Trinco and Muthur: The Truth Behind The Killing of Students and Aid Workers
March 31st, 2008
by University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
On 4th August 2006 17 aid workers were extrajudicially executed in their Action Contre la Faim (ACF) compound in Mutur town. Through blatant cover up by the Sri Lankan authorities, their experts, Attorney General and diplomats overseas the facts of killings have been suppressed along with any potential association between this massacre and the killing of five students on the Trincomalee foreshore on 2nd January 2006.
With the support of individuals equally interested in bringing out the truth and finding justice we have uncovered information that reveals that the 17 aid workers were killed by at least one member of the Muslim Home Guard (Jehangir) and two police constables (Susantha and Nilantha) in the presence of the Sri Lankan Naval Special Forces. Four different types of guns were used. Evidence suggests that the killers had prior approval from ASP (Sarath Mulleriyawa) and OIC (Chandana Senayake) for their vile enterprise. But it is highly unlikely that the ASP and OIC would have taken a reckless approach or that they had any particular reason to want the aid workers killed and they had earlier received orders from Trincomalee to ensure the safety of the aid workers. We believe they may have received an instruction from their superiors in Trincomalee (namely the DIG Rohan Abeywardene and SSP Kapila Jayasekere) that the aid workers should be killed. The commandos must have been informed by their superior to let the killings take place and may be directly responsible for firing the bullets that killed at least one of the aid workers.
SSP Kapila Jayasekere, along with Zawahir (OIC Crime Harbour Police, Trincolmalee), is widely known to have been responsible for planning, orchestrating and covering up the killing of the five students by STF assassins amidst a naval security cordon and hundreds of witnesses, who were part of a captive audience. The intimidation of families and witnesses and the killing of witnesses and a journalist who pursued the case are well documented. This includes the family of Hemachandran, one of the five students killed, in particular Hemachandran’s brother, Kodeeswaran. Kodeeswaran had spoken to a member of the STF killing team, believed to be VAS Perera its head, who answered one of the victims’ mobile telephone just prior to the killing of the five students. Kodeeswaran was then systematically harassed by the security forces until he was killed in the ACF massacre seven months later. We believe that the 17 aid workers would have lived, had disciplinary action been instituted against SSP Jayasekere over the killing of the five students.
The murders of the 17 aid workers and the five students are among thousands who have died by violence during the past 26 months. Perhaps we know more about these 22 tragedies because of contact with some of the families, but the ones we do not know are no less poignant. The stories of thousands of young dying and maimed in the Vanni, having been forced to fight for the LTTE against their will, remain a closed book until perchance a plaintive unsent letter is recovered from a dead cadre.
These two cases, given also the international interest, remain the most promising means of making cracks in the prison of impunity, which grips the nation. In the history of crimes of this nature, even when they lead to investigation and court proceedings, we are left in the dark about the deeper political underpinnings of the crime, instigation at higher levels, the thinking behind and motivations, knowledge of which are key to exposure and deterrence.
The country has learnt to be comfortable with grave crimes going unpunished one after another, with the certainty that even graver ones would follow. The answer to the question why Sri Lanka is steeped in recurrent gross crimes, especially against the minorities, that go unchecked is not far to seek. The rulers without good sense or vision would fight hard against command responsibility being invoked in judicial practice. This would have been relatively harmless if the politicians and security forces were reasonably law abiding. Unfortunately, this country is determined to earn the contempt and ridicule of the rest of the world.
For years the State has gone on denying, obfuscating, abusing detractors, intimidating or killing witnesses and making matters progressively worse. Our envoys like the foreign minister, foreign secretary, minister for human rights, Attorney General and many more have tried to cover the country’s shame with rhetoric–’We have our Supreme Court, our judges, our own Police Force, Attorney General, forensic pathologists and ballistic experts. We don’t need foreign help in investigations that are progressing well’.
The ACF case by itself proves this rhetoric to be empty–not because of local incompetence but because of malice. Malice against justice and against the minorities. We use the word malice advisedly because it is an unvarying condition, with no desire for correction.
As for the Police that was directly responsible for the killing of both the Five Students and the ACF staff, it has largely ceased to be a police force. The Police are more involved in perverting the evidence and silencing witnesses than in any real investigation. In a state that has deliberately truncated itself to a Sinhalese State, the Police have been increasingly used as its criminal arm.
The hypocrisy about our state institutions has to stop and the fact has to be faced that there has now been a long history of justice being out of the reach especially of minorities even for sensational crimes that draw world attention.
It is not without great pain that we appeal to the outside world for justice. It abases us and hurts our pride and often, for unfair reasons, our self-respect. When we had working institutions solving the cases above was routine work. But today the criminality of the very institutions that are meant to deliver justice has thrown huge barriers against justice and the people are helpless.
Early attempts to get information from sources close to the Police and Home Guards were fruitless. What was clear was that they knew, but were very scared to talk. And so, it was maintained, their superior SSP (Operations) Kapila Jayasekere knew about the killings only when apparently an anonymous caller told Prem working at the Trincomalee ACF office on the 6th and he told the Police resulting in Jayasekere ordering SI Gunawardene to investigate. Contrary to what the Police maintain, a local councillor Ragees from Mutur had informed ACF Trincomalee on the 5th morning and also told the BBC the same day.
