BBC Sinhala
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Callum Macrae, the director of “Sri Lanka Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished” said that many allegations against Sri Lanka government have been confirmed through leaked UN documents, US embassy cables revealed by Wikileaks and an interview former senior UN official John Holmes.
“The international community has an obligation of duty to protect which is a fundamental principal under international law. That duty was not carried out; the international community has failed on that,” he told BBC Sinhala service, Sandeshaya.
Mr Macrae says there were two major reasons for the “failure” by the international community to prevent Sri Lanka continuing with war crimes.
'Shelling UN workers'
“The climate this was allowed to happen was that Rajapaksa regime used the Western Agenda global war on terror to justify what they were doing,” he said.
The film, to be released next week in UK by the Channel4, also figures harrowing details of the killing of Rasmachandran Prabhakaran, 12, the younger son of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Mr Macrae said the footage, recorded by a member of Sri Lankan armed forces, has been carefully examined by video experts to confirm that it was authentic.
“The forensic pathologist analysed and the moment of death from the nature of the wounds and it is clear that he was executed in cold blood,” he added.
The killing, together with other incidents of alleged executions by the security forces, is a clear proof that there was a “systematic pattern of executions of leading LLTE figures and fighters.”
The film alleges that orders for the alleged executions as well as “deliberate targeting of civilians” have come from the most senior commanders, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Commander of Sri Lanka Army, Gen Sarath Fonseka.
“The Sri Lankan military is very very disciplined and very organised. The men who have most frequently claimed direct control of the war were President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabhaya,” he said.
The film reveals, says Callum Macrae, how a group of UN workers were fired upon by the Sri Lanka military after the workers informed their GPS coordinates to the military.
“There were systematic shelling of the UN bunker and the area around it. When they protested about it, they were told were sent directly by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Sarath Fonseksa,” he said, adding that it shows the highest command was aware about the attacks into the no fire zone.
“Those men bear direct commanding responsibility for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
The director said nobody would deny that the Tamil Tigers were also responsible for serious war crimes including the using civilians as a human shield in the war zone.
“The war crimes committed by the LTTE are clear and documented and are not challenged,” said Mr Macrae.
“However, it is important to recognise that the international community demands highest standards from a government which claim to be a democratically elected, legitimate government.”
© BBC SInhala
Monday, March 12, 2012
'Western agenda used' for Sri Lanka war crimes
Monday, March 12, 2012
GoSL reminds US of what its ‘own man’ in Colombo revealed
By Shamindra Ferdinando | The Island
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The unprecedented statement made towards the end of Lt. Col. Smith’s tenure in Colombo in response to a query raised by retired Indian Maj. Gen. Ashok Metha disputed the very basis of the assertion that the LTTE wanted to surrender to advancing troops, though the government ignored the move.
The US soldier intervened, though Maj. Gen. Metha, who had served as the IPKF commander in the Ampara-Batticaloa sector in 1987, directed the question to Maj. Gen. Shavendra Silva, now at the centre of a controversy over indiscriminate military action on the Vanni front.
Authoritative Defence and External Affairs officials told The Island that the US, too, couldn’t close the eyes to its own man’s statement if it was genuinely interested in knowing the truth. Sources said that all major Colombo based diplomatic missions probably had agreed with the US official’s assumption, though the US State Department distanced itself from the statement attributed to Lt. Col. Smith. The US being a Co-Chair for Sri Lanka’s peace process, knew what was going on in the wake of close quarter combat operations on the Vanni east front.
This is what Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith had to say.
"Hello, may I say something to a couple of questions raised. I’ve been the defence attaché here at the US Embassy since June 2008. Regarding the various versions of events that came out in the final hours and days of the conflict — from what I was privileged to hear and to see, the offers to surrender that I am aware of seemed to come from the mouthpieces of the LTTE — Nadesan, KP — people who weren’t and never had really demonstrated any control over the leadership or the combat power of the LTTE.
"So their offers were a bit suspect anyway, and they tended to vary in content hour by hour, day by day. I think we need to examine the credibility of those offers before we leap to conclusions that such offers were in fact real.
"And I think the same is true for the version of events. It’s not so uncommon in combat operations, in the fog of war, as we all get our reports second, third and fourth hand from various commanders at various levels that the stories don’t seem to all quite match up.
"But I can say that the version presented here so far in this is what I heard as I was here during that time. And I think I better leave it at that before I get into trouble. "
"In Washington, no sooner he made these remarks (which were published exclusively in The Island) the US State Department disassociated itself with Lt. Col. Smith’s remarks.
