The Muthur Massacre: Are we any closer to the truth?
March 28th, 2008
By Poornima Weerasekara
The thirteen men and four women who were killed in the deadliest
attack on aid workers in Sri Lankan history would not have even
thought for a moment that they were walking into a death trap. It is
difficult to fathom what final thoughts crossed their minds while
watching their colleagues being shot. There was a father, a driver and
a daughter, a programme officer among the deceased. Which one of them
died first? Who had to bear the agony of watching their loved one
being killed? These are questions that would plague our collective
psyche to which answers may never be found.
[An aunt of Ambigavathy Jayaseelan, one of the 17 Action Contre la Faim aid workers killed, gives evidence in front of a panel of judges in Colombo March 24, 2008-Pic: Buddhika Weerasinghe, Reuters via Yahoo! News]
Setting off on a deadly journey
Mr. Ponnathurai Yogarajah’s eldest son Kodeeswaren was also killed in
the ACF massacre. He had already lost another child, Hemachandran in
January of the same year, when five students were killed in
Trincomalee after tensions arose due to the construction of a Buddhist
statue in the town.
“Before my son Kodeeswaren left to Muttur at about 6.00 a.m. on August
2, I gave him Rs. 200 for his meals. That was the last time I spoke to
him,” he sobbed while giving evidence to the CoI via video
conferencing from an undisclosed location. Mr. Yogarajah fled the
country due to threats on his life and family.
“I spoke to him for the last time on August 3, 2006 after 6.00 p.m. He
told me that there were LTTE terrorists on the main street in Muttur,”
the grieving father said.
A relative of Ambikapatthi Jayaseelan, who received Rs. 480,000 as
compensation from the ACF, recounted the beloved boy’s final departure
through tears, unable to appease her sorrow after almost two years.
“I took Jayaseelan under my wing from the time he was 10 years old. He
had no father and his mother found it difficult to raise four
children. I spent for his education and looked after all his needs.”
“After he passed his OL exams he did his AL’s. Then he followed a
computer course and also completed a pharmacists’ course. He joined
the ACF in February 2005,” she added. Jayaseelan who worked as a water
supplying officer attached to ACF’s Trincomalee office usually took
the ferry to Muttur at 7.30 a.m. and return on the same night.”
“They will come and take us”
On August 4th he was trapped in Muttur because the ferry service had
stopped due to the heightened security situation.
“We could hear explosions from the sea. When I spoke to Jayaseelan he
said that he was frightened. He said that there was ongoing fighting
and that people have been asked to get out of the area,” she continued
recollecting the final conversation with him. “We are alone here. The
Trincomalee office wants us to stay in the compound and not go out
because it would be difficult to trace us then. We are dependant on
them to come and take us because we can’t get out,” late Jayaseelan
had said in that conversation. I rushed to the Trincomalee ACF office
and pleaded with them to do something. I tried to call him again on
Friday but the line wasn’t clear. The next day, I went again to the
Trinco ACF office. There were no foreigners there at that time. The
local staff said that the phones were out of order and that they were
trying to use the radio link. They asked us not to worry and to go
home,” she said.
Helpless and distraught without any information, on Saturday (August
5) afternoon the witness then went to Konaligam Madya Maha Vidyalaya
which had turned into a temporary shelter for refugees flooding out of
Muttur. But this also proved futile. “On my return, as I was entering
the house, the phone started ringing; it was a call from Muttur.
The person identified himself as a Muttur Pradeshiya Sabha MP. He said
that he had received information that the 17 aid workers at the ACF
office had been killed. He asked us to make arrangements to get the
bodies,” she explained.
The identity of the call is yet unconfirmed.
Stumbling on the bodies
A government official in Muttur left home at about 7.30 a.m. on his
routine rounds of the refugee centers. While he was at a junction on
the Main Street in Muttur, near the turn to Abdul Cassim Mawatha on
which the ACF office is located, he saw a villager from his own
village gesturing at the AFC office, trying to give him a signal.
“The villager made a hand motion towards the ACF office and walked on.
I saw crows flying overhead. So I turned my motorbike and went to see
what it was,” the witness said. “I saw the bodies lying between the
front wall and the portico. They were bloated and a strong stench was
emanating from them. The blood splattered all over had clotted. Based
on these observations I concluded that they would have been killed
about 24 hours earlier. I made these observations based on my
experience,” he informed us.
When asked whether he informed any authorities in the immediate
aftermath of the discovery he said, “I knew that there weren’t any
proper authorities to take necessary action at that time in Muttur. I
went straight to the Al-Hilal Boys’ Maha Vidyalaya refugee camp. That
school had a three story building. I could only get clear signals on
my mobile phone from the third floor,” the witness continued.
“The camp housed Muslims from the Muttur beach area who hadn’t left.
People frantically wanted to know whether their relatives were safe.
It was utter chaos. There were some people who didn’t even have the
phone numbers of their relatives but as they are illiterate people
when they saw the phone in my hand they thought that they can talk to
their families. I was trying to help them. A person called Imam Asally
wanted to get a phone call. I knew he could handle a phone so I gave
it to him. At that moment a call came and someone asked ‘what happened
at ACF?’ I said that I saw that some people were dead. There was no
time to ask the caller who he was because there were people waiting in
queues for the phone. Thereafter, calls came continuously from the
Trincomalee ACF office and others inquiring about the incident.”
