Parallel Governments ( Part Two )

: Living between terror and counter terror in northern Lanka (1982-2009)

Hundreds of enforced disappearances committed since 2006 have already placed Sri Lanka among the countries with the highest number of new cases in the world. The victims are primarily young ethnic Tamil men who ‘disappear’ – often after being picked up by government security forces in the country’s embattled north and east, but also in the capital Colombo … Most are feared dead.

by Daya Somasundaram

University of Jaffna

Please click here to read part one of this series of articles

(October 27, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian)  Massacres (see Table 1) of innocent civilians by all the parties to the conflict became relatively common. Apart from individual, targeted political abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings (Human Rights Watch, 2008), these mass executions can only be called crimes against humanity that keep the population in abject terror. They easily qualify for persecution under criteria set out for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (2002). The various contending authorities, the state, paramilitaries, LTTE and even the Indian army for short periods, believed, against all the best advice of CI expertise (Kitson, 1971; US Army, 2006), that judicious use of these terror tactics would keep the population under their control and counter the appeal of the opposing party by winning over ‘hearts and minds’ through fear.

Table 1   War Crimes in Lanka -  Civilian Massacres

Date	Place	killed	Description	Possible Perpetrator
July 1983	Welikade Prison	53	Tamil Detainees	State Officials, prisoners
24 July 1983	Jaffna	60	Tamil civilians	Lankan Army
April, 1984	Jaffna	70	Church (Our Lady of Refuge)	Lankan Army
20 Nov. 1984	Dollar and Kent Farm, Mullaithivu	62	Sinhala ex-convicts and settlers	LTTE
2nd Dec 1984	Iraperiyakulam army camp, Vavuniya	100	Young Tamil men	Lankan Army
4th Dec 1984	Mannar	107	Tamil civilians	Lankan State forces
May, 1985	Valvetithurai	70	Tamil Civilians and school boys	Lankan State forces
14 May 1985	Anuradhapura	146	Bus stand and Vihare	LTTE
May 1985	Thambiluvil, Eastern province	60-63	Tamil Youth	Lankan State forces
15 May 1985	Northern Seas off  Delft	34	Passengers on Kumuthini (boat)	Lankan Navy
3 June 1985	Pankulam	85	Civilian bus passengers
May 3, 1986	Katunayake Airport	16	Passengers with foreign tourists	Tamil militants
? May 1986	Central Telegraph Office	14	Civilians	Tamil militants
April 1987	Colombo	113	Car bomb, central bus station	LTTE
2 June 1987	Aranthalawa	31	Buddhist monks & civilians	LTTE
22 Oct. 1987	Jaffna Hospital	70	Patients, doctors, nurses and staff	Indian army (IPKF)
August 1987	Trincomalee	100	Sinhala villagers	LTTE
April 1989	Trincomalee	51	Car bomb	LTTE
2 August 1989	Valvittithurai	63	Tamil Youth and Boys	Indian army (IPKF)
1 August 1990	Akraipattu	14	Executions of Muslims	LTTE
4 August 1990	Kathankudi Mosque	103	Muslim men and children in Prayer	LTTE
18 Aug. 1990	Eravur	121	Muslim men, women and children	LTTE
05/09/1990	Vantharumoolai	158	Tamil Civilian refugees	Lankan State Forces
10/09/1990	Saththurukkondan	184	Tamil Civilian refugees	Lankan State Forces
12/06/1991	Kokkaddicholai	82	Tamil Civilians	Lankan State Forces
October, 1991	Palliyagodella	109	Muslim men, women and children	LTTE
09/08/1992	Mylanthanai, Batticaloa	32		Lankan State Forces
02/01/1993	Killaly Sea	52	Fleeing refugees	State navy
18/04/1995	Nachchikuda	30		Lankan State Forces
25 May 1995	Kallarawa	42		LTTE
October 1995	Border Villages in East	120	Hacked	LTTE
January 1996	Colombo	100	truck with explosives , Central Bank	LTTE
11/02/1996	Kumarapuram	24	Civilians	Lankan State Forces
20/04/1996	Killaly sea	42	Fleeing refugees	Lankan State Navy
24 July 1996	Dehiwala	56	Train bombing	LTTE
11/08/1997	Mullaitivu,(Manthuvil)	40	Tamil Civilians	Lankan State Forces
10/06/1998	Suthanthirapuram, Mullaitivu	32	Tamil Civilians	Lankan State Forces
17/9/1999	Gongala	52	Men, women and children hacked	LTTE
25/10/2000	Bindunuwewa	31	Surrendered child, youth soldiers	? Lankan Police, officials
15 June 2006	Kebethigollewa, Anuradapura	64	mine attack on a civilian bus	LTTE
7 August 2006	Muttur	17	French Action against hunger workers	Lankan State Forces
April 2, 2007	Ampara	16	Bombing of civilian bus	LTTE
Nov. 28, 2007	Colombo	18	Bombs	LTTE
Dec. 5, 2007	Anuradhapura	16	Bombing of civilian bus	LTTE
16 Jan. 2008	Buttala	27	Bus passengers	LTTE
29 Jan 2008	Palampiddi	20	School children	DPU
2 Feb. 2008	Dambulla	20	Bus passengers	LTTE
Jan -19 May,2009	Vanni	20000	Tamil Civilians	Lankan State Forces & LTTE

 