After a search by friends, we came across a number of sources with a good knowledge of goings on at the Police Station. Several sources are involved and we will merely describe what happened. A number of persons would speak out if they would not suffer adverse measures from the protectors of the law.
Having gone through over a year of deception by the Police and Attorney General’s Department, a simple policeman with a sense of shame who was then in Mutur confessed, “Ape kattiya thamai marala dhamma. Kaatath kiyanda bahe. Api boruwata thamai satchi dhunna.” Rendering the Sinhalese idiomatically into Sri Lankan English, it reads, “Our chaps only killed and dumped them. It is a shame we can’t tell anyone. For lies only we gave
evidence.” Indeed, just before the policemen went before the Commission of Inquiry, a senior officer told them to maintain that they were stuck in the Police Station and did not know what went on outside.
About 3.00 PM on 4th August it got around the police station that a message had come from a senior officer of the Trincomalee Police that the ACF staff was stranded, to take care of them and send them to Trincomalee safe and sound. Our sources said that the police officers in charge did not act as though this was their intention.
After the Naval Special Forces patrol came back to the Police Station around 4.00 PM there was a sense of relief. They were sure that the LTTE had left Mutur town. Jehangir, who had come to know that the ACF staff had stayed back had been insistent about the ACF being an LTTE base. We believe that anything that Jehangir said in anger was a pretext for others high up who wanted to harm the ACF staff, as all responsible persons knew that it was civilians who were at the ACF office. Jehangir as a home guard had no rank and was lower than a constable. Such persons are at best servitors and scavengers used in dirty work (See Appendix I). In Mutur, Jehangir had been guiding the commandos and had in the meantime become very chummy with them.
The ASP and OIC asked Jehangir, the OIC’s bodyguard Susantha, and another favourite Nilantha, who received a minor injury on the 2nd from LTTE fire in an incident described above, to go with the Special Forces to see if there were any LTTE cadres at the ACF. A party of about two-dozen went including a dozen commandos (Naval Special Forces) and the rest home guards and policemen. On the way Jehangir spoke to men who came on a
bicycle who confirmed that the ACF staff was there.
Led by the commandos, Jehangir and the rest of the party including policemen and home guards turned left from the main road past the Hospital, and went to the ACF. The commandos surrounded the place. Those at the ACF were drinking tea and eating biscuits, stuff they had bought a little while ago.
The commandos called the ACF staff and asked them in Sinhalese what they were doing there after everyone else had left. The latter replied that their Trinco office had asked them to remain. Jehangir butted into the conversation and without giving the ACF staff a chance to explain, insisted that the staff were LTTE. Susantha and Nilantha, the two policemen with him said nothing. The commandos remained passive. Jehangir got the staff to kneel, and the victims were fired upon as they begged for mercy. It was all over within five minutes from the time they arrived. Two were killed away from the others, apparently trying to run away and their bodies were found separately.
The main persons who fired at the ACF staff were Home Guard Jehangir, Police Constable Susantha and Police Constable Nilantha. The party got back to the Police Station by 5.00 PM. The word of a mere home guard and servitor of dubious reputation sufficed apparently for the commandos and policemen to commit the atrocity.
Upon their return, there was an air of celebration. Jehangir, Susantha and Nilatha were given a heroes’ welcome by ASP Sarath Mulleriyawa and OIC Chandana Senanayake, who warmly shook hands with them.
This was very strange. The fact of the ACF staff being stuck in Mutur was much talked about in INGO circles. There had been a meeting of INGOs and NGOs at 11.00 AM the same day at the Trincomalee UN office where the matter was taken up. Most importantly, the ASP and OIC in Mutur had been asked to ensure that the ACF were safely conveyed to Trincomalee.
How does one explain the celebration of murder at the Mutur police station? The way it happened and the far reaching cover up, all go to suggest that it was not the ASP and OIC who took the decision to kill. Despite their receiving instructions from a senior officer to safeguard the ACF staff, someone else more powerful, it seems, gave instructions to use some pretext to kill them. Jehangir and perhaps some other hotheads who wanted revenge may have provided such a pretext. The commandos must have been instructed by their commanding officer to let it happen. We explain later why someone more senior in Trincomalee may have welcomed the pretext provided by Jehangir for the executions.
One thing is certain about the ACF killings. They would not have happened if minimally, timely disciplinary action had been taken against SP Kapila Jayasekere once his role in the Five Students outrage became widely known. Instead he was promoted to SSP in July 2006. The ACF killings followed just after-a celebration observed by the Mutur ASP and OIC with handshakes. Jayasekere may not have spelt out the order for the ACF killings, but in his presence the air in the Police Force was reeking with impunity-anyone could do anything. Both killings flowed from the same compulsion to kill young Tamils.
That brings us to the State. For two years it has gone on denying, obfuscating, abusing detractors, intimidating or killing witnesses and making matters progressively worse. Our envoys like the foreign minister, foreign secretary, minister for human rights, attorney general and many more have tried to cover the country’s shame with rhetoric–’We have our Supreme Court, our judges, our own Police Force, Attorney General, forensic pathologists and ballistic experts. We don’t need foreign help in investigations that are progressing well’.
The ACF case by itself proves this rhetoric to be empty–not because of local incompetence but because of malice. Malice against justice and against the minorities. We use the word malice advisedly because it is an unvarying condition, with no desire for correction.