In the meantime the witness had related the incident to a journalist
from a Tamil FM station. After the news was aired he was flooded with
calls.
Faced with the problem of giving more details about the incident he
went back to the ACF office and while standing outside the compound,
counted 15 bodies. “Nine of them were wearing ACF t-shirts. I had to
go back to the refugee camp to get the phone signals. After confirming
the death of 15 persons I started getting calls asking about what
happened to the other two.”
The witness went back to the scene, this time with a team from another
humanitarian organization and entered the compound. That’s when he saw
the other two bodies, one near the garage and the other in the
opposite direction.
Let’s not forget
The relatives of victim Madawarajah Kedeeswaren - a 36 year old
programme officer who supervised road work and sanitation projects -
received his remains in a sealed coffin with his picture pasted on it
for identification.
“Kedeeswaran had said that there were problems in Muttur and that they
found it diffcult to come alone and that the ACF Trincomalee office
had told them that there was an important meeting in progress when
they had called and once that was over they would come to Muttur and
take them back,” a relative of late Kedeeswaren said recounting a call
between the deceased and his father.
“We sent our child to an international organization. We wanted our son
to work in a respectable place. He went there to work and he had to
come back in a coffin. We couldn’t even open it and see the body.
They are all educated children,” Jayaseelan’s relative said.
Independent reports compiled by the University Teachers for Human
Rights (UTHR) went as follows.
“Before a large crowd walked to Killiveddy at about 8.30 a.m. on
August 4, a Christian priest and the Divisional Secretary had gone to
the ACF and advised the workers to join them in going to Killiveddy.
The ACF workers had said that their Trinco office would send a vehicle
for them and had asked them to remain where they were.”
“A man who was from Mullipotana said that some of them went to the ACF
office and asked Mohamed Jaufer of the ACF who was also from
Mullipotana to join them. Jaufer said that he must stay with the
others. This was around 2.15 p.m. or 2.45 p.m. on August 4. Another
ACF worker M. Narmathan was asked by his cousin who worked for the DS
office in Muttur to join him and leave on his motorcycle. Narmathan
declined saying that a vehicle would be sent to escort them out. This
was around 3.00 p.m. on the same day.”
“Different organizations have different policies about staff safety
and security. But it is better to let those who are in the situation
to make the decisions on what emergency steps to take especially in a
very volatile situation, where it is very difficult to decide the best
strategy while sitting in Colombo without access to adequate
information on the ground situation,” an aid worker attached to a
humanitarian organization said on grounds of anonymity.
A code of ethics for humanitarian agencies
A spokesperson from an umbrella organisation for humanitarian agencies
said that they were currently working with the government’s NGO
secretariat and other stakeholders to device a code of ethics for the
non governmental organizations sector. “Transparency and
accountability are of paramount importance if aid agencies are to
function effectively, while winning the trust of different
stakeholders, especially in volatile situation. Therefore, we are
working on a code of ethics which our members should abide by,” he
said. “The NGO secretariat has the option of making it mandatory for
everyone to adopt this code of ethics,” he added.
________________________________
Finding the crucial evidence
The team from another humanitarian organization that managed to
capture the first photographic evidence of the ACF massacre on August
6 recounted the fateful events which took them to the crime scene in
an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror. They were instrumental
in revealing the facts of this gruesome horror to the world and in
creating enough pressure to ensure that bodies “just didn’t
evaporate.” It was a perilous journey that they embarked on to assess
the humanitarian crisis triggered by a mass exodus of over 40,000
people from Muttur.
“We didn’t have plans of going to Muttur at first, but when we got to
Kanthalai people were pouring out in hand tractors and on foot and
they were asking for a safe place to stay. Rows of aid agency vehicles
were parked near the Kanthalai DS office, because they were unable to
proceed without information on the situation. It was a pathetic
scene,” a team member who wished to remain anonymous said. “We felt
that there was an urgent need to assess the ground situation due to
conflicting reports on deaths and injuries en-route and of others
trapped in Muttur who needed immediate attention. When we reached the
army checkpoint in Sirimangalapura we saw an ICRC convoy and two ACF
vehicles waiting to get clearance.”
“Although the army gave all of us the green light to proceed we had to
go through a cluster of Singhalese villages, whose inhabitants had
stoned aid agency vehicles on the previous day because they were
furious about not receiving assistance in securing drinking water
after the Mavil Aru incident when the water supply was cut. That was
when we saw an army tank bulldozing its way through and we just put
our vehicle in front of it and drove on. Later we learnt that the ICRC
convoy and the ACF vehicles had to turn back after being stoned,” he
added.
They passed through ghost towns in Serunuwara and crossed the
Kiliveddi bridge. The few people they met; those who had come to
collect some of their belongings had said that a group of Tamil
civilians had fled in the direction of Ichalampattuwa, towards LTTE
controlled areas, while others, mainly Muslims were fleeing to
Kanthalai. “We met with the BBC correspondents by chance in Thoppur.
