a lack of physical height – but his biggest challenge was managing the Foreign Affairs portfolio for the Sri Lanka government. To the best of my recollection, he was the first Foreign Minister to hold that portfolio without the direct involvement of the Prime Minister’s/President’s office”. Previously, Defence and External Affairs were integrated into a single portfolio.

When President Jayewardene unhitched them, there was a fairly widespread perception, particularly in Colombo’s foreign policy establishment, that the whole business of foreign affairs was being downgraded. “Shahul proved them wrong”, said Ernest.

As part of the landscape in the UN Delegate’s Lounge, Hameed was seen holding court, even as he kept chomping at his cigar, probably the best from Cuba, which he picked up in Havana during his frequent trips to the Cuban capital, before Sri Lanka handed over the NAM chairmanship to Fidel Castro in 1979.

At home, Hameed had a tough task steering the NAM ship among sceptics like Gamini Dissanayake and Lalith Athulathmudali, and of course, JRJ himself. Still, Hameed showed remarkable patience and persistence.

Perhaps his most joyous moment as Foreign Minister was when JRJ told Fidel Castro at the Havana summit that it was Hameed who enabled Sri Lanka to hand over NAM’s leadership to Cuba “untarnished and unaltered.”

This put to rest the speculation even within his own party that his days as Foreign Minister would be short. “The fact is that JRJ realized as few others did that Shahul had an intuitive feel for international relations. Those who had the privilege of working with him understood this. He had his faults. Who doesn’t?,” asked Ernest.

“I am not going to be counted among his critics who might want to let fly at him now that he is no longer with us. Rather, I would like to remind those of us who worked with him and others who observed him at work that he was outstanding in several areas”.

First, he was tri-lingual: in English, Sinhala and Tamil. This gave him a remarkable reputation among his peers. Second, he had a phenomenal memory and could at precisely the correct moment during a drafting session pull out from the recesses of his mind a word, a phrase or other salient reference that added substance and depth to a public policy statement. He was also insistent, as some of his colleagues were not, that a solid Sri Lanka/India relationship was an essential component of foreign policy, said Ernest.

“One more point needs to be stressed and this is very personal. He was an excellent extempore speaker. He could intervene in a debate to deal with a complex issue for which most of us were unprepared as if he was saying to himself: “Here’s that loose ball I was waiting for,” declared Ernest.

Armed with self-deprecating humour, Hameed funded the publication of a collection of cartoons that lampooned him. He particularly relished a cartoon which showed him sitting before a huge globe with the caption: “Let me see – what are the countries I have still not visited.” His initials ACS were spelled out as “All Countries Seen.”

An equally lovable cartoon in November 1978 showed a world-weary Hameed arriving at the Katunayake airport and innocently asking a passer-by: “My dear man, could you show me the way to Harispattuwa?,” his electorate in his hometown of Akurana, a majority Sinhala Buddhist electorate. And to have been elected over a very long period was a tribute to Hameed’s political relationship among his voters.

The cartoons were sketches from some of Sri Lanka’s celebrated artistes of the 1970s, including W.R.Wijesoma, Jiffrey Yoonoos, Mark Gerreyn and Amita Abayesekera.”One of the greatest gifts is the ability to laugh at oneself,” said Wijesoma in an introduction to the book titled “Mr Foreign Minister”, ” Mr Hameed is doing just that, and I believe he is having the last laugh.”

Oscar Wilde once made the distinction between two forms of torture: the rack and the Press. Ask any politician, said Hameed, and he would opt for the grisly torture chamber over the editorial offices and the news desks in Colombo.

This article is adapted from a newly-released book on the United Nations titled “No Comment—and Don’t Quote Me on that” authored by Thalif Deen. The book is available on Amazon and at the Viitha Yapa bookshop.

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New education reforms are not only to align education with job market demands but also to cultivate skilled youth who can contribute to the economy and provide leadership to society -Prime Minister

Published

10 hours ago

2025/03/27

Priyan

As part of the series of programmes conducted for schoolchildren by the Presidential Secretariat, the Ministry of Education and the Sri Lanka Parliament Department of Communication, a special Student Parliament session for Visakha Vidyalaya, Colombo, was held on Tuesday (25) at the Old Parliament Chamber of the Presidential Secretariat. The event was conducted under the patronage of Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya.

During the session, the student parliament members of Visakha Vidyalaya had the opportunity to gain insights into the conceptual and practical significance of the “Clean Sri Lanka” initiative.

A special commemorative edition of the ‘Vision’ magazine, which focuses on the student Parliament initiative, was presented to the Prime Minister by Nadeeka Dangolla, Assistant Director of Parliamentary Affairs and Executive Functions.

Furthermore, the Principal of Visakha Vidyalaya, Mrs. Manomi Seneviratne, presented a special commemorative token to the Prime Minister.

Addressing the gathering, Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya highlighted that the government’s commitment to implementing new educational reforms aimed at nurturing a generation capable of seizing economic opportunities.

The Prime Minister further stated that the government aims to prepare Sri Lankan children to acquire global knowledge while fostering a self-reliant and empowered future generation.

The Prime Minister stated that the objective of the new education reforms are not only to align education with job market demands but also to cultivate skilled youth who can contribute to the economy and provide leadership to society.

Furthermore, she underscored the government’s commitment to addressing resource disparities among schools and emphasized the significance of civic responsibility in this endeavour.

Speaker Dr. Jagath Wickramaratne:
‘Leadership must be devoid of selfishness. Selfless leaders guide both the nation and its people towards a better direction. To achieve this, skills must be enhanced. We can learn about talented leaders from both Sri Lankan history and global history. We should study as children how Chandashoka transformed into Dharmashoka and how Hitler’s regime brought devastation to the world. A nation achieves stability when leaders who prioritize minimal personal consumption and demonstrate a true dedication to their nation arise. Therefore, we must strive to cultivate leaders who can face challenges and prioritize national interests. By fostering selflessness, we can ensure a prosperous future for our people.’