"The State Department’s Deputy Spokesman Mark C. Toner said that the defense attaché had attended the seminar as an observer and a note taker. "His comments reflected his personal opinions. There’s no change in the policy of the United States, and his remarks do not reflect any change in our policy."
© The Island
Monday, March 12, 2012
Sri Lankan government ‘executed civilians during war with Tamil Tigers’
By Claudia Joseph | Mail Online
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A year after screening Jon Snow’s award-winning documentary Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields about the dying days of the civil war – Channel 4 has returned to the island to uncover more evidence of alleged abuse.
The 60-minute documentary, Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished, will be screened days before the England cricket team flies out to the country.
It comes in the wake of this week’s United States resolution to the UN Human Rights Council censuring Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa and his brother, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaska, for ‘not adequately addressing serious allegations of violations of international law during the war in Sri Lanka'.
‘This forensic investigation reveals damning new evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Sri Lankan government forces,’ said Mr Snow.
‘But it also points directly to those who may bear culpability and command responsibility for this savagery - from the military leaders who led the bloody assaults that killed civilians - to the President and his brother, the Defence Secretary, who have yet to be properly investigated and held to account.
‘It is our duty as journalists to report this evidence; it is up to the UN and the international community to initiate effective investigations and deliver justice for the thousands who lost their lives.
'At a time when we are seeing similar carnage in Syria - this is vital work.’
In the documentary, Mr Snow examines four instances of alleged war crimes using contemporaneous documents, eye witness accounts, photographic stills and trophy footage to determine how events unfolded in the final days of the war and investigate who was responsible for the carnage.
According to UN estimates, up to 40,000 civilians were killed during the conflict between the Government and rebel forces.
One of the most horrific scenes shows the bullet-riddled body of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran, son of the Tiger leader Velupillai.
Professor Derrick Pounder, a forensic pathologist at Dundee University, confirmed the boy was shot five times rather than killed in combat duty.
He said: ‘There is a speckling from propellant tattooing, indicating that the distance of the muzzle of the weapon to this boy’s chest was two to three feet or less.
'So he could have reached out with his hand and touched the gun that killed him. After receiving this wound he would have fallen backwards and it’s then that he is likely to have received these two wounds.
'It’s likely that the shooter was standing over him while he was lying flat on the ground after the first shot. So this is a murder. There’s no doubt about it.’
The programme has also obtained unofficial footage, which suggests that his father Velupillai sustained a massive head wound – when his body was shown on television his head was covered by a rag. Separate stills see him first in uniform, then stripped naked and finally smeared in mud.
Again Professor Pounder believes he was executed. ‘This would be very typical of a high velocity gun shot wound to the head,’ he said.
‘A single gun shot wound to the head is a little unusual in terms of an armed conflict - it would suggest it is a targeted shot at a subject who wasn’t moving.’
According to programme makers, both scenes, which show the binding of hands, removal of clothing and shots to the back of the head, suggest a systematic policy of executing captured Tamils, which went to the highest echelons of the Government.
Amnesty International Asia Programme Director Sam Zarifi said: ‘President Rajapaksa was the highest military official in the country.
'He was the Commander in Chief and that is how he portrayed himself. Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa also proudly proclaimed how involved he was in the military strategy.
'There is absolutely every reason to question those two as to specific incidents. There’s every reason to establish exactly what the chain of command was for events in the final stages - the few weeks of the war which were very bloody and predictably bloody.’
Mr Snow also uncovered a confidential internal UN report, which reveals that officials were convinced the government was deliberately shelling civilians and hospital patients in the ‘No Fire Zone.
An internal cable from the US Embassy in Colombo indicated the government had deliberately underestimated the numbers in the zone in order to starve hundreds of thousands of trapped civilians.
Satellite imagery analysed by the UN also indicates that civilians were deliberately targeted.
Last night the High Commission in Sri Lanka told Channel 4 they ‘categorically rejected the malicious allegations’ made by the programme.
It accused Channel 4 of a ‘continuing hostile and biased editorial position’ with regard to its reporting on Sri Lanka, focussing attention on ‘a number of highly spurious and uncorroborated allegations’ and seeking, ‘entirely falsely’, to implicate members of the Sri Lanka government and senior military figures.
The channel was also accused of ‘choosing to ignore the many positive post-conflict developments now taking place in the country’. The High Commission said their approach would ‘harm the ongoing and comprehensive reconciliation process’.