They decided not to come with us due to the continuous shelling. By
this time I had received two SMS’s from colleagues alerting me about
15 ACF workers in Muttur who were believed to be missing,” he told us.
“When we entered the town, we saw army personnel trying to restore
electricity. They told us to ask the people to come back because there
was no more fighting. We started asking civilians where the ACF office
is. Then one person on a motorbike asked us whether we wanted to go to
the ACF office. We followed him without knowing what was in store,”
the witness, who had given evidence to the CoI said.
“There was a short parapet wall around the compound. When we parked
the vehicle, we could see the bodies that were stretched on the floor,
face down near the gate. All the bodies were bloated. Gun shot
injuries to the back of their heads were visible. Some of them were
wearing ACF t-shirts. We counted 15 bodies. Two others were on the
sides.”
“We went inside the office which looked ransacked. There was one room
that was locked. We spent about 10 or 15 minutes there, took the
photographs and left. The shelling was still on. There was no police
station around and at that moment we were afraid because anything
might happen to us because we had this vital evidence. So we didn’t
approach any authorities at that time,” he added.
The team went on to inspect refugee camps in Muttur and then Kinniya
and returned to Trincomalee for the night. “We e-mailed the report and
the pictures to Colombo on that night itself. Once the details were
out, with photographs to prove it, we could ensure that the bodies
were retrieved and handed over to the families. If not there may have
been a possibility where the fate of these aid workers would still be
a mystery. Although we were the first to disclose this incident with
proof, there have been no personal threats so far,” he added.
________________________________
Commissioner in the line of fire
Feathers were ruffled when the counsel for the army, Dayasri Gomin
called for Commissioner Dr. Devanesan Nesiah to step down, citing that
he was a “paid employee” of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA)
who had acted as a reporting agent and had represented the
organization at international fora. This issue arose after a group of
civil society organizations, including the CPA was given
representation status on the CoI cases.
“The rule that a person who has an interest in the matter should not
be in any way play the role of a judge disqualifies him. More serious
is the failure on the part of Dr. Nesiah to disclose his role and
failure to do so amounts to misconduct. Therefore he should not sit in
the commission,” Mr. Gomin asserted. “In public sittings the
likelihood of bias arises if the public gets the impression of a bias
due to the presence of a judge who may have an interest. If an order
is made by such a person the entire report can become flawed. That is
the danger,” he added.
Mr. Gomin used information available on the CPA website, like Dr.
Nesiah’s official CPA email address and reports to which he was a
co-signatory as exhibits to bolster his objection. However, as a CPA
spokesperson pointed out all that information was available on a
publicly accessible website and therefore allegations of
non-disclosure is dubious.
“Dr. Nesiah was only a consultant of CPA and not a member of the
director board and even other commissioners are attached to similar
organizations in similar capacities. The CoI is not a judicial setup
with parties. It is a quasi-judicial process with a fact finding
mandate,” the spokesperson added. Dr. Nesiahs’s résumé posted on the
CoI website also states that he is attached to the CPA as a consultant
from 2004 to this date. ________________________________
Does the minister know who the killers are?
All hell broke loose when a President’s Counsel made a “foot in mouth”
statement, which he later denied, claiming that an important cabinet
minister in a “confidential discussion” had allegedly revealed that he
was aware of the perpetrators of the ACF massacre. This astonishing
statement, blurted out while an aggrieved relative of a victim was
still in the witness box, created an uproar among the State Counsel
who called on Mr. Desmond Fernando (PC) to “gracefully volunteer” to
become a witness if he was privy to such critical information.
However, this matter hangs on the balance due to a technical glitch.
“Unfortunately the statement may not have been recorded because only
four microphones can be used at the same time. We will have to check
the official recordings later,” the CoI Chairman N. Udalagama said.
While some commissioners seem to have not heard the statement clearly,
it was evident that it had registered in the CoI Chairman’s ears when
he said, “He [Mr. Fernando] said that a particular person in authority
has claimed that he knows who the killers are.” [courtesy: DailyMirror.lk]
Entry Filed under: transCurrents NewsFeatures
22 Comments Add your own
1. ilaya seran senguttuvan | March 29th, 2008 at 1:52 am
The simple answer to your heading is ” Very unlikely” The facade of these hearings and CoI’s are purely to satisfy the International Community so that the vital aid keeps flowing in. These are only time-serving adventures because those in the saddle believe
with the passage of time everythig will gradually vanish from the public eye. Neither can Tamils expect Justice or know the truth in the case of the execution of those pre-University boys at Trinco (now CoI in progress) Sencholai in the Wanni where hundreds of little school children perished due to bombing from the air - of all places; The massacre of of dozens of Tamil youth in a Rehab Camp in the Bandarawela area (Bindunuwewa?) The execution type of killing of nearly 2 dozen Muslim youths in the Kandyan area of Udawalatenne are only a few of the bizarre unsolved mass killings that come to my mind. Of course, it is very unlikely we will ever know who killed Kumar Ponnambalam,
Taraki Jayaram, MP Raviraj. A country known in the region and the world until a few decades ago as a haven for justice and the rule of law now remains grievously bleeding and described as yet another “Killing field.”
2. aratai | March 29th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Definitely it’s done by Sri Lankans.
3. Subra S.Massey | March 29th, 2008 at 10:29 am
The hall mark of democracy is total respect for human life.
