The Convenors
Human Rights Law
Center,
Australia,
Dear Organizers,
I have learnt that The Human Rights Law Center
has invited participants to a discussion about accountability for war crimes
and the current human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
On the face of it , it
appears to be a very praiseworthy initiative of the legal body to find the truth of how the Sri Lanka
war against terrorism ended, about which many contradictory stories without any
acceptable account has been put forward.
But the bona fides of the Conveners efforts become questionable when
reading the names of the panellists
invited for the discussion.
If the Human Rights Law
Centre is different from the Human Rights Watch, I thought it would be more
objective, open and independent in its search for the truth of accountability
for war crimes and the current human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
In that sense of
objectivity the Human
Rights Law
Center should have been
more careful in the choice of the panellists, unless of course the search of the “truth” is only an attempt to promote a pre-established “truth”.
You could have for instance invited some one from those
who had visited Sri
Lanka to see for themselves what had taken
place, such as the Australian Opposition Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop,
opposition Immigration spokesman Scott Morrison, or opposition Justice, Customs
and Border Protection spokesman Michael Keenan. Then your organised discussion
would have been more credible and useful.
But, As it is it smacks of
a publicity campaign for the sale of the books by Gordon Weiss and
Frances Harrison written on the Sri
Lanka’s terrorist war. Those books are fictions rather than true accounts, as what
actually took place in that closed area, where only the terrorists, and the Sri
Lanka Armed forces were present with a large number of civilian Tamils held by
the terrorists as a “human shield”, Gordon Weiss and Frances Harrison would not
have known, and it is not possible they
could even have found credible eye witnesses.
But the Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International and the International Crisis Group and other human rights
activists all make a great effort to seek the truth of what
happened at the last phase of the terrorist war in Sri Lanka .
They have chosen the worst period
of the conflict to find the “truth” as no body could tell exactly what happened in that particular
area during that particular period of time.
The Sri Lanka Armed Forces were not fighting a “last stand war” like the
terrorists who were in fact fighting for their “dear lives” in an unwinnable
war.
Therefore the Armed Forces
had to go slow, firstly to save their own lives as they were carrying only
small arms , secondly to eliminate the terrorists , and thirdly to rescue an
unexpected number of about 300,000 Tamil civilians, men, women and
children running away to save their dear
lives.
The terrorists were
fighting unto their last using the heavy arms they had placed amoung the
civilian crowd now running away from them. They were angry that their last hope
of living to fight as long as possible was fading with their “human
shields” taking to their heels.
In that situation, who
could have stopped to count the numbers
dead and dying, the escapee Tamil civilians were a
stampede of cattle let loose from a
cattle ranch. The Armed forces had to
take cover from aimless shooting by the terrorists, rescue the Tamil civilian
“human shields” running away from the
terrorists , while shooting at the terrorists to protect themselves and the
Tamil civilians they were rescuing.
Therefore, they could not have stopped a moment to count the dead. And the terrorists did not care who died and
how many died as they were fighting to keep alive and could not and did not count the dead and the dying.
Then who counted this
40,000, 8000 or 7000 dead bodies as they claim at different times,lying in the
war zone ? If it was done by aerial
photographs, how could they have distinguished the dead civilians from the dead
terrorists ? If there were 300 000
civilian Tamils in that war zone during the last phase of the war against
terrorists, and if 295 000 had been rescued and counted. The missing number is 5 000. Arn’t all these different numbers at different
times a fabrication to discredit Sri
Lanka Armed Forces and bring the Armed
Forces before a war tribunal ?
It would have been more
convenient and intelligent to have left
out the last phase of the terrorist war to call for accountability, and
concentrated on the 27 years before that. The “war crimes” during that period
may have been documented and the “criminals” more easily found.
But this has been avoided perhaps
to exonerate the real perpetrators of
“war crimes” –the terrorists.
Now the whole burden
of accountability for war crimes has
been put on the Sri Lanka Government and its Armed Forces. And all the stories, tales of eye witnesses
coming forward to tell that 40000 or less numbers died is all made up. No one
in his or her right sense could accept these eye witnesses. Most of those who
escaped from the war zone while escaping
were concerned only about their own near
and dear ones. Those who were wounded
when rescued by the Armed Forces were in terrible state of fear, and
psychological shock.
They were starved,
unwashed, unclean, sick. The old men and women hardly able to walk were carried
by the Sri Lanka Soldiers in their arms,
they carried the wounded on stretches despite the shooting of the
terrorists and exploding bullets. But yet these soldiers of the Sri Lanka Armed
Forces get no Credit for their dedication to save human lives, from those who are more keen to accuse the
Armed Forces for war crimes.
Therefore, this good effort
of the Human Rights Law Centre, should have objectivity and openness to find
the truth, and for that it should not have a panel composed of biased persons, who have already concluded
that the Sri Lanka Armed Forces are guilty of War Crimes.
Persons for various reasons
have an axe to grind against Sri
Lanka government and therefore all-out to put the blame of war
crimes on the Sri Lanka Government Armed Forces.
Any one can come forward
and say I saw the Sri Lanka Armed Forces were shooting at the civilians to kill
them, but another more objective could
ask, if the Government Armed Forces opened fire at the Tamil Civilians purposely to kill them how
come that the same Armed Forces rescued nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians.
If the Government Armed
Forces were as ruthless as the Tamil Terrorists, was it not an ideal occasion for the Government Armed Forces to have killed
all the 300000 Tamil civilians without leaving a single witness ?
Is that not a “good”
question to ask the panellists ?
It is time nearly four
years after the elimination of terrorists to forget demanding accountability for what happened at
the last phase of the military operations against the terrorists and begin to look after the living.
Even to the International
Community, asking for accountability for war crimes and the current human
rights situation in Sri
Lanka, it is becoming a burden which it would
like to leave aside.
The truth that the Sri
Lanka Armed Forces cannot be held accountable for war crimes will have to come
out. Already there are those in the
USAID, the Secretary General of UNO, and even Germany who seem to be taking a
more balanced view of the situation.
If your discussion is to
have credibility it is best that the four
panellists Frances Harrison, Dr. Sam Pari, Gordon Weiss and Bruce Haigh. are left out and take others more objective from
both sides- the side accusing the Sri
Lanka Armed Forces for war crimes and
those who are against such accusations.
I hope that good sense will
prevail.
Yours Sincerely,
Charles S.Perera
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