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished is screened on Channel 4 at 10.55pm on Wednesday.
© Mail Online
Monday, March 12, 2012
Prabakaran's son's killing: Sri Lanka denies knowledge
By R. K. Radhakrishnan | The Hindu
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This is the main question raised in a new Channel 4 video, to be aired on Wednesday.
Writing in United Kingdom's Independent newspaper Callum Macrae, the maker of Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished, narrates the scene: “A 12-year-old boy lies on the ground. He is stripped to the waist and has five bullet holes in his chest. His name is Balachandran Prabakaran, and he is the son of the LTTE leader, Vellupillai Prabakaran. He has been executed in cold blood.” Mr. Macrae says the footage “seems to have been shot [as] a grotesque trophy video by Sri Lankan forces.”
The video is a sequel to the earlier Channel 4 film, The Killing Fields. In that too, Channel 4 showed executions of LTTE cadre.
Asked about the new video, and specifically about the execution of Balachandran, Sri Lankan President's spokesperson and International Media Advisor Bandula Jayasekara said he had not seen the video.
LTTE rump across the world were busy preparing such videos to embarrass and bring disrepute to Sri Lanka, he said and added that their bluff will be called, just as Sri Lanka had frame-by-frame rebutted the first Channel 4 video.
“We can produce thousands of videos where LTTE has killed children, infants and women. We have proof of them banging heads of children against walls and killing them. Sri Lankan forces do not indulge in these things. We conducted a humanitarian operation,” he said.
© The Hindu
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Sri Lanka: A child is summarily executed
By Callum Macrae | The Independent
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The short clip dates from the final hours of the bloody 26-year civil war between the Sri Lankan government and the secessionist rebels of the Tamil Tigers, the LTTE.
A 12-year-old boy lies on the ground. He is stripped to the waist and has five neat bullet holes in his chest. His name is Balachandran Prabakaran and he is the son of the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. He has been executed in cold blood. Beside him lie the bodies of five men, believed to be his bodyguards. There are strips of cloth on the ground indicating that they were tied and blindfolded before they were shot – further evidence suggesting that the Sri Lankan government forces had a systematic policy of executing many surrendering or captured LTTE fighters and leading figures, even if they were children.
The footage – dating from 18 May 2009 and which seems to have been shot as a grotesque "trophy video" by Sri Lankan forces – will be broadcast for the first time on Wednesday night in a Channel 4 film, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished – a sequel to the controversial investigation broadcast last year which accused both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Last year, a special panel of experts appointed by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, suggested that as many as 40,000 civilians died in the last few weeks of the war – the vast majority as a result of government shelling, much of which was targeted on so called "No Fire Zones" set up by the government itself. But as international concern grew over the emerging evidence of appalling crimes against civilians, the Sri Lankan government, headed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and his powerful brother, the Defence Minister, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, launched a counter-offensive. At its heart was a special inquiry appointed by the President, the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC).
This, they insisted, would answer the international criticisms. When the LLRC finally reported last December, it did make important concessions – not least an admission that considerable numbers of civilians had died (a fact denied by the government until then). But it specifically denied that civilians had been targeted and rejected allegations of war crimes by the government. It thus failed entirely to deal with the evidence of blame pointing to the political and military leadership.
But still the criticisms have grown – and are likely to increase, following the new revelations in the Channel 4 film. In one incident, legally significant because it is well documented, two international UN workers leading the last UN overland food convoy became trapped near a temporary hospital in a village primary school in Uddiyakattu, in the first of the government's No Fire Zones.
With the help of other civilians they began to dig bunkers to provide some protection from incoming shellfire. As was standard practice, one of the UN workers, an Australian called Peter Mackay, took precise GPS co-ordinates of the site, and these were supplied to the government. But if that had any effect, it was certainly not the desired one. Over the next couple of days the camp was subjected to a massive, sustained barrage of incoming shellfire, much of it falling directly on or near to the UN bunker. Dozens were killed – and many more horrifically injured. It was all photographed by the UN workers.
In a sense, it was just one relatively small incident in the ongoing carnage of the war, but it is potentially significant because it provides specific evidence linking the Sri Lankan government's chain of command to knowledge of targeted attacks on civilians – attacks that appear to constitute war crimes.
