Sri-Lanka commits genocide

By Dr C P Thiagarajah

(March 31, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) Tamils have been campaigning for a ceasefire for a long period. Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) was intransigent. It couldn't see the forest for its trees. Having ruined Jaffna citizen’s life by their military rampage which had been widely reported, it went on its war path to Vanni.

Having erased Vanni and its head quarters Kilinochchi where the fighters had their de facto government when they signed the famous ceasefire agreement of 2002, the GSL had driven the LTTE and its supporters of the defacto government by herding them with bombs and rockets into a land locked area in Puthukudiyirupu. Because of the fact that India, America, Japan and other countries were seamed forcefully behind the government, giving everything the government wanted, including arms and ammunitions, the government was adamant not to cease fire and carried on the barbaric war and wanted to finish off the Tamils and their freedom fighters, the LTTE. It is a cliff-hanger situation.

The NGO, War Without Witnesses estimate based on first-hand information obtained from government-run hospital authorities, police and judiciary sources in Vanni, the North East Secretariat of Human Rights, aid workers and credible media outlets confirmed more than 3546 innocent Tamils had been killed and more than 8370 injured by Sri Lankan Army (SLA) since January 1 2009.

Without being definite, Sir John Holmes estimated that the civilian casualties continue to be tragically and unacceptably high. However he believed that on average several dozens of people had been killed everyday in February and March. Apart from deaths the HR violations committed during this genocide is beyond intolerable level. This prompted the HRW assistant director Elaine Pearson declare in presenting the 241 page Sri-Lanka HR violations report on 26 March 2009, "President Mahinda Rajapakse ... has now led his government to become one of the world's worst perpetrators of enforced disappearances."

The report found that at least 1,500 disappearances took place between December 2005, when Rajapakse came to power, and December 2007. The 2009 HRW report noted that the disappearances had continued in 2008. "Human Rights Watch is unaware of any serious action by the government to address the hundreds of new ‘disappearances' of the past few years, the great majority of which remain unresolved. Most cases of enforced disappearances implicate government security forces," it stated.

Further, GSL used disproportionate force to overpower the LTTE in their cornered enclave. Artillery and mortar shells hit the safety zone killing numerous civilians during the night. Artillery-fitted cluster munitions exploded between Valaignarmadam and Ampalavanpokka'nai causing heavy casualties. The SLA deployed RPG shells, short range mortars and long distance gunfire on the safety zone during the daytime, in addition to numerous air strikes in the settlements surrounding the Pachchaip-Pulmoaddai junction within the safety zone. Hundreds of bombs were reported dropped by the SLAF that flew low flying sorties. Multi Barrel Rocket Fire (MBRL) was also reported inside the safety zone. The casualties were obviously civilians as the freedom fighters were engaged in fighting and therefore could avoid severe injury and deaths. Owing to indiscriminate bombing there were wanton death and serious injuries to vulnerable groups; children, elderly, expectant mothers and the sickly. The Sri-lankan government had banned NGOs from the Tamil areas unfairly alleging that they were helping the LTTE. It had also clamped down a press gag to avoid any foreign witnesses to its genocide of the Tamils. The war victims were therefore deprived of immediate well trained help and kept out of the world’s watchful eyes. What the Sri-lankan vernacular educated MR should remember was that he could not swim against the tide.

However, they had allowed India to open a hospital in Trincomalee a place that can only be reached after many hours of travel. It was a 115 bed set-up. This hospital is useless for war casualty emergency cases as it was far from the war zone. The hospital was only for name sake to hoodwink the world to show that India was helping Sri-Lanka a democracy that was fighting terrorism when in fact Sri-Lanka is a tyrannical chauvinist racist country.

According to officials, the functioning of the Indian hospital had been a "tremendous success" with the IDPs getting immediate treatment from the set up. In reality, if India stopped the war by its influence then there was no need of any hospitals.

In the event of an increase in the patients from Wanni, India was hoping to open a second hospital at Pulmoddai, near Mullaittivu from where the IDPs patients would be coming in. A 52- member Indian medical team left for Pulmoddai. If the Sri-Lankan government was sincere in its motives they should allow NGO doctors to open a hospital in Pulmoddai. NGO doctors from the West are more advanced technically and therefore efficient than the Indians trained in poorly equipped hospitals.

India should take heed of an Ancient Proverb that said “To everyone is given the key to heaven; the same key opens the gates of hell”. India! do not open the gates of hell. It should advice Sri-Lanka to stop the racist war and stop killing innocent Tamils who were fighting for their right of self determination that was their birth right. By providing medical aid to the injured you were instigating the Sinhala government to kill more and that you would save those who survived the bombs to show the world that Sri-lanka was after all humane. India is walking a tightrope. Mahinda Rajapakse should take to heart what the world’s spark Albert Einstein, the German born American physicist advised “And the high destiny of the individual is to serve rather than to rule, or to impose himself in any other way”. As for the Tamils, however long the night, the dawn will break.

-Sri Lanka Guardian