Take the Chief Justice’s role as ex-officio chairman of the Judicial Service Commission. He had the ACF case transmitted to the Anuradhapura Magistrate after the Mutur Magistrate had issued orders in the exercise his investigative function (Special Reports 25 and 27). The public senses the true intention of such meddling. For one, it scares off witnesses. An important witness Haji Abdul Rahuman, who was earlier down to testify, is now missing. A bold local magistrate who is strict with the Police can do a great deal for justice and this instance, the case was moved out of the locality. There are at least two more important instances of the JSC removing magistrates from cases to cover up for the security forces (Special Report No. 25 and Appendix III of Special Report No.29)
The Attorney General’s Department that has led the evidence at the Commission of Inquiry purposefully relied on the distorted evidence and accounts provided by the Police. It has not helped in making any honest breakthrough, in contrast with the alacrity with which it set out to quash Dodd’s identification of a 5.56 mm projectile.
We must also question the bona fides of JMO Anuradhapura who was mysteriously imposed as pathologist for this case. We now know that the time he put down in the inquest reports, ‘Most likely in the early morning of 04 August 2006′ was very misleading. He must also explain the missing original photograph of the ‘5.56 mm’ bullet found in Romila at the second autopsy that has remained a subject of controversy. Now that we know that Uzi submachine gun and other bullets had also been used that did not turn up in the investigation, we must ask if the Anuradhapura JMO removed any evidence during the first post mortem.
Further, the fact that only one type (7.62 mm) turned up in the investigation, whereas the fact that at least three different types of bullets were used, along with controversy about the type of bullet found in Romila, questions the integrity of the process of collection, preservation and transmission of evidence and ballistic analysis.
As for the Police that was directly responsible for the killing of both the Five Students and the ACF staff, it has largely ceased to be a police force. In a state that has deliberately truncated itself to a Sinhalese State, the Police have been increasingly used as its criminal arm.
The hypocrisy about our state institutions has to stop and the fact has to be faced that there has been a long history of justice being out of reach especially for the minorities, even in respect of sensational crimes that draw world attention. This hypocrisy reaches bewildering heights when our Foreign Ministry secretary Dr. Kohona, an Australian citizen, articulates Asianness (New York Times 9 Mar. 08) as governments who are nice and courteous to each other–leave alone however abominably they treat their own people.
The ACF case has been an act of grand perjury where the entire hierarchy down to the Attorney General’s Department and Police have misled the evidence. We will not insult the AG’s Department by supposing that the truth evaded their intelligence. The President disingenuously cited the paucity of witnesses in the Five Students case and allowed Kapila Jayasekere to get a promotion. The Government has piously refused any foreign role in checking our institutions citing their virtues that now lay naked before the world. Who will now see that a measure of justice prevails in Sri Lanka?
It is not without great pain that we appeal to the outside world for justice. In our courts and police we had institutions that were working quite well until the communal violence of 1977 when the new UNP regime used the Police as an instrument of appalling crime against a minority. The institutions never recovered since, but deteriorated further. This is not going to change overnight and certainly not under this Government. We have no alternative but to eat humble pie and accept outside help.
It abases us and hurts our pride and often, for unfair reasons, our self-respect. When we had working institutions solving the cases above was routine work. But today the criminality of the very institutions that are meant to deliver justice has thrown huge barriers against justice and the people are helpless.
In this connection we welcome UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour’s statement on 15th January with regard to the Sri Lankan conflict where she pointed out that international law prohibited all sides in the Sri Lankan conflict from committing unlawful killings or torture, arbitrary detention, recruiting or deploying child soldiers, and forcing people out of their homes. She said “Violations of these rules by any party could entail individual criminal responsibility under international criminal law, including by those in positions of command.” It is now time for her and others of a similar mind to get a move on.
A Note on the Addendum and Witness Protection
We received important testimony that corroborates aspects of the evidence cited above. Every revelation of sensitive evidence at present leaves someone potentially vulnerable. We are constantly faced with the dilemma of balancing the public good that revelation would bring with the danger faced by witnesses. Young Tamils are being targeted by the Defence Ministry’s killers simply because they were active or showed some spirit-that is all the 22 victims considered in this report were guilty of. The recent case at the end of Appendix II shows how little a life counts under this Government. No investigation and even the Press too scared to report it. The Tamils certainly need liberation from the Tigers but not to live under a regime that is no better.
After 15 months of the Commission of Inquiry there is no meaningful protection for witnesses or others. Three witnesses were killed. Haji Abdul Rahuman, a key witness in the ACF case, is missing from late 2006 after the Police had identified him as a witness. The Police has thoroughly misinformed the CoI about him. Others affected in the two incidents have been continually harassed and intimidated into leaving the country. Some did not have the means or the will to carry on in Sri Lanka. Asylum in a few prominent cases cannot be the solution to a much larger problem. This should never be lost sight of.
[This is the summary and conclusion of special report no 30 by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) titled" Unfinished Business of the Five Students and ACF Cases–A Time to call the Bluff"]
Entry Filed under: NGO Report
39 Comments Add your own
1. Oru Manithan | March 31st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
what a shame.anyway we will hope and pray that the intl community will wake up andf that justice will be served purley for the sake of”JUSTICE
2. aratai | March 31st, 2008 at 8:18 pm
The person who pulled the trigger is not the killer, it’s people who are hiding the truth are the actual killers.
