Sri Lanka Govt is Trying to Undermine My Credibility - Allan Rock

Sri Lanka Govt is Trying to Undermine My Credibility - Allan Rock

[by Admin , Jan 29,2007]

Former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and Windsor lawyer Allan Rock says the Sri Lankan government is trying to undermine his credibility with an apparent smear campaign as he prepares to present a report to the UN on child soldiers in the war-torn country.

Rock travelled to Sri Lanka in November on behalf of the UN's special representative on child soldiers to meet with militia leaders, government officials and families of children who were abducted and forced to fight on the front lines.

The former federal cabinet minister said his finding that the Sri Lankan government plays a part in the abductions has prompted false allegations he is consorting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Also known as the Tamil Tigers, the separatist group has been declared a terrorist organization by the Canadian government.

A Sri Lankan newspaper recently published a picture of Rock at the December Liberal convention in Montreal, posing with two alleged Tamil Tigers supporters, along with an article bearing the headline "Rock-LTTE connection bared."

The picture has also appeared in several Canadian newspapers.

"This is the most blatant example of going after the messenger rather than focusing on the message," Rock, now a member of the Sutts, Strosberg law firm in Windsor, told The Star.

"Ever since November, when I made my conclusions public, there has been a very concerted effort in Sri Lanka by the media and the government spokesman to attack me and my integrity."

Rock said he has no idea who the men in the picture are.

Their identities have not been confirmed, but Sri Lanka's Sunday Standard claimed they are members of a Tamil cultural society at the University of Waterloo.

"In the course of the four days that I was (at the Liberal convention), there must have been 100 people who pulled me aside and asked me to take a picture with them," he said.

"It's not my practice to do a security check on people I agree to have my picture taken with."

Rock said the picture is now being used "for propaganda purposes" in an effort to divert attention from his findings, among them a discovery that government forces were helping a breakaway faction called Karuna -- which fights the Tamil Tigers -- abduct children and train them to fight.

Last week, Human Rights Watch released a 100-page report that backs Rock's conclusions and accuses the Sri Lankan government of hypocrisy.

"It's very disappointing because I would have thought (the government's) attention would be focused on efforts to get to the bottom of the matter," Rock said.

"This is definitely a side show but I'm not going to stand by and watch people say these things without responding."

Rock said Sri Lanka's president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, promised he would investigate the government's links to the abductions.

Rock said the government has "always pointed fingers" at the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting for an independent homeland since 1972.

"The Tamil Tigers have also been abducting children; I'll make that clear in my report," Rock said.

"But our subjects are being victimized by the Tamil Tigers and this other militia. And when the government is involved ... who do the families turn to?"

Rock said he's not worried the controversy will cast a shadow over his report, scheduled for presentation Feb. 9, adding that his UN colleagues recognize he's being unfairly targeted.

----Sonja Puzic --in--

Windsor Star-----------

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