Even before one starts a war all other peacefull avenues must be exhausted. It is the fault of the Government to allow such things to go unpunished. Well if the government itself is the killer there is no recourse, I think we have to find a way to protect the people. We are helpless. Sri Lanka is fast becming close to Somalia and soon surpass it. Respect for and protection of human life is the sacred duty of the goverment. Some political criminals must be tried before the world tribunal
4. Murugan | March 29th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Poornima, Your title is are we closer to the truth? HAHAHA! Anybody with a functioning brain cell could tell you the basic truth. Of course I did not witness the execution-style murders myself, but I have high confidence that most people can make a strong guess at what happened. Must I spell it out for you in plain english?
First the Tigers were in control of Muttur and the Action contre Faim Aid workers were operating there. Then the Sri Lankan Security Forces went on the offensive to take Muttur. The Muttur civilians sought refuge from the artillery shelling and evacuated from Muttur. The Tigers and the Aid workers remained. ACF did not transport the workers from Muttur to Trincomalee by boat because of the fighting (between the Tigers and Security Forces) made it unsafe to transport them. Then the TIgers in their usual fashion decided to tactically withdraw from Muttur (as they have done now from the entire East in Eelam War IV). They must have told the aid workers to leave as well, but the aid workers decided to stay because the Trincomalee office had told them to stay put. Then comes the uncertainty. Did the Tigers murder the Tamil Aid workers before leaving (then blame the SL Army for the murders in order to gain international sympathy)? Okay I would say that is a possibility but very unlikely. What really happened was that the Security Forces came into Muttur. Saw these Tamils huddled around the ACF office in their Aid Worker uniforms. And then lined them up and Murdered them execution style. Just look at all of the circumstances:
1. They were Tamil
2. The JVP and Gothabya have spoken against NGOs because they believe Western NGOs are in some way helping the Tigers.
3. One of the victims had been shot by an M16. The US used to strongly support the SLA and would have provided M16s. The SLA uses both M16s and other rifles. While the Tigers mainly use AK-47s and the Tigers don’t use M16s. Ofcourse, there is a slight possibility that the Tigers had captured an M-16 from Security Forces during a past battle and then used that captured M16 in the massacre but again that is less likely.
4. Look at recent History: The Security Forces murder Tamil NGO workers in Jaffna who are part of the de-mining HALO Trust. The Karuna Faction ,which works for the army, gang raped and murdered a TRO worker. And I think multiple TRO workers have been murdered by the Karuna faction. Recent history shows that it is not unusual for the Sri Lankan Forces to murder Tamil NGO workers.
5. Yes ofcourse the Tigers will use the death of innocent Tamils to get international sympathy. But normally this is accomplished by locating a Tiger military base or Tiger artillery positions close to hospital or school so that when the Army narrowly misses with an artillery shell or the Kfir bomb misses then the school or hospital gets hit. This civilian shielding is abominable, but I believe that it occurs. But the Tigers never have (to my knowledge) murdered execution-style their own Tamil NGO workers who provide aid to the Tamil people. And the NGOs have supplies that the Tigers appropriate for their military machine. So in general the Tigers like the NGOs. Therefore I highly doubt that the Tigers murdered the workers before withdrawing.
6. If all of the above is not enough evidence. Then the Biggest RED HERRING has been the botched investigation. If the Tigers had any hand in it, I promise you the SL Government would have conducted a thorough investigation and at very least would have fabricated some witness or something or some report that strongly pointed the finger towards the Tigers. But instead there has been no thorough investigation because Rajapaksa already knows he is complicit since the Sri Lankan Forces carried out the murders. Contrast this investigation with that of the assassination of Kadirgamar. Again with Kadirgamar nobody really knows if the Tigers sniped him or if it was an inside job within Sri Lankan politics. But at least there has been an investigation and the government has made the case (and convinced many others including many foreign diplomats) that the Tigers assassinated him. But in the Muttur scenario, no foreign power believes the government claim that the Tigers are to blame. No proper investigation has been carried out. The Sri Lankan government will just drag its feet and put up smoke screen ‘investigations’ until everybody eventually forgets about the massacre.
None of us saw the murders with our own eyes. Nevertheless, I would argue anybody who has a functioning brain cell can see that the Sri Lankan Forces murdered the Tamil Aid workers in Muttur.
Remember, this is normal stuff for Sri Lanka. In the past, The Tigers murdered countless Sinhala peasants (the men) who were ‘colonizing’ Weli Oya / Manal Aru.
And in just the past few months the Tamils and Sinhalese both traded off blowing up civilian buses in each others’ ‘territory’. The Sri Lankan Forces have destroyed Tamil Tiger cemetaries, and then in return the Tigers have gone and attacked a Buddhist holy site. These are just a few examples within a very long list. The point is that both sides are guilty of the same tit-for-tat terrorism. I don’t think either side even cares about human rights or Geneva conventions. At least in the past Chandrika cared about international opinion. I don’t think Rajapaksa is bothered with human rights, he has India’s full backing. While the Tigers have been banned for terrorism. Sri Lankan forces still face no reprecussions for terrorism. But we will see whether this attitude will continue when the EU decides whether or not to extend the GSP tariff reductions. The capturing of the East was brutal, and the Muttur Massacre is just one story among many atrocities. Many of which have not been ‘discovered’. Now returning to Muttur.