Senior Presidential Media Advisor Mr. Chandana Sooriyabandara:
‘The students gathered here today are not just future leaders; they are leaders already. Leadership knows no age. Anyone who stands for a group could be consider as a leader. Those who exercise the power of the group are considered leaders. Throughout Sri Lankan history, individuals who contributed to the country through their words and actions have played leadership roles. Therefore, logical reasoning should lead the process of making decisions. Both leaders and citizens share the duty to act rationally. You all have a duty to shape a prosperous nation through logical thinking, and this obligation lies with every young person.’

The event was also attended by Deputy Speaker Dr. Rizvie Salih, Deputy Chairperson of Committees Hemali Weerasekara, Secretary-General of the Parliament Kushani Rohanadeera, Senior Additional Secretary to the President K.M.N. Kumarasinghe, Director-General of Legal Affairs to the President J.M. Wijebandara, Principal of Visakha Vidyalaya Manomi Seneviratne, along with members of the teaching staff and a group of students.

News

UK sanctions: MR urges govt. to stand by military

Published

11 hours ago

2025/03/27

Sahan Weerasooriya

Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa has urged the NPP government to stand by Sri Lanka’s war-winning military. The following is the text of the statement issued by the former President: “The United Kingdom govt. has announced sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes, against Sri Lanka’s former Chief of Defence Staff Shavendra Silva, former Navy Commander Wasantha Karannagoda and former Army Commander Jagath Jayasuriya over unproven allegations of human rights violations during the war with the LTTE. It was I, as the Executive President of Sri Lanka, who took the decision to militarily defeat the LTTE and the armed forces implemented that decision on the ground.

Despite the 2002 ceasefire agreement, the LTTE had carried out 363 killings during the ceasefire between February 2002 and the end of September 2005. LTTE attacks intensified in the first few weeks and months after I was elected President in November 2005. Among the most serious such incidents were claymore mine attacks on 4 and 6 December 2005 in Jaffna that killed 13 soldiers, a suicide attack on a naval craft on 5 January 2006 that killed 15 naval personnel, and the suicide attack on the Army Commander inside Army Headquarters in April 2006.

Despite all that, my government held two rounds of peace talks in January and June 2006, in Geneva and Oslo, which were unilaterally halted by the LTTE. The LTTE landmine attack on a civilian bus in Kebithogollawa in June 2006 which killed 64 and seriously injured 86, many of them children – was a pivotal moment for me and my govt. Military operations commenced in July 2006 when the LTTE closed the Mawilaru anicut, cutting off irrigation water to cultivators in the Trincomalee district, and did not stop until the LTTE was completely defeated on 19 May 2009.

I categorically reject the UK govt.’s allegation of widespread human rights violations during the military operations. Lord Naseby stated in the House of Lords on 12 October 2017 that the then UK Defence Attache in Colombo Lieutenant Colonel Anton Gash had in conversation with him, praised the discipline of the Sri Lanka Army and stated that there certainly was no policy to kill civilians. Because Lt. Col Anton Gash’s war time dispatches to London differ so significantly from the narrative promoted by the UK political authorities, only a heavily redacted version of those dispatches have been released. We conducted military operations only against the LTTE and not against the Tamil people.

Just months after the war ended, when my wartime Army commander came forward as the Opposition candidate at the 2010 presidential elections, the Tamil National Alliance issued a statement on 6 January 2010 appealing to the Tamil people to vote for the former Army commander and he won over 60% of the votes cast in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, thus directly contradicting the narrative being promoted by the UK govt. Imposing sanctions on Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, aka Karuna Amman, who broke away from the LTTE, in 2004, and later entered democratic politics, is a clear case of penalizing anti-LTTE Tamils so as to placate the dominant segment of the Tamil diaspora in the UK.

When the UK Foreign Secretary David Milliband came to Sri Lanka, in April 2009, and demanded a halt to military operations, I flatly turned him down. Later, a London-based newspaper The Telegraph revealed – quoting secret documents made public by Wikileaks – that Mr. Miliband had tried to intervene in Sri Lanka to win Tamil votes for the Labour Party. Regrettably, to this day, vote bank politics determines the UK’s stand on Sri Lanka’s war against the LTTE.

Three decades of LTTE terrorism claimed the lives of 27,965 armed forces and police personnel not to mention the lives of many thousands of civilians, including politicians. What Sri Lanka defeated in 2009 was the organization that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation had officially designated as the deadliest terrorist organization in the world. It is noteworthy that the United Kingdom introduced special legislation in 2021 and 2023 to protect their own armed forces from persecution by interested parties.

Hence I expect the present government to resolutely stand by and defend former armed forces personnel who face persecution by foreign governments and organisations for doing their duty to safeguard Sri Lanka’s national security.”

News

Jet crash: Deputy Defence Minister, too, contradicts Minister Ratnayake

Published

11 hours ago

2025/03/27

Sahan Weerasooriya

Deputy Defence Minister Maj. Gen. (Retd) Aruna Jayasekera, on Tuesday (25), said that Air Force investigation into the 21 March K-8 advanced jet crash had not been concluded.

Jayasekera was responding to a media query. The media sought the Maj. Gen’s comments in the wake of Transport Minister and Leader of the House Bimal Ratnayake’s declaration that the crash had been caused by pilot error.

The Air Force Headquarters has already contradicted Minister Ratnayake’s unsubstantiated claim. The qualified instructor and the trainee ejected before the ill-fated aircraft, attached to the Katunayake-based No 05 squadron, crashed at Wariyapola.