[see also Rajiv Gandhi's War Crimes]
"Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited." - Articles 50(4), 50(6), 1977 Protocol to 1949 Geneva Conventions
"In the northeast hundreds of people were arrested by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) and screened for links with the LTTE. Members of the EPRLF and allied Tamil groups aided the IPKF in identifying suspects. Relatives of LTTE suspects were also detained. The Indian authorities did not disclose whether these detainees were held under Sri Lankan or Indian legislation. There were no reports that the detainees had been charged or tried.
In August the Indian authorities reportedly said that 5,489 prisoners were in IPKF custody. Members of the EPRLF and other Tamil groups regularly arrested and detained LTTE suspects... Both the IPKF and groups allied with them reportedly tortured prisoners. Indian troops regularly beat prisoners and subjected them to electric shocks. Dozens of prisoners were reportedly killed in custody.
There were dozens of cases in which arrests by the IPKF or EPRLF were witnessed and after the authorities said the detainees were released, their bodies were found with gun shot wounds...
Several reprisal attacks by the IPKF after ambushes by the LTTE were reported. Upto 46 people were extrajudicially executed at Valvettiturai in August 1989 after the LTTE had ambushed an IPKF patrol there and killed six Indian soldiers. Among the reported victims was a one year child. Many extrajudicial killings in the northeast were reportedly committed by the EPRLF and their allies, acting with the backing or acquiescence of the IPKF.
The EPRLF was allegedly responsible for scores of extra judicial executions...at least two of six Tamil asylum seekers who were forcibly returned to Sri Lanka from the United Kingdom in February 1988 had been tortured after their return. One of the victims was reportedly tortured by the IPKF in Jaffna, and the other by police in Jaffna." -- Amnesty International Annual Report, 1990 for period January to December 1989
"Dozens of people were killed in Valvettiturai (in the North) on the 2nd of August 1989 by members of the IPKF(Indian Peace Keeping Force). The attack was in apparent reprisal for an incident earlier in the day when, according to reports, six soldiers of the 17th Sikh regiment were killed and 11 injured when the LTTE ambushed an IPKF patrol in Valvettiturai market.
A few hours after the clash, members of the IPKF reportedly returned to Valvettiturai, a known LTTE stronghold, and rampaged through the town, killing 52 residents, many of whom are believed to have been defenceless and deliberately killed, and setting fire to houses and property. The IPKF cordoned off the town for two and a half days, denying access to medical personnel who were trying to reach the injured. In some cases IPKF soldiers entered houses where people were taking refuge and shot them. Twenty people were sheltering in the house of Vengadasalam Subramanaiam when IPKF soldiers entered:
'All of us then went forward raising our hands. (Subramaniam) also went forward raising his hands and attempted to speak to the soldiers. But the soldiers started firing. Those in front fell down.' Subramaniam was killed along with eight others..." - Amnesty International Sri Lanka Briefing, 19 September 1990
