The University Teachers for Human Rights-Jaffna (UTHR-J), in its report dated April 17, three days before the great escape of more than one lakh civilians from the grip of the LTTE in northern Sri Lanka, does not spare either the military or the LTTE, but the former shines in comparison with the latter.
Here are some excerpts from the report, which capture the plight of the civilians:
A young mother is injured and her three-month-old baby killed by shell fragments as she breastfeeds the child in the government-declared no-fire zone. Parents hide their children in roughly dug bunkers to escape LTTE press gangs who comb the no-fire zone for conscripts.
A woman loses her husband to sniper fire and the toddler he was carrying too drowns when they attempt to wade across a lagoon to escape the no-fire zone. A father is shot in the head by LTTE members as he attempted to flee with his family.
We seldom receive independent accounts of current developments in the Wanni. The information provided in this bulletin is an exception. Given below are some cross-checked facts drawn from persons who recently escaped from the Wanni, which give the lie to the governments claims that it does not fire on the civilians and show clearly the LTTEs cynical use of civilians as bargaining chips.
Shells fall in the no-fire zone almost every day and take a heavy toll on civilians. Persons in regular touch with those who have escaped confirm that an average of 15 to 20 people die each day; either killed by shells or shot by the LTTE attempting to drive fear into would-be escapees.
The military is presently stationed some distance away from the lagoon. Thus they are able to spot movement including movements of LTTE vehicles within the no-fire zone. Typically, they rain a few shells soon after spotting a militant vehicle moving within the zone.
Persons who escaped on April 8 said that about the same day, the army announced over speakers tied high up on palmyra trees instructing the public to come across the lagoon into their area immediately, as they were going to advance into the no-fire zone. Soon afterwards, they fired a large shell right into the midst of the public, apparently to goad them into complying. This reportedly caused heavy casualties among the public.
Many escapees from the no-fire zone testified to a heavy recruitment drive by the LTTE. The minimum age for conscription is now 14. There is no ceiling set on the maximum number that could be taken from one family.
The LTTE has recently started the practice of sending out teams of six cadre with instructions for each team to return with 30 conscripts. If they fail they are reportedly subject to heavy and often lethal punishment.
The LTTE, confined and reduced by steady attrition, poses no threat to the government. It is merely postponing the inevitable, placing more and more conscripts and children before missiles of the government, whom it is happy to blow to smithereens.
This has been true for several months and a government with a minimal sense of responsibility should have looked to other political means.
Two paragraphs in the report deserve particular attention. They read:
The Tamils all over the world have been mobilised by the expatriate LTTE lobby, making use (one-sidedly) of their very real and legitimate concerns on the plight of scores of thousands of civilians trapped in Wanni. This distortion of reality would at best make a short-term impact on the international community and a section of the human rights community, but in the long term it would founder on the rock of credibility. LTTE abuses against Tamil civilians would inevitably come to light, even in a context where independent observers were being kept out by the government. It would further undermine the prospect of making the State accountable for its actions and would be detrimental to Lanka and in particular her minorities.
While the expatriate campaign is focussed on the Genocidal Sri Lankan state (an accusation that requires deep scrutiny), it whitewashes the LTTEs crimes against its own people whom it holds hostage. The LTTE and its expatriate backers are no less party to the large-scale killing of Tamil civilians by misrepresenting civilians as staying with the LTTE voluntarily and turning a blind eye to its abuse of the people and their children who are constrained to die in large numbers. In doing so, they enable the Sri Lankan state to argue that they are legitimate targets. Rather than help to resolve the conflict, it would drive the communities further apart and allow the government to muzzle and goad the Sinhalese on an obscurantist course behind patriotic slogans, against an alleged worldwide conspiracy against them.
B. Muralidhar ReddyCOMMents
COMMents
SHARE