As the barrage continued, the UN workers took turns to stand clear of the bunker where they could get line of sight to make frantic sat-phone calls to the Australian High Commi-ssion and other UN officials in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, pleading with them to get the government forces to stop the shelling. They were told these requests were passed on directly to both the then Sri Lankan army chief, General Sarath Fonseka, and the Defence Minister.
Shortly after these phone calls, the shelling shifted slightly away from the UN bunkers. But it continued to rain down on the No Fire Zone. In a sworn statement about the incident, Mr Mackay describes how the shelling was re-targeted: "Now the closest shells landed 100 metres from us, indicating that they could control the fire when they wanted to."
That is likely to be significant in any future legal proceedings over command responsibility for war crimes because it amounts to specific evidence suggesting the Defence Minister and army chief had now at least a direct knowledge of the shelling of the No Fire Zone, and that while shelling was then ordered away from the actual UN bunkers, it continued to rain down on the No Fire Zone. It also represents evidence that the attacks killing civilians were accurately targeted.
Other new evidence – some of it emerging from a massive trawl of confidential diplomatic cables sent between the US embassy in Colombo and the US State Department in Washington – reveals just how calculated was another of the most awful features of this war: the deliberate denial of adequate humanitarian supplies of food and medicine to civilians trapped in those grotesquely misnamed No Fire Zones.
To justify this policy, the government systematically underestimated the number of civilians trapped in the zones. At the end of April 2009, for example, President Rajapaksa told CNN that there "there are only about 5,000 ... even 10,000" civilians left in the zones. In fact, according to UN figures, there were more than 125,000 still trapped. The President himself had endorsed the inaccurate figures that were being used to justify what almost certainly constitutes a war crime – a crime that left thousands of civilians catastrophically short of food and water – and allowed hundreds to die unnecessarily in makeshift hospitals because of desperate shortages of supplies including blood and anaesthetics.
The government's LLRC report did acknowledge that humanitarian supplies were short in the No Fire Zones – but again exonerated the government of charges that the policy was deliberate. Amnesty International's Asia director, Sam Zafiri, is in no doubt that the operation was deliberate – and illegal: "International law bans medieval sieges – you can't subject a population to hunger, famine or plague as a means of military victory."
But it is the video evidence depicting the systematic and cold-blooded execution of bound, naked prisoners – and which also suggests sexual assault of naked female fighters – that continues to haunt the government. The new evidence of the death of 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran will increase that pressure. In addition to the footage of the boy's dead body lying beside his slaughtered bodyguards, Channel 4 has obtained a series of high-resolution stills of the scene. These have been analysed by a respected forensic pathologist, Professor Derrick Pounder, to assess the cause of death. It is possible, he suggests, that the boy may have been made to watch the execution of his bound and blindfolded guards before the gun was turned on him.
Professor Pounder believes he has identified the first of the shots to be fired at the boy: "There is a speckling from propellant tattooing, indicating that the distance of the muzzle of the weapon to this boy's chest was two to three feet or less. He could have reached out with his hand and touched the gun that killed him."
The problem for the Sri Lankan government is that this murder is not isolated. If it was, they could perhaps dismiss it as the act of rogue soldiers.
Yesterday, the High Commission of Sri Lanka rejected what it calls the "malicious allegations" in the Channel 4 film. It said it had chosen to focus on: "A number of highly spurious and uncorroborated allegations and seek– entirely falsely – to implicate members of the Sri Lanka government and senior military figures." The High Commission added that the film had, "chosen to ignore the many positive post-conflict developments now taking place in the country."
Callum Macrae's film 'Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished' will be shown on Channel 4 this Wednesday at 10.55pm.
© The Independent
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Who killed Cock Robin?
By Dr.Vickramabahu Karunaratne | Lakbima News
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On that occasion Admiral Willard had inquired about post-war development, with regard to the SLN, particularly SLNS Samudura, formerly USCGS ‘Courageous’ , one of the vessels involved in the destruction of LTTE ships .
Admiral Willard and LRRPs
On the other hand, Wikipedia, explaining Long Range Reconnaissance Patrols, or LRRPs (pronounced “lurp”) tells us “ Other units known as LRRPs can be found in international militaries, such as the LRRP unit trained and used by the military ontelligence in Sri Lanka. Unconfirmed reports suggest training was provided by outside entities, such as the Green Berets, Navy SEALs, British SAS and the Israeli military. LRRPs have been very successful in covert operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) terrorists in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.
