By Duminda Balasuriya | Daily Mirror
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While rejecting the contents of the video aired on the British Channel 4 news channel, Defence Ministry Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa yesterday (15) said they have received information that a fake video had been created by Channel 4 news after obtaining money from pro-LTTE elements.
“Once again some pro-LTTE elements have used the Channel 4 news agency after giving money to them (Channel 4) in order to tarnish the image of both the Sri Lankan government as well as the army,” Mr. Rajapaksa said.
He also said that during the war, the army was always committed to save the lives of innocent civilians and never harmed their lives.
According to Mr. Rajapaksa, the lives of civilians as well as the families of the LTTE leaders, such as widows of LTTE Sea Tiger Leader Soosai and the LTTE Political Chief Thamilchelvan, who were stranded, were protected by the armed forces during and after the war.
“As examples, the army is still giving protection to the families of Soosai and Thamilchelvan, who were top level LTTE leaders and also carefully protected the mother and father of slain LTTE leader Prabhakaran, until their death” Mr. Rajapaksa said.
Mr. Rajapaksa also added that the army always behaved professionally giving utmost priority to safeguard the lives of innocent civilians and the allegation against the army is clearly to tarnish the image of the army internationally.
© Daily Mirror
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by Samira Shackle | New Statesmen
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Britain has renewed calls for Sri Lanka to investigate allegations of war crimes committed at the end of the civil war in May 2009, after footage aired on Channel 4 last night.
In some of the most shocking images ever shown on British television, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields showed naked and bound prisoners being shot in the head, the disposal of dead bodies of women who had been raped, and the aftermath of a hospital being shelled. The footage, much of which was filmed on mobile phones, was either shot by Tamils escaping, or by soldiers as grotesque war trophies.
The film shows the end of the 25 year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) two years ago, when government forces pushed thousands of Tamils into an increasingly confined piece of land, which was then shelled and bombed. There is strong circumstantial evidence for a series of war crimes: the summary execution or prisoners, widespread sexual assault, and the systematic shelling of hospitals with 65 attacks.
Much of the footage is previously unseen. The fact that it exists -- when the Sri Lankan government had forced the UN to leave so that there were no international observers -- is testament to the power of the digital age.
The film does not shy away from the fact that atrocities were committed by the LTTE, too. The group pioneered the use of suicide bombing, and used civilians as human shields. But the fact remains that this was an unequal war, and atrocities by one side never give the other carte blanche.
A UN panel last month rules that there were "credible allegations" of war crimes and crimes against humanity (committed by both sides), but the Sri Lankan government rejected its findings.
The British Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said today that if the Sri Lankan government does not probe these claims, it could lead to international action. The signs do not look promising. Rajiva Wijesinhe, a government legislator, responded with a denial: "It is a fact that pro-LTTE groups in Britain are applying a lot of pressure on British politicians to pay attention to the Channel 4 video. I would be particularly sorry of Alistair Burt for succumbing to this."
As Steve Crawshaw, Amnesty International's advocacy director, says in the film, the world's silence on this so far is inexplicable and morally indefensible. If proved, these crimes are comparable to Srebenica, for which Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are standing trial at The Hague. Over 40,000 civilians were killed in Sri Lanka -- President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother, the defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa must face justice too.
© New Statesman
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By Colum Lynch | Foreign Policy
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Sri Lanka has offered to supply the U.N. with three Mi-24 attack helicopters and a pair of fix wing aircraft, a pledge that would help the U.N. meet a severe a shortfall in lethal combat equipment in places like Congo and Sudan and help protect civilians, U.N. based officials told Turtle Bay.
But the U.N. may not be able to accept them.
The Sri Lankan armed forces have come under scrutiny for allegedly committing mass atrocities during the final 2009 offensive against the country's separatists Tamil Tigers. A decision to accept the Sri Lankan offer would not only generate controversy but potentially trigger a U.S. review of Sri Lanka's human rights conduct.
Under the so-called Leahy law, written by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)the State Department is required to vet the human rights records of foreign military contingents serving in U.N. peacekeeping missions, if there is reason to believe they may have been engaged in atrocities.
An independent panel, set up by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki moon, concluded in April that there are "credible allegations" that Sri Lanka troops, as well as the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. More than 40,000 civilians may have died in the war, most of them victims of indiscriminate government shelling, according to the U.N. panel.
The Sri Lanka pledge appears calculated to improve Sri Lanka's relationship with the United Nations at a time when it is facing mounting U.N. pressure to hold alleged war criminals within the army's ranks accountable for crimes, according to U.N. officials. It would certainly be harder, they say, to criticize Colombo if the organization was dependent on its air force for vital assets in combat.
Peacekeepers from other countries, including Rwanda, have faced scrutiny over alleged rights abuses. The Rwanda government threatened to withdraw its peacekeeping force from Darfur, Sudan, after the U.N. moved to force out a Rwandan commander, General Karake Karenzi, who was allegedly involved in rights abuses in Rwanda and eastern Congo during the mid to late 1990s. The United States backed Karenzi, despite internal U.S. government concerns about his rights record.
Sri Lanka has participated in U.N. peacekeeping operations for more than 50 years, and it currently has more than 1,200 blue helmets serving in U.N. missions. In his September 2010 address to the U.N. General Assembly, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaska, defended Sri Lanka's conduct during the war while affirming Sri Lanka's "willingness to further enhance our support to the U.N. Peacekeeping Operations."
"Our armed forces and the police are today combat tested, with a capacity to carry out their duties in the most challenging conditions."
© Foreign Policy
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Channel 4
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Documenting the final weeks of the bloody civil war when an estimated 40,000 people died, the Channel 4 documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields reveals shocking new evidence of serious war crimes.