What’s funny is nations like US, UK, Canada, and EU calls LTTE as Terrorists…… what a shame.
.
3. Nissa | March 31st, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Why not highlight brutal killing of LTTE as well.
4. nilkamal | April 1st, 2008 at 1:09 am
Your report is indeed a very brave document. Freedom and justice for all our citizens is the prerequisite for healing the wounds of this nation. May you have the courage to carry on your work.
5. David Blacker | April 1st, 2008 at 2:37 am
So is the UTHR willing to hand over eye witnesses and any such evidence to the commission investigating the incident?
6. Nazar mohideen | April 1st, 2008 at 3:49 am
The big part of the blam should go to the Barberic LTTE, because one day before the incident, the LTTE killed so many muslim fleeing refugees at the 64th mile post. The AFC killings may be a direct result of that incident. How many muslims killed in that 64th MP location ? more than 70 people! nobody opened their mouth;
7. sanjeev | April 1st, 2008 at 5:23 am
THe country is a murderous place with murderous people. I am ashamed to call my self Sri lankan. A rotten place, rotten to the core.
8. Nazar mohideen | April 1st, 2008 at 5:57 am
yes, Nazar is correct. nobody is even bothered to investigate those killings by LTTE babarians that day before ACF killings. Well, it’s more than 70 people. All muslims. The university teachers for human rights should take a serious notice on this. why dont they investigate this ? is it because all the dead are muslims ?
9. Devinda Fernando | April 1st, 2008 at 6:02 am
So the Motive for the killings is that the STF went to ACF office after they received orders from Trinco to protect them and then lined them up and killed them execution style???
Ok, let the evidence speak. There is a trial for this and it is yet to be decided. I find it highly laughable to see UTHR saying that it is with great Pain they run to the International Community because there is no Legal recourse in Sri Lanka,…yet they have not even waited till the Trial has ended in Acquittal or Convictions to go to the IC….
10. kumar | April 1st, 2008 at 6:23 am
Where is tamil people’s only leader Anandasangari???
11. Sinhalese | April 1st, 2008 at 9:24 am
LTTE are terorists. they kill with impunity too. because they cowardly hide behind civilians civilians are suffering. Like they shot commondo using civilin clothes. LTTE shelled indian army while hiding among civilian in a kovil in jaffna and when the IPKF retaliated loads of civilians died. Then LTTE vidoed it to show to teh West. Dr rajini was against that and UTHR recorded it too. That’s why Dr rajin was killed by LTTE.
In this case now GOSL should bring Kotakadeniya and JHU gang to courts and let the law to decide their fate. Government and MR should show the world they don’t support these killings. Thanks UTHR for this daring report. We will not support these killings and they are not done in our name nor to protect us. These are crimes, murders.
12. Gee | April 1st, 2008 at 9:59 am
DBSJ , thanks to your thoughtful contributions.
13. samuel | April 1st, 2008 at 10:55 am
GoSL has no control over those members of the security forces who act outside the Geneva Conventions – only because they cannot be identified, or are ignored & thus able to act with impunity.
But once such action occurs resulting in extrajudicial killings, efforts are made to cover up.
The commission appointed was a sham, with this end in view.
The report of the Eminent Persons Group which consists of international jourists who are necessarily unbiassed, proves this.
Now a lawyer appearing for the state is trying to discredit one of the commissioners. The secretary of SCOPP has issued a statement which has no substance, on the UTHR report.
One winess has disappeared, and others are too terrified to testify in person.
No witness protection program has been set up so far, and may never be.
This pantomime will go on
The ultimate result will most probably be nil.
14. Nam | April 1st, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Ultimate responsibility lies on Army Commander, Defense Secretary, Defense advisor (former DIG kotahadeniaya) and finally the president as commander in chief.
It is nothing but a war crime by a state who is a signatory to the Geneva Convention. ( breakdown of rules of engagement in the war)
Who is aiding and abetting this criminals (the partners of crime)
INDIA (53% assistance to military)
USA (the so called war on terror and training, intel equipments)
UK
CHINA
PAKISTAN
RUSSIA
IRAN
ISREAL
15. Mahedhanamutha | April 1st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Mmm…I doubt this report as a document for the GOSL to blame just few petti daily coolie police officers. These three guys whether killers or not but made as scape goats. If anybody could they can start a penetrating investigations on this. IIGEP was expelled , who were investigating several Incidents including Kepitikollawa first bus bombing (Which is suspected of GOSL’s work to blame the LTTE, This ACF killings, Trinco 5 students massacre and Former Foreign minister Kadir’s Killing (which is Now suspected of Internal work of then GOSL). But GOSL did not want any of these killings investigated by aneutral body which will lead to a complete collapse of the GOSL. Just Imagine if IIGEP found that Kepitikillawa bus massacre was done by the GOSL just to Blame LTTE, the sinhalese will through the GOSL out .
So here comes UTHR to take the balme out of GOSL and put it in poor coolies or hired killers.
It is Pathetic some people here in muslim names like Nazar and like Nissa trying to white wash the GOSL and trying tio fina a reason for these killings. According to Nissa why we can’t investigate LTTE;s brutal killings. Is Nissa agree to investigate all the 105,000 killings GOSLs have done since 1971 including 35,000 sinhala civilians brutally killed by the GOSLs.