General Sarath Fonseka
“The former Sri Lanka Army Commander General Sarath Fonseka had recently acknowledged that LRRP units were used to beat the LTTE at their own game. It was later revealed that the LTTE, who were masters at jungle warfare, refused to engage in combat and withdrew from their positions instead of holding ground because of these elite soldiers. They, along with other special forces units and commandos (Sri Lanka Army Commando Regiment) played a vital role in eliminating the LTTE, including Velupillai Prabhakaran, the founder and leader of the Tamil Tigers. Sri Lanka’s LRRPs caused to a large extent the internal breakdown and eventual destruction of the LTTE as it helped create rifts between the terrorists. It is one of the core units of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (Sri Lanka). The Federal Bureau of Investigation has classified the LTTE as being 20-2among the most dangerous terrorist outfits in the world.”
Wimal and Champika
I hope this little bit of information is good enough to prove that the so called war of liberation of Wimal and Champika was supported and armed not only by India but also by the western powers. These global masters considered the LTTE to be a danger to their system. Of course the LTTE was not a socialist party. But this era is one where the US and other powers are totally committed to suppressing those who take up arms against their friends in any part of the world. Sinhala chauvinist are either idiots or total frauds, or both, to keep on harping the slogan of “US backing to the Tamil insurgency”. On the contrary, the global powers gave unconditional support to suppress the Tamil rebellion. Of course they expected economic commitments in return and we are now tied down to their whims and fancies. For them the war became an opening for enslavement of us all, Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, etc.
They pushed us into this war. Wimal, Champika and others helped these rapacious forces to push us into destruction of our country. Now they have accepted the LLRC produced by the government and say they would give all their support to implement it. What does the LLRC contain? What are the recommendations? Investigation into war crimes, disappearances, secret armed groups, etc; establishing civil democratic rule; devolution and self rule as a solution to the Tamil national problem; that is the essence.
Obviously this is unpalatable to the chauvinists. This is a complete sell-out from their side. “We sacrificed our soldiers, our wealth and our precious time for the war. Now we have to give back all what Tamils have demanded,” they scream in agony.
I can only say ‘not only that, but the war destroyed the Tamil civilization in the Vanni area with over one hundred and fifty thousand Tamils killed. All this is sheer madness. We could have settled with internal self determination or self rule to the Tamils. That is what even the late Prabha wanted as a settlement.
© Lakbima News
Sunday, March 11, 2012
New Channel 4 film screened at Human Rights Film Festival 2012
By Karthiyayini | Truthdive
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The team including Luis Arber, former Human Rights High Commissioner of the UNHRC, and chair of the International Crisis Group and Callum McCrae, the producer of the film spoke to a packed audience at the Cinémas du Grütli, on problems related to war crimes and liability in Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war in 2009.
Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished presents dreadful new video footage with substantiated evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity which trace ultimate responsibility up the highest ranks of the chain of command.
The chilling video capture of war crimes looks at four specific cases and investigates who was responsible. The cases are: the premeditated heavy shelling of civilians and a hospital in the ‘No Fire Zone’; the calculated denial of food and medicine to thousands of trapped civilians – defying the legal responsibility to allow humanitarian aid into a war zone; the killing of civilians during the ‘rescue mission’ and the methodical execution of naked and bound prisoners.
The horrendous and chilling video footage of Lankan war crimes has sent shock waves through the audience in the international community, sources say.
Former Commissioner of the UN Human Rights Council Loise Arbour, member of the UN Expert Panel Yasmi Sooka, Britain writer and Film maker Callun Macrae , SriLankan journalist Sunnanda Deshapriya and Channel-4 television Journalist Jonathan Miller had shared their opinions and thoughts at this event.
However, diplomats during debates have focused on the significance of independent investigations on genocidal attack unleashed by the Lankan government on innocent civilians. Human Rights Watch also was a key part of the dialogue.
Channel-4 television for the first time, has scheduled to screen the second edition of Lankan war crimes on 11th of March, Sunday at 18:45 at the 10th film festival of UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), sources said.
Special exhibitions and discussions on human rights’ abuse are also a part of the agenda at the festival.
© Truthdive
Saturday, March 10, 2012
'What Sri Lanka is...': acknowledging the ethnic conflict in post-war reconciliation
By Ambika Satkunanathan | Open Democracy
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The argument presented by Sanka Chandima Abayawardena in ‘Reconciliation in Sri Lanka means the youth must lead the way’ – that reconciliation initiatives should be conceived and driven at the local level by Sri Lankan youth – appears reasonable and benign. However, the experience of people in the conflict-affected northern areas illustrates the extent to which Abayawardena has disregarded complex ground realities, while calling upon pressure groups to understand ‘the nature of the country – what Sri Lanka is…’.