If the Sri Lankan Forces truly murdered the NGO workers (as I believe), then why didn’t they quickly bury the bodies in a mass grave to cover up? The fact that the bodies were left to rot actually points to the Tigers using them as propaganda. Or maybe the army was trying to send a message to all NGOs to end operations or face a similar fate? And it does not have to necessarily be Sinahala soldiers that did this. Couldn’t it have been Tamils from the Karuna Faction who work for the Sri Lankan Army? I remember Karuna had issued a statement that all aid agencies had to register with him and pay him a protection fee or something or else they will be punished or something like that. So I guess we are still far from knowing exactly what happened. But overall I think it is pretty clear that the Tigers did not commit this awful act. (Keeping in mind that the Tigers have committed many awful acts) The M16 slug is the biggest piece of evidence that points towards the Sri Lankan Army. And the botched ‘investigation’ has reinforced my assumption. Even since Rajapaksa came to power a brutal campaign to crush the Tigers has gone on with complete disregard for human rights. And it appears so far that Rajapaksa is winning Eelam War IV, but what is the long term cost for neglecting human rights?
Lastly, for non-Tamils and non-Sinhalese (if any are reading this) Do you see what happened to these innocent Tamils living in the Northeast? As soon as the Sri Lankan forces took control of the land, these innocent Tamils were murdered. So at the most basic level of understanding, does it not seem reasonable that the Tamils have built up a military so that they can physically control the land and protect the Tamils living in the Northeast?
Is there no punishment to Sri Lanka from the world powers because these aid workers were Tamils? But we will see. I will bet you that the EU will not extend the GSP scheme. The Muttur execution-style murder of Humanitarian Aid Workers by the Army will somewhat influence this decision.
Oh and by the way:
Directing attacks against Humanitarian Workers is a War Crime. So, Mr. Rajapaksa will surely try his best to ensure that nobody finds out the truth of what happened at Muttur.
5. Murugan | March 30th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Hey dear lady,
Who analyzed when our buddhist monks were killed at Aranthalawa.
Where were you then?
Have a life
6. Herath | March 30th, 2008 at 5:25 am
DID YOU FIND ANYTHING ABOUT SRI MAHABODHI MASSACRE? 40 WERE KILLED BY TIGERS!
DID YOU FIND ANYTHING ABOUT ARANTHALAWA MASSACRE? 35 WERE KILLED BY TIGERS.
WERE THEY NOT HAVING SISTERS, MOTHERS, BOROTHERS, FATHERS?
7. aratai | March 30th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Lately, I am seeing arguments like, “if Tigers can do it, why SL army cannot do it?”.
In a way they agree that LTTE and GOSL are the same.
8. Murugan | March 30th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
In Comment #5 somebody put words into my mouth and posted using my name. Please don’t do that.
I will look at the massacres you speak of Herath, sadly I am unaware of them both.
And I accept that the Tigers have done many awful acts.
I am aware of the 1985 attack on Anuradhapudra civilians in retaliation for an attack on civilians by SL forces in VVT.
I am aware of the deportation of Muslims from the North.
I am aware of assassinations of Rajiv, Premadasa, and attempted one on Chandrika. (and many more assassinations)
I am aware of assassinations of countless Tamil moderates who according to the Tigers had ‘betrayed Eelam’ and the assassinations of Tamils from oppossing factions.
I am aware of the Sinhala peasants murdered for ‘colonizing’ Weli Oya.
I am aware that the TIgers have killed Sri Lankan soldiers who had surrendered. I think 700 policemen in the East who surrendered were also killed?
I am aware of the bombing on the central bank. And of bus bombing attacks in the South.
I am aware of many other things. I know the Tigers have done so many awful things. And I will look into the two massacres you speak of Herath.
I just hope that you are also aware of the awful acts that the Sri Lankan Forces have done as well. The SL Forces are no better than the Tigers.
These are a few ways from which we can understand these terrorist-like acts of violence:
1. The Tigers and SL Forces do some of the lowest acts of terror in a tit-for-tat trade off.
2. The Tigers sometimes use terrorist tactics to rouse up emotions and to spread hate between the Sinhalese and Tamils.
The killing of monks (that you write about) would probably accomplish the goal of the Tigers to spread enmity between the two people. By spreading this hate the Tigers hope that there will be reprisal attacks by the Sinhalese against the Tamils (like another Black July). And they also hope that by spreading hate will split the two nations so far apart that 2 countries are inevitable.
3. The SL Forces use terror to subdue the Tamil people in the Northeast. Like what happens in Jaffna right now when a couple innocents are murdered almost daily by EPDP or Army from white vans during curfew etc.
4. But the Muttur Massacre is inexplicable. Maybe the SL Forces were trying to send a message to NGOs? Or maybe it was a sudden unplanned act of aggression by the ground soldiers.
5. But the biggest reason for terrorism from both sides in this war: Is that both sides believe that through using terrorism they can weaken the will of the other side to continue fighting. For example, Bombings in the South by the Tigers, or Terror Raids by the SLAF in the Vanni. Ironically, I think that suffering from terrorism only emboldens the victim to fight harder.