The film includes footage of government soldiers executing bound prisoners; the dead bodies of naked, abused women dumped in a truck; and the bombing of civilian hospitals.
The barbaric images were captured on mobile phones, many apparently by government soldiers filming grim trophy videos.
The faces of a number of the soldiers can be seen while conversations are heard as the killings are discussed.
In one video, a soldier admits he would like to mutilate the corpse of a dead naked woman "if no one was around".
Calls for investigation
While pressure builds on the international community to answer calls for an investigation, a top international lawyer has told Channel 4 News the use of new technologies has created a sea change in the reporting of serious crimes.
Mobile phone footage, pictures and testimony distributed online has seen information become instantly accessible to a global audience.
"There has never been a greater awareness of these types of crimes than right now, and it is because of the use of social media," Mark Ellis, chief executive of the International Bar Association, told Channel 4 News.
"It is much more difficult for the international community to stay silent when facing this onslaught of evidence shown by the social media process - it increases the likelihood that the international community must act."
Pakistan video emerges
In recent weeks amateur footage from Syria has captured apparent abuses by the security forces in an increasingly brutal crackdown on protesters.
It followed similar footage which emerged from Egypt, Libya and other countries in the Arab Spring.
In Pakistan, a video has reportedly been posted online showing a man in military fatigues physically assaulting four blindfolded men.
The authorities have said they are looking into the footage, which is part of a "dedicated campaign" to discredit the Pakistan security forces.
Although the video has not been independently verified, it is not the first video to have been posted online depicting allegations of abuses in Pakistan.
Echoes of Serbia
Footage of alleged crimes in Sri Lanka carries echoes of the filming in 1995 of the Srebrenica massacre, in which up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were shot dead by a paramilitary group.
During the Bosnian war the Scorpion paramilitary group videotaped the massacre, and can be seen laughing, smoking and taunting their captives before shooting them in the back.
© Channel 4
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By Matthew Russell Lee | Inner City Press
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The day after the one hour documentary “Sri Lanka Killing Fields” was shown on Britain's Channel 4 and the Internet, Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Martin Nesirky a series of questions about the extrajudicial killings, rapes and UN misdeeds portrayed in the film.
Nesirky said that Ban “has not actually seen the documentary” but is “aware of its themes.”
Inner City Press asked what Ban has done on his commitment back in April to review the UN's own actions in Sri Lanka. The documentary shows the UN workers leaving Kilinochchi, covers the extrajudicial execution of two surrendering Tamil Tiger leaders -- assurances of whose safety were conveyed by Ban's own chief of staff Vijay Nambiar.
Even after forty days, that review has not started. When Inner City Press asked Ban about it on June 6, when he announced his bid for a second five year term as Secretary General, Ban did not answer that part of the question. On June 15, Nesirky said that the Secretariat is “working with other parts” of the UN system “on how that will actually take place.”
Ban is awaiting re-appointment in the Security Council on June 16, and in the General Assembly on June 21. Killing Fields may be screened inside the UN in New York before that process is over. Will Ban has seen it by then?
Inner City Press asked Nesirky if Ban has reconsidered his position that he cannot or will not follow the recommendation by his own Panel of Experts that he establish an independent international investigation mechanism until either Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa government agrees, or the Security Council, Human Rights Council or General Assembly orders it.
Nesirky repeated previous statements but added that for an investigation to have “administrative and judicial powers,” a vote by one of the three bodies would be required.
Inner City Press asked if that was an acknowledgment that an investigation like the Democratic Republic of the Congo Mapping Report could be initiated without waiting for a Security Council, Human Rights Council or General Assembly vote.
On this, Nesirky used a phrase that he has used before: that the Panel of Experts report “is out there.” So is the documentary The Killing Fields. But what will Ban Ki-moon do?
© Inner City Press
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Editorial | Gulf News
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New video footage has emerged in Britain of the final days of Sri Lanka's long and bloody civil war. The footage, which has been independently verified as being original, shows three blindfolded and bound people being shot. One of the victims is a woman. In addition, the horrific scenes also show naked corpses of men, women and children being loaded onto military trucks by smiling soldiers.
The bloody and murderous insurgency of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam shook Sri Lanka to its core for 25 years. President Mahinda Rajapaksa was successful in organising an effective military campaign to finally end the threat of terror. But while he won the war, Rajapaksa still has to win peace in the eyes of the international community. The United Nations has consistently called for a full and impartial investigation into atrocities committed during the closing chapter of the civil war. If there were mistakes made, Rajapaksa must deal with them.
War is bloody, vicious, and stretches the very boundaries of humanity itself.
Britain has joined the chorus of calls for an investigation. Since the end of the war, Rajapaksa has resisted these calls for an investigation.
That call is now deafening. It should be heeded.
© Gulf News
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Daily Mirror
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Three undergraduates who were held under detention orders in the Mirihana Police for charges of conspiracy against the government have been severely assaulted and taken to the CID for further interrogations, Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) said.
IUSF Convener Sanjeewa Bandara speaking to Daily Mirror Online a short while ago said that statements had been taken from the undergraduates forcefully and a fresh detention order had been taken for 30 days to further question them by the CID.
However, Nugegoda Division SSP Deshabandu Tennakoon while dismissing accusations of assaulting the three undergraduates under the custody of the Mirihana Police said that a fresh detention order has been taken for week to further question them on the charges.
According to the IUSF, the undergraduates were arrested by the Mirihana Police last Sunday under charges of conspiring against the government. However, the Police claim that it was the J’pura Vice Chancellor Dr. N.L.A. Karunaratne who handed them over to the Police due to some incidents related to ragging.
© Daily Mirror
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