United Nations "negotiator" on Sri Lanka payroll

Today it was announced that the United Nations would send Vijay Nambiar to Sri Lanka for the second time to try and negotiate on behalf of the trapped Tamil civilians, just as the Sri Lanka army launches a final assault against the LTTE:

It was announced at UN headquarters on Thursday that UN chief Ban Ki-moon is rushing his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar back to Sri Lanka to press for protection of the trapped civilians.

Allow us to bring some facts to light about this supposedly "unbiased" negotiator, who appears to actually be on the payroll of the Sri Lankan government, though indirectly - something that is obviously known to the United Nations. Vijay Nambiar's brother (Satish Nambiar) is a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan army, and has been since 2002. What is the link between this Sri Lankan military consultant and the United Nations? It is hard to determine, but despite the obvious link through his brother, there is also a small resume of Satish Nambiar's located on the UN website:

http://www.un.org/News/dh/hlpanel/satish-nambiar-bio.pdf

Very odd since he hasn't worked officially for the UN since 1993. We should also note that after visiting Sri Lanka, Vijay Nambiar first reported back to his brother in India, before reporting to the United Nations in New York. Under such urgent and dire circumstances, why would he spend days visiting his brother rather than returning to the UN to report about this important matter.

Satish Nambiar has been quoted by the Sri Lankan defence website several times, most recently glorifying the defence secretary for his great accomplishments in routing the LTTE.

What does this mean? The UN sends an "impartial" negotiator to Sri Lanka who's brother has been a paid consultant to the Sri Lankan army since 2002. This same brother also happens to be the Director and President of the "United Service Institution of India", which is organizing an event in Delhi on 27th May 2009, titled "Present Situation in Sri Lanka and the Way Ahead", where the speaker is "His Excellency Mr. Romesh Jayasinghe, High Commissioner, High Commission of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka". This "negotiator's" brother happens to arrange speaking engagements for the Sri Lankan government, while also being a paid consultant for the last 7 years.

Already there is a conflict of interest with the UN sending an Indian who is affiliated with the congress party, accused by most Tamils as being the real designer of this war in Sri Lanka. But on top of it, his brother has been a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan army for 7 years, and is even now arranging speaking engagements for the Sri Lankan government representatives in India.

After Vijay Nambiar made his first failed visit to Colombo to speak with the Sri Lankan government, instead of returning to the United Nations to report the outcome, he went to India to spend time with this brother on "vacation", the same brother who is a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan army! While thousands of Tamil civilians were dying, he delayed reporting to the United Nations and instead vacationed with his brother in India. When he finally arrived at the United Nations he refused to speak to the press, even though it has always been his custom to hold press conferences after such important trips.

On 4/26 Vijay Nambiar's brother, Satish, submitted an article to several newspapers, which was subsequently published in the Indian Express and quoted on the Sri Lankan government's official military website (http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090427_04):

Writing in the Indian Express newspaper, Satish Nambiar said, Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka "has displayed the qualities of a great military leader nations are blessed with from time to time."

Writing on the Army Chief Nambiar further said, "Resurrected from the grave as it were after the attack on him some years back, he has displayed a single-mindedness of purpose in pursuing his goal of decimating the LTTE. Needless to say, he has been able to achieve his objective because of the full support and encouragement provided by the political establishment led by President Rajapaksa.

"The demise of the LTTE is possibly," said Nambiar, " now only a matter of days. The total demolition of the once universally feared organisation that introduced suicide terrorism and the use of improvised explosives (IEDs) as a form of insurgency warfare is a tribute to the determination of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces under its intrepid commander, Sarath Fonseka. General Fonseka has displayed the qualities of a great military leader nations are blessed with from time to time."

He further said, "As someone who was briefly involved with the peace process in Sri Lanka in 2002-2003, I have already acknowledged the outstanding performance of the SL security forces and the efforts of General Fonseka, a person I met on a number of occasions during my visits to Sri Lanka during 2002-2003 and developed great respect for, both as an individual and as a soldier."

So what we have is the following:

1) Nambiar's brother has been a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan army for the last 7 years.

2) Nambiar's brother has written propaganda articles for Indian newspapers, which were subsequently quoted by the Sri Lankan military on their official website.

3) Nambiar's family is connected to the congress party, which is responsible for the present war in Sri Lanka.

4) Nambiar's family is deeply involved in the Indian military, which holds a grudge against the LTTE for its war with the IPKF.

5) Nambiar's brother has arranged speaking engagements in Delhi for the Sri Lankan government's high commissioner to promote the Sri Lankan government's war against the LTTE (http://www.usiofindia.org/EVENTS.HTM).

6) After visiting Sri Lanka on behalf of the UN, rather than report to the UN in New York, he instead went on a vacation with his brother in India, the same brother who is a paid consultant of the Sri Lankan army.

7) The United Nations website contains a small resume of Nambiar's brother on its website despite him not having officially worked for the UN since 1993 (http://www.un.org/News/dh/hlpanel/satish-nambiar-bio.pdf). There is obviously more to this than meets the eye.

8) The bias of Nambiar's brother was evident even in 2002, when he met with Tamil paramilitary groups, but refused to meet with democratically elected Tamil representatives while visiting Baticaloa as a paid consultant of the Sri Lankan army.

Now that the reasons for the complete failure of Nambiar's original trip to Sri Lanka on behalf of the United Nations is abundantly clear, with over 10,000 innocent Tamil civilians killed, and 20,000 severely injured as a result, what would we expect the United Nations to do at this crucial time? They have now decided to send Vijay Nambiar back to Sri Lanka again to "negotiate" on behalf of the civilians. Are you certain he isn't negotiating on behalf of his brother and the Sri Lankan government? In no other field, whether business, diplomacy or anything, would they allow such a conflict of interest to exist, especially with thousands of civilian lives at stake.

Please wake up and realize that the United Nations is not here to help and protect the innocent. The only people the Tamil people can depend on for help are the Tamils. You have tried convincing the international community and the United Nations, and as a result there are 30,000 Tamil civilian casualties in just 5 months. While the UN sends people paid by the Sri Lankan government to "negotiate" on behalf of the Tamil civilians, thousands of civilians are dying day by day. When the LTTE was strong and the Sri Lankan army was on the brink of collapse, the international community tricked the LTTE into the ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire agreement was nothing but a cover to arm and train the Sri Lankan army further, so that they could launch a final war against the LTTE.

Today the UN and the international community does not want to even speak with the LTTE, despite showing so much interest in bringing the LTTE to negotiations in 2002 when the LTTE had the upper hand. This shows that the United Nations only respects violence and military might. When the LTTE was strong, they were requesting the LTTE to negotiate, but when the LTTE is weakened, they no longer have interest in negotiating a settlement to this conflict. Instead they repeatedly call on the LTTE to lay down their arms and surrender to face a certain death at the hands of the Sri Lankan army.

Learn this lesson well. The international community only respects you based on your might and capability to commit violence. Some foolish moderate Tamils have in the past criticized the LTTE for not trying to pursue peace, but now the futility of that path has been clearly exposed for all to see. The LTTE chose the path of peace in 2002, and the international community took advantage of this to weaken and destroy the LTTE through proxies. The end result is the entire world stands silently as 10,000 Tamil civilians have been murdered - all because the Tamil people did not possess the military might to protect themselves. The only solution to this problem, the only way in which the Tamil people can be protected, is if they increase their military strength and bring Sri Lanka to its knees through violence. Only then the international community will respect the rights of the Tamil people.

Vijay Nambiar at work.