9. Jack Ranasinghe | March 30th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Gomin Dayasiri and SL Gunasekera have just started playing out the government’s game plan. Devanesan Nesiah is the first of the commisioners to get mud slung at him. As the investigations continue, the intimidation of the commissioners will get more intense and violence (or the threat of it) is inevitable. The bottom line is that the “commissioners” were not expected to do their job. The Commission of Inquiry was supposed to be a fig leaf.
10. David Blacker | March 31st, 2008 at 3:11 am
Murugan, the M16A1 rifle and the M4A1 carbine which fire the 5.56-mm NATO round are NOT standard issue for the SL Army as you imply. The SL Army’s regular battle rifle is the Chinese T56 which fires the 7.62-mm round, just like the AK-47. Both of the latter are the standard rifle of the LTTE. Small numbers of M4A1s are used by Army special ops units and BG squads, and the same is true for the LTTE. The M16A1 and M4A1 once were standard issue for the police STF, but even now that has been superseded by the T56. There were no STF units in the Muttur area, so the 5.56-mm round doesn’t really prove anything, unless a round can be ballistically proven to have be fired by an Army weapon or traced to a batch of ammunition issued to the security forces.
11. Devinda Fernando | March 31st, 2008 at 5:27 am
This entire Article is a very clever piece of propaganda I must say. Hats off to the Author…
After spending about a third of the entire article’s body describing the horror of the situation, talking in gruesome detail about the brutality of the murders and then the sobbing of the parents and loved ones, it then goes on to very subtly describe the Government’s ‘knows’ and ‘don’t knows’ of the situation. It does not even suggest the LTTE was involved, or even that of the Karuna faction (which Tamil Diaspora now de facto considers as the Government). The air hangs with the guilt of the GoSL because someone heard someone mention something about the killers….. (In legal terms its called ‘Hearsay’, in Journalism its called ‘Gossip’, - either one have no credibility). Thus with this analysis of some rumor, most readers are led to believe that it is ASSUMED that the Army had something to do with it, but they are not saying what… What the article fails to mention are the complete absence of fundamentally essential components in a Defence case such as EVIDENCE and MOTIVE.
Anyone have any EVIDENCE or MOTIVE in the case? Anyone have a suspect or an Eyewitness?
Anyone,…? Anyone,….? Bueller?,…. Bueller…?
Being that both the Tiger and the SL army use the Exact Same Weapons… primarily T-56 machine guns (Chinese versions of the AK-47) but both are known to use different weapons - especially the Tigers since they purchase most of their weapons on the Black Market and the rest from those siezed from SL army battles, ….no one can tell anything conclusive from the Ballistics reports or bullet wound evidence. Only the conjecture of the Diaspora and LTTE sympathizers who will tell you the ONE AND ONLY REASON they know it is the SL army is because the victims were Tamil and therefore it HAD TO BE the SL army because popular belief is that this War is one against Tamils….
It will never occur to the Tamil Diaspora that the SL army has been given the orders to protect human life, and the Liberation and East and its rapid progression into normalcy is direct proof of this. If they were out to just kill Tamils as they took the East why bother with the logistical burden of setting up and caring for all those hundreds of thousands of IDPs? Why bother evacuating them out of the battle zones? Why not just shell Vakarai or Batty with heavy Artillery guns with the civilians inside? It would be cheaper and quicker for the Army if their intent was to just take out the LTTE. The Army would not have a motive to do this. Even if these Tamils in ACF were suspected as LTTE spies or agents they would be taken into custody for interrogation, as they would be valuable intelligence assets. Wasting them execution-style would serve no Military purpose? To suggest the LTTE or other rogue elements did this would be blasphemy and Lunacy to the Tamil Diaspora as these Donkeys only believe Tamils killed in this conflict are all the work of the Government.
12. ilaya seran senguttuvan | March 31st, 2008 at 7:17 am
Herath (6) and other Sinhala friends (some of whom writing under
Tamil names)….The killings of the Sinhala civilians, Buddhist Priests
is just as abominable and cannot be condoned. Both sides have now proved to the country and the world we are very good at
killing each other and destroying a lovely country. Don’t you think it is time for all of us - Sinhalese, Tamils, Muslims, Burghers and
others - throughout the land now to get together and stop
the mass blood-letting before the country becomes a vast
burial ground? The popularly-elected Govt is there to give the start and lead the way. Why is Mr Mahinda Rajapakse shy to play this role? This is the time for the Maha Sangha to once again offer the leadership (which the politicians are very unlikely to do) and save the country.
13. Murugan | March 31st, 2008 at 5:39 pm
David Blacker,
yeah you are right. The T-56 is standard issue, sorry for not knowing everything perfectly, but my intention was not to mislead.
Nevertheless the M16 Slug implies to me that the LTTE probably had no hand in it, unless the slight possibility that the LTTE had captured an M16 from a STF and used the captured M16 in the massacre.
If you don’t accept the M16 argument. Then you have to look at the Timing arguement. The LTTE had withdrawn. The Security Forces were in control of the area at the time the murders occured. I appeal to the authority of the SLMM in the timing argument.
I acknowledge and am ashamed that the LTTE has done so many awful things including massacres at Anuradapudra and bus bombings on civilians.
