A Bullet for a Fig Leaf - Verbal Bludgeoning to Subvert International Monitoring

By: UTHR(J)

The Sri Lankan Government’s choice to not halt violations by its security forces is a reflection of the direction in which this Government is taking Sri Lanka. By refusing to find a settlement to the country’s long running ethnic problem through meaningful power devolution, the Government has set itself on a violent and destructive path though which it envisages reaching a sort of peace. As the people of Sri Lanka suffer the consequences of the Government’s choices many of the President’s party men, supporters and ministers are using sham and obfuscation in all corners of the world trying to buy time for this Government’s misdeeds.

It is within this context that the controversy over one bullet in the ACF case has been seized upon by the Government as a fig leaf to cover a huge body of infamy. We have chosen to focus on the detail of the calibre of this one bullet not only because of its importance in identifying those responsible for the 17 killings but also as the developments around this one bullet serve to highlight the challenge of human rights in Sri Lanka, how the rule of law has been marred and justice denied.

The public verbal attacks on international NGOs and UN officials who take up this and other human rights issues, highlights the positioning of the Government vis-a-vis the international community. The President’s party has continually tried to appease the smaller nationalist parties and their constituencies to such an extent that at times he has taken on an even more nationalist agenda than these parties themselves. Attacking foreign NGOs and UN officials ostensibly in defence of Sri Lanka’s sovereignty should be assessed as part of this appeasement.

The controversy regarding the bullet in the ACF case began when the Australian forensic Pathologist Dr. Malcolm Dodd who observed on 24th and 25th October 2006 the second post mortem on the eleven exhumed corpses of the 17 ACF victims made an observation that startled especially the Government. Radiology, he said disclosed a 5.56 mm calibre projectile inside the cranium of ACF victim Miss. Romila Sivapragasam.

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