COMPARED to GOSLs LTTE still a saintly group of real leberation fighters. LTTE, have killed 7000 civilian and more than half were tamils, This even by the sinhala GOSLs estimation which is naturally balooned to the most to discredit LTTE.
Am I saying LTTE is saints A BIG NO. But what I am saying is COMPARED TO GOSL…YES LTTEers ARE SAINTS SAINTS SAINTS…I don’t have any doubt on it.
SO Nazar and Nissa please go to a 100% sinhala members board and say these these things atleast there will be few to beleive on your crap. So accoding to nazar, Now LTTE has the right to kill 100s of muslims in the east.Am I right nazzar.
And 100 muslims killled in the Mutur was the funniest story one escapee just said to one of the journalist who was in military i=uniform just to make some money. There was not a single musli was killed by LTTE on the incident only people killed were LTTE members and GOSL army.
16. Devinda Fernando | April 1st, 2008 at 2:15 pm
*** THe country is a murderous place with murderous people. I am ashamed to call my self Sri lankan. A rotten place, rotten to the core. ***
The only Murderous people you are ashamed of is the Sinhalese, Murderous Tamils are Freedom Fighters right?
17. Shajeel | April 1st, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Who knows, that could be done by the police/mobs too. Its all politics because of the corrupted politics innocent people are getting killed.
18. aratai | April 1st, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Nazar is saying Nazar is correct !
And he is saying Sri Lankan forces and Home Guards are same as LTTE babarians !!!!
19. Murugan | April 1st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
What is even sadder than the massacre itself, is that the government tried to cover up these incidents. It is one thing for a few vermin of society to carry out crimes against Tamils. But it a completely different thing for the government to allow this to occur without genuine inquiry and prosecution of the criminals. It is sad that the State institutions are complicit in the cover-up. That is what is outrageous. Rajapaksa used to be known as a defender of Human Rights. But sadly when it comes to Tamil Human Rights he does not care.
How can the Tamils have faith in the institutions of the Sri lankan government? Especially when the institutions that are responsible for investigating the murders are the very SAME institutions that are responsible for committing the murders.
For the sake of the innocent SL Tamils living in the ‘liberated’ Jaffna and ‘liberated’ East, I hope the IC brings UN monitors to end this military impunity. And we need monitors in the Vanni to reveal how the fascist LTTE brainwashes poor innocent Tamil youths to fight for Eelam. LTTE only wants Eelam, since this is in their opinion it is only way to liberate the SL Tamils. But at the same time, they are not bothered about how much suffering of the innocent Tamils it takes to achieve Eelam. LTTE is probably happy that the Security forces committed Muttur massacre, so now this act adds to the LTTE’s credibility
And for those commentators barking about the atrocities committed by the LTTE. The UTHR(j) is probably the best and most credible source of information when it comes to reavealing all the wrongs the LTTE has done. It would serve all SL Tamils well to read (www.uthr.org) about the atrocities the LTTE has done to its own Tamil people all in the name of achieving Tamil Eelam.
Thank God UTHR(j) carefully documents the atrocities committed by both sides during this sad time in the island’s history.
The UTHR(j) is enormously credible.
20. Jack Ranasinghe | April 1st, 2008 at 6:46 pm
The UTHR (www.uthr.org) has always been very hard on the LTTE and more tolerant of government and paramilitary excesses. The current core of the UTHR hasn’t forgiven the LTTE for the alleged killing of Rajini Thiranagama or the decimation of the original EPRLF. This rage, although justified, has sometimes clouded their perspective and hurt their credibility and objectivity.
One particular report that truly undermined credibility was one that attacked the character of the woman who was raped, killed and dumped in a well by Navy personnel (think it was just before the Nelliady massacre). The UTHR was so desperate to pin some blame on the LTTE, that they accused the poor woman of being a prostitute who “may” have provided services to Navy personnel and used that assumption to theorize that they LTTE would then have motive to rape, kill and dump her in the well outside the Navy camp. Needless to say the UTHR didn’t claim to have a shred of evidence to support their hypothesis. It seems that all that mattered was to vent some rage at the LTTE.
Whilst the LTTE deserves its share of criticism, that UTHR report (and a few others) contributed to building up the sense of “impunity” that this most recent report pins on Government forces.
That said, this particular report is a brilliant one that has to be applauded for the investigation’s level of detail and objectivity. The brilliance is all the more laudable, given that the UTHR has virtually no operational funding or infrastructure and is hunted by the LTTE, the Govt and its paramilitaries. I would be surprised if they survive for much longer as this current report is sure to earn the full wrath of the Rajapakse government.
21. ForeignDog | April 1st, 2008 at 8:59 pm
Blacker – I would sincerely hope that UTHR would refrain from ‘handing over’ any information to the Commission of Inquiry given what is known about its reliance on staff from the AGs office.
We wouldn’t want these witnesses killed, would we?
The Commission of Inquiry should call the alleged perpetrators, and maybe hold some of the military and police brass in contempt for conveniently ‘forgetting’ who was in Muthur at the time……
22. ernest macintyre | April 1st, 2008 at 10:03 pm
This article took me back to the murders of the Sri Lankan state’s Tamil prisoners in Colombo in July 1983. There are only technical differences between the prison murders of 1983 and the Muthur murders in 2006, in essence they are of the same kind.
So, the breaking of the palmyrah was not entirely from within its own roots and trunk, a diseased cocoanut tree fell on it.
