Sri Lankan High Commissioner: Blood on his sword

The unsupervised power of the AFP is a matter of growing concern, but the fact that they can drop an important investigation without informing parliament or its representatives is symptomatic of the arrogance now attending this force as it seemingly prosecutes its own agenda, free from parliamentary constraint and supervision.

The Gillard government and the Abbott opposition are weak for having allowed this situation to develop and more so for now appearing to condone it.

Tamils in the north of the country remain under military occupation. Credible witnesses report a climate of fear. Women and children are abused, the economy is dead and there is no work.  Samarasinghe denies all this and the government he represents, however this is why desperate Tamils continue to try and come to Australia by boat. Genocide is being carried out against the Tamils in the north.

When genocide was being carried out by the white South African government against black South Africans, not even a Coalition government was prepared to accept a general or admiral from South Africa as ambassador to Australia; so why do we bend and break the rules with Sri Lanka?

Is it all to do with the disruption program and the special ‘relationship’ we have forged with Sri Lanka over terrorism? Most likely. The terrorism bogey, from, and within Sri Lanka, is long dead if ever it were alive for anyone but the Sri Lankan spin machine and ASIO expansion plans.

AFP involvement overseas with the disruption of refugee boats is corrupting and harming what should be a premier Australian police force. It is preventing the AFP from fully gaining the respect of Australians and distorts their ability to focus on non-political police activities. They should have no role in the formation and conduct of aspects of Australian foreign policy and yet they do.