This article focuses on recent research conducted among the Tamil community in the north.
Equating calls for justice with revenge: What do the affected say?
The call for an international intervention to establish responsibility for war crimes has been dismissed by Abayawardena as a political move aimed at ‘persecuting the Sri Lankan political and civil leadership out of anger’. Commentators such as Michael Roberts have argued that the ‘bitterness wrought by the ethnic conflict’ ↑ could be fuelling the need for retribution that they assume many Tamils feel, which in turn might lead to the fabrication of allegations of war crimes. There are also those who claim that persons affected by the armed conflict only wish for a better standard of living, jobs, access to education and healthcare, and are not concerned either about violations of human rights and humanitarian law that took place during the armed conflict, including the last stages of the war, or a political solution to the ethnic conflict.
However, research in Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and the Jaffna peninsula shows that there is an acute need within the Tamil community for an acknowledgement of their singular experience of suffering during the final phase of the war, that goes beyond both a desire for revenge and the natural yearning for an improvement of their material conditions and economic well-being.
When questioned by the Committee Against Torture (CAT) in Geneva on 9 November 2011, Senior Legal Advisor to the Cabinet and former Attorney-General Mohan Peiris pointed to the issuance of death certificates for missing persons as the primary method used by the state to deal with the issue of disappearances. Mr. Peiris claimed that the issuance of death certificates would immediately bring the whole episode to a close, and provide families with certainty about what had happened to their family members. In contrast, the testimonies of many from the North, even those whose family members disappeared in the 1990s, were emphatic that they do not wish to obtain death certificates because it would thereby deny them the right to demand answers from the state concerning the disappearances.
Currently, there are over 5000 cases of disappearances on file with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), which includes those from the 1990s. The figure therefore does not indicate how many went missing during the last stages of the war, and families have no means of accessing information on their plight. Until very recently it was official state policy to deny there was any loss of civilian life during the war. The Department of Census and Statistics has now published data on the number of civilians who were killed or went missing during last stages of the war. However, Secretary of Defence Gotabaya’s dismissive statement ↑ prior to the completion of the survey that ‘the real number of dead and missing is far too small to provide any substance to the absurd allegations of genocide and war crimes that have been made against our military,’ casts doubt on the government’s commitment to engage in a public dialogue on the issue.
This denial also indicates that anyone seeking answers to questions that challenge the government’s narrative of the armed conflict is unlikely to find redress: to ask about the plight of a family member whose relatives claim was last seen being taken away by the armed forces is inevitably to raise allegations of rights violations by the state. This is illustrated by the government’s only concretely identifiable response to the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), tasking the military along with the Attorney-General to investigate allegations made against the armed forces by those who appeared before LLRC.
The government of Sri Lanka is actively building a hegemonic narrative of the war that is solely about victory and the valiant soldier, with no public acknowledgment of the loss and grief experienced by civilians who lost family members in the armed conflict. Along with the glorification of the warrior-citizen, collective (majoritarian) memory is created through celebrations of the war victory, military parades, and the erection of memorials to members of the Sri Lankan armed forces who died in battle. Yet, there is no space for civilians to organise public events to mourn the dead, nor memorials to commemorate the lives lost. Instead, each year on 19 May, the date that marks the official end of the war, the armed forces in the North have actively prevented collective community ceremonies.
I asked Tamils in communities across northern Sri Lanka whether they felt a public ceremony to mark the end of the war and commemorate those killed was desired, and whether they had thought about convening such an event. The immediate response from every person interviewed was that since they felt they couldn’t even speak of issues relating to the ethnic conflict, they couldn’t imagine holding public events to remember the dead. This is evidence not only of the severe restrictions placed upon the freedom of expression and assembly amongst the Tamil communities, but also the alienation this population feels from the state and the majority Sinhalese community. As an interviewee said, ‘we can’t believe anything the government says as they’ve always gone back on their promise’.
Local reconciliation based on the rule of law: an impossibility?
While concurring wholeheartedly with Abayawardena’s statement that ‘reconciliation based on the rule of law is the only way to have a lasting effect on post-war Sri Lanka’ and that ‘justice must be available for victims at a local level’, the feasibility of achieving this should be examined in the context of the current state of civil administration and maintenance of law and order in the North.