I’m old enough to remember the Madras movie song of around 1947-
” Thena marathukum vududelai !
Panamarathukum vududelai !
Parayerukum vududelail !
Pallarukum vududelai ! ”
In the Madras state of the time the allusion of the two kinds of trees was obviously not to Sinhalese and Tamils but possibly to different castes ( Brahamins cocoanut, and lower down palmyrah? )
Whatever the case, the hope of that song has been realized in Tamil Nadu. Recently when the Indian Consul-General In Sydney was asked why southern India was well ahead of the north in economic development he attributed much of it to the assault on the caste system going back to Anna’s time and even much before.
In Sri Lanka both trees are broken.
23. Murugan | April 2nd, 2008 at 12:44 am
Mr. Jack Ranasinghe really knows what he is talking about and should be commended for his wisdom.
I should qualify my assertion that the UTHR is enormously credible.
The fact that the LTTE assassinated one of the founding members of UTHR, Rajini Thiranagama, actually makes the UTHR partially biased against the LTTE. Nevertheless I still think it is important to read the UTHR’s scathing reports on the LTTE. Although their facts are laced with anti-LTTE rhetoric, I believe their conclusions and the facts presented are valid. But now that you bring up this point about this one report, I will be more careful in believing everything that I read from the UTHR.
Nevertheless, for UTHR, an organization which is very critical against the LTTE, to be accussing the government of an atrocity- makes this a very credible report.
24. Nexus | April 2nd, 2008 at 7:35 am
It says a lot about the UTHR that they haven’t waited for the outcome of the judicial enquirey and instead have taken the soft option to grand stand at the expense of the truth and published a report based on heresay and uncorroborated solid evidence.
UNTHR has appointed it self judge and jury, I liked them much better when they reported impartially on the the ground realities instead embarking on half baked investigative journalism.
25. Reasonable Man | April 2nd, 2008 at 8:10 am
What else can you expect from a banana republic whose President is proven to be an Expert Passport Forger with a King of Kickbacks as a Defence Secretary?
It is no longer tourism that Sri Lanka is famous for. Our new expertise lies in :
Passport Forgery
Begging Bowl
Holocaust against Journalists
Rubber Stamp President helpless against Anarchy
26. David Blacker | April 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 am
Foreign Dog, are you suggesting that the commission call up the named individuals and charge them with no evidence whatsoever and just on the say-so of the UTHR? No proof, no witnesses, nothing? Sounds like an inquisition to me.
While it maybe true that witnesses are in danger, that excuse can’t be used to hold back claimed evidence. Not if you are serious about justice, and I assume you are.
27. Tamil Life is Worth Nill | April 2nd, 2008 at 9:38 am
“So is the UTHR willing to hand over eye witnesses and any such evidence to the commission investigating the incident? ”
David surely you jest? You want the witnesses exposed to the failed commission of the very same government that stands accused of these war crimes in the first place?
And this after several witnesses have ALREADY been killed?
Come on man, get real, the only people these witnesses could even remotely hope to trust would be an impartial third party commission of international nature, which the Rajapakse government would never allow, as they stand to lose much when their actions are exposed.
Why else would a ‘legitimate’ government oppose even a UN presence if they have nothing to hide.
28. Expatriate | April 2nd, 2008 at 11:03 am
David Blacker #5:
Given that you previously served in the SL Army, why don?t you tell us the atrocities your comrades committed in the North-East?
Knowing the way how the whole system of government, including the judiciary, is tainted by racism in Sri Lanka, why would anyone turn over sources to them?
The UTHR can hand over its evidence to Louise Arbour during an inquiry by the UN/ICJ with a UN-guaranteed witness protection program.
Jack Ranasinghe #20:
It is true that during the CBK regime the UTHR was harder on the LTTE than on her regime; I believe this was because CBK was at least initially more liberal in her outlook. Of course, it all changed later and her regime was full of abuses, too. CBK misused UTHR reports for her own propaganda. So did racists like H.L.D. Mahindapala and opportunists in liberal-left garb like Rajiva Wijesinha and Dayan Jayatilleka.
The UTHR did malign the character of Dharsini, the little girl who was raped and murdered by SL Navy in one of the islets north of Jaffna. I, too, was incensed by that. But to UTHR?s credit, they came out with a full apology in their next report. And looking at their history, on the whole, they still have the most credibility of any group in the SL.
29. Jack Ranasinghe | April 2nd, 2008 at 4:21 pm
David Blacker #5: I bet you’d love to have a go at the witnesses who are obviously “terrorist sympathisers.” Yes?
Nexus #24: The UTHR has never waited for an official investigation to finish. The UTHR should be faulted, if it waited for the official report to be published or acted upon. Of all the investigations into various atrocities over the last 30 years, how many have seen the light of day?
David Blacker #26: Justice? Since when has justice been served in Sri Lanka? On any matter? Unless we have more such reports that undermine the government’s credibility, there is no chance of preventing future atrocities. Justice is about what has already happened and in Sri Lanka we only hang on to our glorious past, not the murky sad bits.
Expatriate #28: I’d very interested to read UTHR’s apology on the Dharsini matter
30. Expatriate | April 2nd, 2008 at 6:25 pm
#29:
Under the section ” The rape and murder of Miss. Tharshini Elaiyathamby” the UTHR report of April 1, 2006 (see Special Report #20) contained the following wording: We unreservedly apologise for the wording, which we now know to be ill-founded and very unfair by the deceased.