Table 2   War Crimes in Lanka -  Mass Displacements

Date	Place	Numbers	Description	Possible Perpetrator	Comments
1956	Gal-Oya spread to other places	3000	widespread anti-Tamil violence	Mobs	Followed protests to Sinhala only Act
1958	Colombo, Outstations	35000	Mass displacement  of Tamils following widespread anti-Tamil violence	Mobs	Followed Bandaranaike-Chelvanayagam pact and its abrogation.
1977	Hill Country, Colombo	15000	Mass displacement  of Tamils following widespread anti-Tamil violence	Mobs	Followed UNP winning 1977 elections
1983	Colombo, South West, Central	250000	Mass displacement  of Tamils following widespread anti-Tamil violence	Mobs and politicians
Post 1983	Abroad	500000 to 1,000,000	Mostly Tamils	Lankan State forces	Asylum abroad
August 1987			Sinhala villagers	LTTE
October 1987	Jaffna	300,000	Indian army Pawan army operation	IPKF
1988	North East	253000	IPKF operations	IPKF
October 1990	North	100,000	Muslims ordered to leave	LTTE	Fear of the 5th Column
October 1995	Jaffna	400,000	Advancing Lankan forces on Jaffna	LTTE	Engineered by LTTE
1996	North	335000	Lankan forces operations	Lankan forces
1997	North	255000	Lankan forces operations	Lankan forces
1999	North	51000	Lankan forces operations	Lankan forces
2000	North	192000	Lankan forces operations
2001	North	67000	Lankan forces operations	Lankan forces
Dec.  2006	North and East	520000		Conflict
April 2007	East	301,000		Conflict
June, 2007	Colombo	376	Tamils	Lankan authorities	Deportation to Vavuniya
August 2007	Northeast	460,000		Conflict
Jan. to May 2009	Vanni	300,000	Tamils	Military operations	Internment in camps

Sources: Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR (  www.tchr.net) | UNHCR   |                           
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre 

   Table 1 gives a few, illustrative and representatives examples of unambiguous cases of civilian massacres involving more than 15 civilians with a clear, planned intent carried out in a deliberate, organized way to cause terror or as a lesson. Disorganized mob killings or where soldiers have gone ‘berserk’ or where the action could be argued to be accidental, unintentional, or ‘collateral damage’ have been left out. Numbers injured have been left out (not available or reliable in most cases). 

  Sivaram had described ‘levels of terror’ during a lecture on CI at Palmerstone North, New Zealand in 1999 (Trawick, personal communication) as something that can be turned on and off, and increased or reduced as the situation necessitated. It would be like a fine tuning to keep the population under control, like the use of the friendly and ‘bad’ interrogator, where the population will start yearning for periods of less terror and do anything to avoid an increase in terror levels.

  In relation to abductions and disappearances, a recent Human Rights Watch report (2008), gives a very clear description of what is happening: 

Hundreds of enforced disappearances committed since 2006 have already placed Sri Lanka among the countries with the highest number of new cases in the world. The victims are primarily young ethnic Tamil men who ‘disappear’ – often after being picked up by government security forces in the country’s embattled north and east, but also in the capital Colombo … Most are feared dead. Enforced disappearances have again become a salient feature of the conflict. Figures released by various governmental and nongovernmental sources suggest that more than 1,500 people were reported missing from December 2005 through December 2007 … In the great majority of cases documented by Human Rights Watch and Sri Lankan groups, evidence indicates the involvement of government security forces – army, navy, or police. The Sri Lankan military, empowered by the country’s counterterrorism laws, has long relied on extrajudicial means, such as ‘disappearances’ and summary executions – in its operations against Tamil militants and JVP insurgents. The involvement of the security forces in ‘disappearances’ is facilitated by Sri Lanka’s emergency laws, which grant sweeping powers to the army along with broad immunity from prosecution … Also implicated in abductions and ‘disappearances’ are pro-government Tamil armed groups acting either independently or in conjunction with the security forces … The LTTE has been implicated in abductions in conflict areas under the government’s control … the LTTE prefers to openly execute opponents, perhaps to ensure a deterrent effect on the population. LTTE abductions may also be underreported because the family members of the victims and eyewitnesses are often reluctant to report the abuses, fearing LTTE retribution.

  As part of the CI and counter CI, the various authorities vying for the loyalty and subservience of the community have ruthlessly eliminated what they have perceived as obstruction to their power and control. Apart from the abductions, disappearances and extra-judicial killings by the state and its allied paramilitary forces, the internecine warfare among various Tamil militant organizations competing for the loyalty of the community have resulted in the elimination of many of its own ethnic, more able, civilians – a process of self-destruction, auto genocide (Hoole, 2001). Those with leadership qualities, those willing to challenge and argue, the intellectuals, the dissenters and those with social motivation have been weeded out (‘Pullu Kalaithal’ or weeding – those eliminated are labelled as ‘anti social elements’ or ‘traitors’). They have either been intimidated into leaving, killed or coerced into silence. At critical nodal shifts in power, recriminations, false accusations, revenge and retribution were very common. It happened in 1987 (IPKF, the Indian intervention); in 1990 (LTTE takeover), in 1996 (SLA control), after 2005 with the collapse of the ceasefire, and is happening from May 2009 with another shift in the power balance. The loss of leadership and the talented, skilful, resourceful persons, the professionals, technocrats and entrepreneurs, from the community has had devastating consequences. Many left over the years due to increasing difficulties, traumatic experiences and social pressure from family and colleagues, the so-called ‘brain drain’. Those who remained have been targeted by those aspiring to rule the community.

To be continued ...