Militarization in the North is taking place in complex ways, at multiple levels. The most visible manifestations are the army checkpoint/civil affairs office at every junction in every village, and the large number of new and now permanent army camps along the A9 road from Vavuniya to Jaffna. These are the obvious, and therefore perhaps more benign, signs of militarization. The dictates of the army seem to run far deeper in the Vanni (areas formerly controlled by the LTTE), with excessive scrutiny and surveillance not only of community and non-governmental organisations, but also of any gathering of more than a handful of people. Prior notification has to be given to the army of any meeting or workshop that is held. Interviewees said that even when notification was given, if there were participants coming from outside the Vanni – the mainland area of the north – sometimes army officers attended the meeting and observed the proceedings. Army officers would attend or check- up on smaller community gatherings, such as women’s societies and savings groups, only if the organisers failed to provide prior notification.
The paradoxically named Civil Affairs Office (CAO), which is ‘manned’ by the military, is the best example of the entrenched presence and participation of the military in civil affairs in the North. Created during the period when residents of the peninsula had to obtain passes to travel to the South, this office has now morphed into a one-stop monitoring and surveillance unit of the army. For instance, following the end of the war all those who were released after being held at government ‘rehabilitation’ centres for alleged former LTT combatants have been asked to register with the CAO and then report back to sign in on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis, depending on the edict of the local commander.
The presence of the military has increased the insecurity of women, who constitute the majority in many villages due to the death, disappearance or detention of men. The feelings of insecurity stem from fears for their physical security, due to living in a heavily militarized environment without any male members of the family, controlled by an army which speaks a language they do not understand. The presence of the military leads women to make a conscious effort to limit movements outside of their homes and communities. These self-imposed restrictions impact adversely on their ability to access livelihood options and education opportunities Nearly three years following the end of the war most of these women do not have a viable livelihood, leaving them open to exploitation and abuse. In this context it seems impossible for the Tamil people to believe that they can access justice at the local level.
The voices of the youth in the North
Following the end of the war, persons who the government termed surrendees (allegedly because they surrendered to the government as members of the LTTE or had links with the group) were sent to rehabilitation centres. Although termed ‘surrendees’ the voluntary nature of surrender is in question since many were detained either as they made their way to the government controlled areas or in the IDP camps. The actual number of rehabilitees is unknown but it is estimated that around 12,000 persons were sent to these centres.
In contrast with Abayawardena’s faith in the youth of Sri Lanka, the voices of those youth who were sent to rehabilitation centres for alleged affiliation with the LTTE have effectively been silenced.
Interviews with those who were released from the centres revealed that while all experienced a sense of relief to be free from what they, at one point, felt would be a never ending ordeal, and reunite with their families, they also felt trepidation about the future – about their ability to find employment and re-build their lives free from harassment and surveillance in an environment in which they were still viewed as persons who have to be watched and monitored by the state. Since many released rehabilitees have to report regularly to the CAO (army checkpoint), they are viewed as informants for the army and so regarded with suspicion and fear by their communities. This impacts adversely, particularly upon women. For instance, one woman rehabilitee said that ‘society will talk/gossip about women who visit the army camps to sign-in. Neighbours might even break up marriage proposals by informing the prospective groom’s family about the woman’s visits to the army camp’. This limits their chances of gaining employment and places pressure on their relationship with their families, leading to familial disputes. Due to this many feel they have no future in Sri Lanka and seek to leave the country, either by applying for foreign asylum with little hope of success, or paying huge sums of money and entrusting their fate to human traffickers. In the words of one rehabilitee ‘After I finish my education, I don’t want to stay in Sri Lanka for one minute’.
Which way forward?
The government claims it has put in place adequate measures for post-war reconciliation, rendering outside attention unnecessary. Viewed through the framework of transitional justice the state’s policies and actions do not stand scrutiny – they do not provide recognition to victims and create civic trust. In the North adequate measures have not been taken to ‘normalise’ the former conflict affected areas. Instead militarisation has become entrenched and a large military presence in the North has been formalised.
Although Tamil was made an official language in 1987 and the government launched a ten year trilingual programme in January 2012, state action illustrates limited political will to carry this through. For instance, Tamils in many parts of the country, not only the North and East, state that when they lodge complaints at the police station it is documented in Sinhala, a language they do not understand. They are then asked to sign the document indicating that it is a true record of their complaint.