This was probably not in the immediate next report as I said in my previous post, and the wording of this apology was not sufficient in my view, but still an apology.
31. David Blacker | April 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 am
I did not mean “hand over the witnesses and evidence” in a literal manner. But there are ways to prosecute war crimes while protecting the witnesses, as is being done in the Trinco case.
Some of you scoff at my suggestions on justice, but if you’re not interested in justice, or feel it will never be served in SL, what’s the point discussing this case. The UTHR report will NOT undermine the GoSL as long as it remains uncorroborated hearsay with no evidence or eye witness testimony. So if you want to congratulate yourselves on a great victory, go ahead, but you’re fooling yourselves.
Having said that, it’s historically clear that it is almost impossible to prosecute a war crime while a war is in progress, due to the inaccessibility of the site, eye witnesses, etc. Even once the war is over, it needs the fullest cooperation of all parties concerned. If you take Malmedy and Mai Lai as examples, this can be seen. In the Malmedy case, German cooperation was guaranteed by their defeat and the POW status of the accused Waffen-SS officers and men. Even then, it was seen as an American kangaroo court, and several sentences were later commuted or overturned, a case in point being Sturmbannfuhrer Joachim Peiper who was later released. In the Mai Lai case, the US government cooperated in the prosecution of the Americal Division officers and men, but even then Lt Calley was the only man sentenced, and his life sentence was commuted to house arrest and even that for only four years, after which he was pardoned.
In cases such as Muttur, it may be many years til the war is over, and there is no guarantee that any of the witnesses or the accused would even survive the war.
The UTHR report is full of contradictions, and some gaping holes, particularly about the weapons used by the killers.
Jack Ranasinghe & Expatriate who seem to have already pronounced me guilty of war crimes and the intention to harm the witnesses, I suggest you take your misguided and self-serving little moralisation and stick it up your backsides.
Frankly, I have never seen any physical atrocities carried out by my unit on civilians, though I admit that the Tigers we faced were shown little mercy. I have however watched little children being forced to plant antipersonnel mines under armed LTTE guard. I have also walked through a Muslim village after it had been attacked by the LTTE, and seen the bodies of the male civilians that had been nailed to their front doors before having their genitals removed in front of their womenfolk.
Believe me, I have seen with my own eyes just what the LTTE is capable of doing not just to Muslims and Sinhalese, but to their own people.
The fact that there is a hue and cry about the ACF staffers but nothing about the 70 Muslims killed just a day before is shameful. Are you guys only interested in justice for Tamils?
I am quite aware that it is possible that the police or security forces killed the ACF staffers, but I think it’s improbable, and I see nothing in the UTHR report that proves anything.
32. Devinda Fernando | April 3rd, 2008 at 1:53 am
With this one incident the Feeding Frenzy over the possibility of convicting some SL army or Navy or STF persons is so loud you can hear it a mile away.
One Possible War crime (and the Trial is not even over) and the people who have been looking for any excuse to stick it to this government finally have a little morsel to chew on. With this they will erect skyscraper analogies and implications all the way to the President on this.
I would not be surprised if people would believe that Mahinda Rajapakse directly text messaged the Order to Kill these people,….
Enjoy folks!
33. Expatriate | April 3rd, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Blacker,
I am not surprised that a foot soldier of the same army that massacred innocents around me in the 1980’s–90’s when I lived in SL would think the ACF staff’s massacre by SL armed forces ‘improbable.’
Oh,yes, I find it very credible when such a soldier, having been taught to believe that most Tamils in the North-East are Tigers, says he killed only the Tigers.
The UTHR has been compiling reports for a long time and many reports have been harshly critical of the LTTE’s atrocities against all ethnic groups.
Specifically about Muslims, outside the forced exodus of Muslims in the North, most such atrocities against Muslims happened in the East, when Karuna was the LTTE commander there, with people like Pillaiyan under him.
That such people were part of the LTTE should have caused hardcore LTTE supporters to rethink their views about the nature of the LTTE; but we also know that the Karuna/Pillaiyan (TMVP) group is now part and parcel of the GoSL/SLA.
In the face of such naked involvement in murders, rapes and abductions by the GoSL/SLA/TMVP/EPDP, any SL citizen who rushes to the defense of the GoSL/SLA is guilty of being enablers of the same crimes. How can such people speak about justice? I dont want to waste any more time with such people.
34. ernest macintyre | April 3rd, 2008 at 10:15 pm
See 33 above from a horses mouth –
“ Oh,yes, I find it very credible when such a soldier, having been taught to believe that most Tamils in the North-East are Tigers, says he killed only the Tigers.”
Is it then surprising, that after the teachers of the army have created this near Aristotelian syllogism, the LTTE claim to be the soul representatives of the Tamil people.