So why do the Sinhalese find it so difficult to acknowledge that the Sri Lankan security forces also committ similar massacres against the Tamil civilians. To me, It is self-evident that the Security forces did this. Even with a botched inquiry, the information about the M16 and the timing of the murders still leaked out. The M16 slug and the SLMM statements are all open source information.
It is sad that I have to belabor the point to try to show that the Security forces committed the Muttur massacre.
What about the murder of the 5 Trincomalee students that also occured in 2006? That was conclusively done by Sinhala soldiers. Everybody (who is not delusional) accepts that Sinhala soldiers murdered those 5 Tamil students in Trincomalee in a similar fashion to what happened in Muttur. So why do people find it so hard to believe that similar men could have carried out the Muttur Massacre?
I realize that we always have to be cautious before pointing the finger. And I admit that the LTTE does the awful act of civilian shielding that leads to the deaths of Tamil civilians. And the LTTE will do a lot of crazy things just to get some international sympathy. I concede all of this. This should add to the credibility of my opinion. I really don’t believe the LTTE did the Muttur massacre. THere are only 2 armies in Sri Lanka. Only two people carry T-56 rifles. Only two armies control territory. These two are The LTTE and the SLA. So if the LTTE did NOT do it.
Then the SLA did it.
End of story.
To give you an analogy. It is like in the past when a suicide bomber tried to assassinate Douglas Devananda (EPDP). You didn’t need to think too hard to know who did it. You don’t need too much information. THere are only 2 armies in Sri Lanka. the SLA wouldn’t do it. So it must be the LTTE. The evidence that she was a Tamil and that she used a suicide bombing tactic strengthens the case against the LTTE, but you don’t even need conclusive evidence to say with high confidence that the LTTE did it.
Likewise. when Tamil NGO workers are murdered, you don’t need to think too hard about who did it. The evidence of the timing and the M16 strengthen the case, but you don’t even need that evidence to confidently say that the SLA did it. There are only 2 forces in SL. And only the SLA would murder Tamil Humanitarian workers in the Northeast.
It is as simple as that. You don’t need a whole investigation to know the basic truth.
To understand what happened you have to realize that these are Ground soldiers. They aren’t thinking about the political war. They don’t have some big idea about what the murder will accomplish for GoSL. They are just acting in the moment and want to take out their aggression on these Tamils.
Again I didn’t see it with my own eyes. I can’t tell you this is true For sure. But I would say there is a very high probability that the SLA is responsible, and it was committed by ground soldiers who weren’t using their heads. Not every action by the army has to necessarily be planned out and calculated. These are just the lowest men in the Army who do these despicable acts. Most of the Sinhala soldiers are good men who wouldn’t do something this awful. But it just takes a few vermin to committ an atrocity.
I still can’t reconcile my logic with the fact that the army didn’t try to cover up the incident by burying the bodies in a mass grave.
14. David Blacker | April 1st, 2008 at 1:12 am
Murugan, your mistake about the T56 isn’t a small detail as you make out. Anyone living in SL knows that the Security Forces are primarily armed with Russian and Chinese weaponry, just like the Tigers. BOTH sides use the SAME weapons. Small quantities of 5.56-mm weapons are used by BOTH sides. You don’t seem to understand this. These 5.56-mm weapons are primarily M16A1s, M4A1s, FN Minimis, and a very tiny number of T97s (in use with the SLAF’s Special Airborne Unit, and also carried by the Black Tigers in the A’pura raid). So the finding of a 5.56-mm round at Muttur proves nothing beyond the fact that the killings were carried out by a special ops unit of the security forces or the LTTE.
The UTHR report claims that the weapons used in the shootings were 7.62-mm, 5.56-mm, and 9-mm Parabellum. The latter ammunition is typically in SL used with the Uzi and MP5 SMGs, as well as the Browning Hi-Power pistol. The latter is the regulation service sidearm of the security forces, and both sides have quantities of these weapons. UTHR also claims that a Navy SBS patrol was present during the killings. While it is possible that the SBS was armed with 5.56-mm and/or 9-mm weapons, the UTHR claims that the murders were carried out by a homeguard and two police constables. It is unlikely that this trio would be armed with 5.56-mm or 9-mm rifles or SMGs, though it’s possible they might have had Browning Hi-Powers. So the type of ammunition doesn’t prove anything unless it can be traced to an individual weapon. The UTHR then tries to cover all angles by claiming the SBS MIGHT have been involved in the shooting too.
The biggest problem with the accusation, is motive. Why would the security forces kill a bunch of NGO personnel? The UTHR suggests that one of the ACF staff was a witness to the STF shooting of five students in Trinco, and if this is true, then it suggests a huge conspiracy which I frankly find a bit far-fetched.
On the other hand, the LTTE, which has a record of killing its own people, could have done it to create a propaganda coup.
Nevertheless my argument is that the weapons and ammunition don’t prove anything. Ultimately, Murugan, your argument is based on your belief that the LTTE is innocent (as you yourself say) and that if they didn’t do it, then it has to be the security forces. This is a faulty basis for an argument.
