Colombo, Nov 18 – “CHOGM in Sri Lanka”, not “CHOGM on Sri Lanka”. That’s the perspective of Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on the just-concluded Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) 2013.
Making the clarification, Najib, who led Malaysia’s delegation to the CHOGM, said he attended the meeting in Sri Lanka due to respect for the Commonwealth body.
“This is about the Commonwealth; coincidently Sri Lanka is the host,” he said in response to objections raised by certain quarters to his presence at the CHOGM because of Sri Lanka’s human rights record.
The hosting of CHOGM in Sri Lanka had drawn attention to its human rights record, including allegations of violations during the military operations in the northern part of the country in 2009.
Several leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had stayed away from the summit.
The war crimes allegation had somewhat overshadowed the CHOGM in Sri Lanka.
“Does anyone have questions that’s not on Sri Lanka or human rights?” the Director of Communications of the Commonwealth Secretariat and Media Spokesman, Richard Uku, asked the 200 journalists at the final CHOGM 2013 press conference on Sunday.
The press conference, attended by the host country’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, was supposed to have addressed the conclusion of CHOGM 2013.
Najib was among four Commonwealth leaders invited to join the media conference. The others were Guyana president Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar, St Kitts & Nevis Prime Minister Denzil Douglas and South African President Jacob Zuma.
At the press conference, Rajapaksa was bombarded with questions related to the alleged atrocities committed.
In his response, Rajapaksa called on the world community to allow the country to go through its own healing process following the ending of a long civil war.
“Help us to heal our wounds instead of dividing our people,” he said.
Nevertheless, the Commonwealth leaders who attended the 2013 CHOGM came together to produce a 21-page communique spelling out their commitment to the grouping’s core values, including democracy and human rights.
“It should be CHOGM in Sri Lanka, not CHOGM on Sri Lanka. There’s a difference there,” Najib summed up.
– Bernama