35. Expose | April 3rd, 2008 at 11:58 pm
Quote David Blacker:
‘Frankly, I have NEVER seen any physical atrocities carried out by my unit on civilians’
******* and*******
Now read this from his own blog
Elephant Pass was a fairly isolated base, and most civilians who had any sense had left the area, so ANYTHING WE SAW COULD BE KILLED. When I first arrived in EPS in December 1990, the garrison was securing the base’s perimeters after the LTTE onslaught of the previous months that had started off the Second Eelam War. During this security operation, the base perimeter had been expanded to swallow several small hamlets that, upto the end of the ceasefire, had been populated. The civilians had obviously left in a hurry, leaving most of their stuff behind, and my platoon was detailed to clear the houses. We burned everything we couldn’t use, and watching all those saris and flowery frocks burning, I was also struck by how unfair it all was. Sometime in ‘91, I was spotting for a sniper, and he called in mortars on a Tiger column that was on a road. There were CIVILIANS on the road as well, and some of them WERE HIT too. Afterwards, we watched through our scopes as a foreign DOCTOR OR MEDIC(we could see his blonde hair even at six-hundred yards) tended to the fallen, including the Tigers. MY PARTNER THEN SHOT HIM.
so self-confessed doctor and civilian murderer David Blacker trying to speak through his arse as usual.
*** Quote David Blacker:
I have however watched little children being forced to plant antipersonnel mines under armed LTTE guard
..and you were overseeing if the LTTE were doing a proper job of it? At least lie without insulting our intelligence.
see you. yours OaO.:))))
36. David Blacker | April 4th, 2008 at 2:20 am
Expatriate, normally, the silly rantings of an anonymous entity on the web, wouldn’t worry me, but I’d like to take the chance to point out the load of rubbish you’re spouting.
“I am not surprised that a foot soldier of the same army that massacred innocents around me in the 1980’s–90’s when I lived in SL would think the ACF staff’s massacre by SL armed forces ‘improbable.’”
Regardless of our backgrounds, prosecutions must be looked at objectively. Your past experiences lead you to accuse someone blindly, regardless of evidence. This doesn’t surprise me. However, you’re still wrong to do so. The reason I think it’s improbable isn’t because of my past, but because there is no indication of such a prepropensity towards such crimes. Most atrocities committed by the SL security forces have been in retaliation for perceived wrongs by civilians, and usually in the heat of the moment. The LTTE on the other hand, has amply proven that it calculatedly targets civilians as a terror tactic.
“Oh,yes, I find it very credible when such a soldier, having been taught to believe that most Tamils in the North-East are Tigers, says he killed only the Tigers.”
Ah, so I’m already guilty of racism and murder is it? If you’re so eager to condemn someone in this forum whom you don’t even know, I’m not surprised that you would jump to believe everything in the UTHR report. FYI I’m half Jaffna Tamil on my mother’s side, and until fairly recently had relatives in Jaffna. I still have friends in the NE. Some of my Tamil relatives had their home burned in ‘83 and had to leave the country. So don’t be so keen to talk about things you have no clue about, Expatriate. Don’t let your sense of revenge lead you to blindly condemn.
If you know anything about the fighting around Elephant Pass in ‘90-’91 you will understand my comment about civilians and my unit.
As for the LTTE atrocities against Muslims, you seem keen to blame it all on Karuna & Pilliyan. The fact of the matter is that they were not expelled from the LTTE, but left of their own accord. To the contrary such people were rewarded and promoted for their treatment of Muslim civilians. The LTTE policy of terror was formulated by VP and passed down to the minions such as Karuna, who gleefully carried it out. So it’s absurd to try and shove the blame onto them. In addition, everything done to the Muslims waas aalso done to the Sinhalese civilians of the border areas, and these weren’t done just by Karuna & Pilliyan.
“I don�t want to waste any more time with such people.”
Really? Who would you like to waste your time with then?
37. ernest macintyre | April 4th, 2008 at 4:33 am
re. 34 above, to expand on the reference, only if the moderators think it necessary, ” We all know of Aristotle’s syllogism from the classic textbook example: “All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore, Socrates is mortal “.
38. Mahul. C.Spencer | April 7th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Ref #37# and other related ones.
What is quoted as sylogism is the usual logic. Example of sylogism is “God Is Love” , “Love Is Blind’ . Therefore God Is Blind. Only when there is anabsurdity in the, premises assumed, inference, induction or deduction that it becomes sylogical When there is sense its logical and not sylogical as EM claims.
Is EM trying to defend David Blacker for their mixed burgher Tamil roots? What transpires in almost all these commentaries from these reports and articles is that transparency is not genuime and that the truth is almost always sanguine.
Though there are exceptions similar to role palyed by Rajan Hoole and the UTHR (J).
39. David Blacker | April 8th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Expose
your ‘expose’ doesn’t contradict anything I’ve said. I said I’d never seen any atrocities carried out against civilians. I believe a war crime or atrocity would be the intentional targeting of civilians. None of that takes place in the paragraphs you’ve quoted.
The populations of the hamlets close to EPS were displaced in the fighting initiated by the LTTE when they broke the ceasefire in June ‘90. There were no longer civilians within range of regular rifle fire (600m). In fact, I don’t think there were any within 5km of the base perimeter.
The target of the mortar fire on the road were the Tigers. Unfornunately, civilians were hit too, but that was not the intention.
The blonde medic was tending the LTTE casualties as well. So he was arguably in a military situ. I think he was a legit target. The LTTE targets are medics and we do the same.
The little boys were in school uniform and at a range of aproximately 850m from our position, if I remember correctly. If they had been in LTTE uniform, we would have opened fire, or called in artillery. There was a crosswind, and so we avoided targeting the LTTE guards as we might have hit the children or set off the mines.
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