Your suicide bomber analogy is also flawed because the bomber represents the LTTE’s modus operandi which is very distinctive and not duplicated by other parties, including the TMVP. On the other hand, the Muttur killings don’t reflect a typical security forces modus operandi. So again, nothing conclusive.
Your suggestion that ONLY the security forces would intentionally kill unarmed Tamil civilians is contradicted by the fact that the LTTE has regularly done just that.
Your suggestion that the killings were an act of anger and passion by foot soldiers is contradicted by the UTHR report which claims that it was a well-planned conspiracy ordered by senior police officers. You can’t have it both ways.
“I still can’t reconcile my logic with the fact that the army didn’t try to cover up the incident by burying the bodies in a mass grave.”
This statement is perhaps the most telling. If it was done by the security forces on the spur of the moment, they would have wanted to cover their guilt by burying the bodies. And if it had been a preplanned conspiracy, the same is true. However, if it was done by the LTTE to put blame on the security forces, the best way to have done it was to have shot the ACF staffers and then left them to be discovered.
I’m not saying it’s impossible that the security forces did it, but so far there’s no evidence to prove it, and if at all it looks more likely to have been done by the LTTE.
15. ilaya seran senguttuvan | April 1st, 2008 at 8:29 am
Poornma, my dear, Rajan Hoole of the UTJHR(J) has mercifully come to your aid. Their latest report names the men who did the killing.
David Blacker will find this good reading and perhaps change his opinion about who uses what firearms etc The STF, by the way, are not sadhus. This killer lot has been sent from Colombo by that great Tamil hater Kotakadeniya - now consigned again to the dog house. He really should be sent to Angoda before doing further damage to the country’s moral fabric. I am glad there are gentlemen in the Police like IP D.M. Abeywardena, OIC/Crimes, Muttur who go out to prove there are still good men in the Police force now sunk to the depth of bestiality and depravity. If you can’t trace the report, get in touch with good friend DBSJ.
16. Devinda Fernando | April 1st, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I concur with Blacker on this. The Police had received instructions from Trinco that the ACF personnel were there in Muthur. So we have to now believe UTHR that the Police went there with Navy escort and executed these people in cold blood. After which, they simply left the bodies for a day for others to find, not attempting to cover up the incident, not reporting it as an LTTE attack or anything.? Can we all see the evidence?
17. Murugan | April 1st, 2008 at 3:40 pm
David Blacker,
Congratulations on tearing my argument apart. I accept your rebuttal to be valid. I felt that my argument was a bit weak to be honest. I was using all open source information, so it is very difficult to make these kind of arguments from an arm-chair.
I can only now appeal to the authority of UTHR(j).
(A very credible organization that does painstaking research on the ground. And an organization that criticizes both the LTTE and SL forces)
I believe the UTHR(j) conclusion that the Security Forces are responsible. I hope that you will accept it as well.
18. David Blacker | April 2nd, 2008 at 1:10 am
Ilaya Seran Senguttuvan, I HAVE read the UTHR report, and my comments on the weapons are corroborated by the report. I have no idea why you have brought the STF into this since they were not present in the Muttur area at the time. The UTHR report names a home guard and two police constables as the killers, and a Navy SBS patrol as their escort.
Murugan, while the UTHR report seems to have detailed descriptions of an eye-witness nature, and while they name names, until proper evidence is presented, I find it hard to accept that the police or security forces are responsible.
19. ilaya seran senguttuvan | April 4th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
David Blacker (18) You have taken upon yourself the unenviable task of white-washing STF crimes. I am not suggesting all STF men are all monsters. Nimal Leuwke was a friendly guy when we were involved in Stubbs Shield Boxing in our days. So he was when he turned out for the Police Rugby XV- where he played clean. But this is what the UTHR Special Report 30 dtd 1/4/08 says
“SSP Kapila Jayasekera along with Zawahir, OIC/Crimes, Harbour Police, Trinco) is widely known to have been responsible for the planning, orchestration and covering up the killing of the 5 students by STF assasins” … “Kodeesaran had spoken to a member of the STF killing team VAS Perera - its head..” These are not my words but those of a group of dedicated non-communal academics whom the Goebbels- reincarnation Prof. Rajiv Wijesinghe reluctantly admits “as a source of unimpeachable and objective reporting” If you need further evidence ask Rauf Hakeem whose views of the STF will not correspond with yours. Y
20. Anonymous | April 6th, 2008 at 11:58 am
ilaya seran senguttuvan, I am not trying to whitewash anyone. While it is the STF that stand accused in the Trinco killing, they are NOT accused (even by the UTHR) in the Muttur killing, so why are you talking about them in this context? So far, the UTHR’s claimed connection between the Trinco and Muttur slayings remain conjecture.
21. David Blacker | April 6th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
ilaya seran senguttuvan, I urge you to quote any comment I’ve made to substantiate your claim that I’m whitewashing the STF. The accused in the Muttur killings are policemen, a homeguard, and a Navy patrol. I’ll repeat my question — what has this to do with the STF who were NOT present in Muttur at the time. Jayasekara and Zawahir (IF they are connected to the Muttur killings as the UTHR allege) are NOT STF personnel. So your comment about the STF is irrelevant.
22. David Blacker | April 7th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Comment #20 is also mine. I had not logged in and thought the comment had disappeared.
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