I've posted extracts from the editorial of this Sunday's (05 April 09) edition of The Nation. I have also included some related links.

The reason I am posting this article is to express my discontent with the UN's bias towards the LTTE.

...
Kumaran (‘KP’) Pathmanathan, the so-called ‘international representative’ of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has met with United Nations Humanitarian Chief John Holmes, and appealed to the latter, to broker a cease-fire in the ongoing war.
...

This is a man who has an Interpol alert issued on him, and is a wanted individual in several countries. He has many aliases, and is believed to travel under the cover of two to three dozen identities. He is also believed to be the kingpin behind the mammoth fundraising machinery of the LTTE - a provider of financial lifeblood to the Tigers.

...

As UN Humanitarian Chief, John Holmes could not have been unaware of KP’s gory background; in fact, he would have been extensively briefed of it. Yet, despite the obvious negative connotations it conveys, Holmes has chosen to make contact with Pathmanathan, among the world’s most wanted men - a criminal, a fugitive and a terrorist, if ever there was one.

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Although that cease-fire agreement (CFA) was hailed at that time by many, as a singular achievement, in hindsight, it is now apparent that the Tigers used it merely to regroup and rearm themselves.

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Norway has chosen to facilitate contact between Holmes and Pathmanathan.

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Colombo has been understandably aghast. The Foreign Ministry had summoned Oslo’s envoy in Colombo, Torre Hattrem, and demanded to know “why the meeting was arranged without consulting the Sri Lankan Government”.

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doesn’t Norway have an obligation to hand over a man to the relevant authorities, when he is on Interpol’s ‘most wanted’ list, and they have an opportunity to nab him?

This does raise the issue of double standards among these so-called international do-gooders, who masquerade as protectors of human rights and saviours of the oppressed. Are they the well intentioned Messiahs that they often proclaim to be? Or, are there one set of rules for the rich and powerful nations of the West, and another for smaller, poorer nations such as Sri Lanka?

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Would, for instance, John Holmes rush to talk to Osama Bin Laden, if the opportunity were offered to him? And, would Norway facilitate such a contact, if it had the opportunity to do so? And, had Holmes been naive enough to have done that, would he still be holding his rather responsible job today?

...

But the ‘KP’ incident provides us with an interesting insight into international relations: might is right, whether we like it or not, but smaller countries such as ours, must therefore, take a second look at the rules we play by, instead of pandering to every whim and fancy of some rich or arrogant superpower.

Links

• The Nation: Editorial - Meeting KP, a diplomatic blunder by Holmes
• Who is KP?
• Interpol: Wanted - THARMALINGAM, Shanmugam Kumaran
• Interpol Notices