Moreover, in the past six months alone new sign boards in Sinhala only or Sinhala and English have sprung up in the Tamil speaking North. With the lack of even minimal cause for Northerners to trust their governance structures, local reconciliation based on the rule of law as posited by Abayawardena amounts to a denial of the harm done.
The alienation felt by the communities in the North is illustrated by this statement, made by a woman who was displaced multiple times and lost 7 members of her family during the last stages of the armed conflict: ‘The President should look after the Tamils as they are citizens too. He doesn’t care about the Tamils’. In order for Tamils to feel they are equal citizens the onus is on the state to take measures, including but not limited to, demilitarization of the North, enabling people to fully and freely exercise their rights, acknowledgement not only of the violations and loss experienced during the war and provision of reparation, but also acceptance of the ethno-political nature of the conflict and commitment to provide a political solution.
The other important failing on the part of the state is its attempt to impose collective amnesia on the Tamil population in relation to the LTTE. The relationship of the Tamil people with the LTTE was, and remains, a highly complex and sensitive matter. We should remember that this relationship encompassed a nuanced spectrum of opinion within the Tamil community: from those who unequivocally supported both the LTTE’s ideological stance and methods, to those who, faced with a state unresponsive to their political aspirations, tolerated the LTTE in instrumental terms, to yet others, given the attitude of the LTTE in regard to dissent and political pluralism, simply had no choice whether or not to conform. Post-war, and post-LTTE, this is a matter that is best resolved, reconciled and come to terms with, within the Tamil community. The high profile insertion of the military into not only the civil administration, but also the civic, social and political space of the North, in a manner designed to impose a history, to control collective memory, and intrude into post-war catharsis, is not only callous, but also myopic and ultimately self-defeating for the state.
In other words, there is no better way than the path the government is currently taking to ensure the sustenance within the Tamil polity of the LTTE’s brand of hard-line nationalism, even without the LTTE.
Also read: 'Reconciliation in Sri Lanka means the youth must lead the way': a sceptical response
© Open Democracy
Saturday, March 10, 2012
India's Southern Army Commander to visit Sri Lanka
PTI | IBN Live
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"The Army Commander will proceed on a goodwill visit and will call on the Chiefs of Sri Lankan armed forces and will meet the Defence Secretary there," officials said here today. During the visit, Lt Gen Singh will discuss issues related to mutual cooperation, defence engagements and ways to increase military cooperation with Sri Lanka, they said.
Besides visiting the Defence Headquarters, Lt Gen Singh will also visit the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) War Memorial in Colombo. IPKF war memorial was constructed in memory of the Indian and Sri Lankan soldiers who died fighting the LTTE militants during Operation Pawan in 1987. Indicating the increased bonhomie between the armies of two nations, Sri Lankan Army Chief Lt Gen Jagath Jayasuriya was invited as the chief guest during the Passing Out Parade (POP) of Indian Military Academy. Besides, Lt Gen Jayasuriya had also met Indian Army Chief General V K Singh here. Earlier, Gen Singh had visited the island nation in September 2011 to lay ground for a bilateral defence dialogue between India and Sri Lanka.
© IBN Live
Saturday, March 10, 2012
'Alarming rise' of sexual abuse in Jaffna
BBC Sinhala
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According to a senior health official in Jaffna peninsula 32 incidents of child abuse and sexual abuse have been reported during the last two months.
Dr S Sivaruban, the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of Jaffna Teaching hospital, told Sandeshaya: "nine out of those 32 incidents are serious and cruel sexual abuses."
"There were 102 cases of sexual abuse reported in Jaffna in 2010 and it has increased to 182 in 2011," said Dr Sivaruban.
'No deterrent mechanism'
Adding that two underage girls are currently being treated in the hospital for sexual abuse, the medical officer said: “Girls as young as 7-8 years have been being sexually abused in Jaffna and abuse of girls before they reach puberty is very dangerous."
"Recently doctors have conducted one and half hour surgery to save the life of a 12-year old girl who was sexually abused in Delft island," he said.
"Sexual abuse and violence against women in on the increase but can not see any deterrent mechanism to prevent children and women being abused this way,” he added.
He said that there may be many other incidents of unreported sexual abuse cases as parents are usually reluctant to report such cases to the police.
Child affairs minister, Tissa Karaliyedda, told BBC Sandeshaya that the current legislation dealing with child abuse needs to be amended to deal with the issue.
"Those found guilty of child abuse need to be severely punished," said the minister.
© BBC Sinhala
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