INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA
Sri Lanka's War Crimes: the Record Speaks....

உண்மைகள் ஒருபோதும் உறங்குவதில்லை, உறங்கவும் கூடா...
Truth never sleeps - and it should not....

"In violation of International Humanitarian Law (IDL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL) the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) continues to deny Humanitarian Agencies, including the UN and ICRC, access to the 15,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Vaharai Division of Batticaloa District in the NorthEast.  These IDPs were displaced from the Muttur, Sampoor, and Eachchilampattu Divisions of the Trincomalee District beginning in August 2006."

"One may wonder whether this indiscriminate killings of innocent people is the will of God. Man was created by God to live in peace, happiness and freedom. Denying freedom to anyone cannot be the will of God. To survive in this world one has to be strong. We must learn to strengthen ourselves in unity and face any hardships to gain our freedom. Let us pledge ourselves to fight for our freedom and happiness as we pay our deepest love and respect for the innocent lives robbed so cruelly,"  Rev. Fr. James Pathinathar in his address at the funeral of the Padahuthurai victims of Sri Lanka's crime against humanity

 "...Under human rights law, there is a recognised right to adequate and available food......whatever the full contours and permeations of the right to food might be, it is clear that it constitutes a violation of the human rights law to deny adequate food to a given population. Moreover, it would be especially unlawful and egregious to deny the right to adequate food as government tactic to control certain persons or as a weapon of war. The most egregious violations include denials of food and medicine or medical supplies, especially for children.… If food is likely to be used by both the general population and enemy combatants, the destruction or denial of food, in circumstances where one can reasonably foresee that the general population will suffer, will necessarily involve the indiscriminate use of food as a weapon. [these] denials also violate related prohibitions under the laws of war, and constitute serious war crimes... Fear of food falling into the hands of enemy combatants is not an excuse for denying food to the civilians... It is time for the international community to recognise that, in addition to medicine and medical supplies, food should always be treated as neutral property during an armed conflict. Because of highly predictable consequences, both short term and long term, food should never be used as a weapon of war. ."  Professor Jordan J. Paust, Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, May ’98

"..Neither party to the CFA has a right to adopt retaliatory measures. The parties must report any violation to the SLMM for appropriate action or give two weeks' notice to terminate the agreement. Defying this stipulation, unilaterally commencing a retaliatory attack is a gross breach of the CFA. In addition, the attack by government forces on civilian targets, causing death and extensive damage to civilian property, making people destitute is a humanitarian violation and is a war crime under Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 2 ( c ) and 2(e). International Humanitarian Law does not permit warring parties to attack civilian targets and civilian lives. The "retaliatory action" directed on civilian targets in Trincomalee-Batticaloa areas on 25-26 April are the actions of a terrorist state intent on terrorising the Tamil people into submission..." more

"..Many areas in the region are virtually a sea of rubble after the intensive attack. Apart from bombs dropped in six different air force sorties, there were at least 80 shells by the Navy and over 160 shells by the Army. Rescue work is currently underway and many of the affected houses, dwellings and other buildings are yet to be cleared. The casualty toll may go up when all the debris and rubble are cleared.The areas affected are Sampur. Muthur, Senaiyoor, Kadatkaraichenai, Kattaiparichhaan, Iraalkuli, Soodaikkudaa, Ilakkanthai, Santhoshapuram, Paattaalipuram, Koonitheevu and Uppaaru. These villages are in Muthur East and largely adjacent to the coast.People have fled their homes and sought refuge in the Muthur division interior areas after the attack. Massive displacement has occurred. 43, 158 people from 10, 718 families are currently displaced in Trincomalee district. The bulk of these are from the Muthur region.. A human tragedy may occur if their needs are not met on time..." more

 "..Thousands of persons from Ralkuli, Kadakaraichchenai, Senaiyoor, Sampoor, Ilakkanthai, Sudaikuda, Paddalipuram and Upparu in the Trincomalee district have been displaced due to the ongoing air, sea, and ground attacks by the Security Forces of Government of Sri Lanka. The IDPs affected by the previous week’s communal violence are also streaming into LTTE controlled areas from the government controlled areas. The number of IDPs has passed the 30,000 mark and continues to rise. Due to extensive and continuous shelling and bombing the relief and rescue efforts are being severely hampered and travel to the affected areas to carry out humanitarian work has been nearly impossible..."

"..More than fifteen thousand Tamil people of about four thousand and five hundred families from Chenaiyoor, Kaddaiparichchan, Koonitheivu, Soodaikuda, Kadatkaraichenai, Santhoshapuram and several hamlets in the Muttur east Wednesday morning gathered in the village Pattalipuram in Muttur east fearing of more air strike and artillery fire. These families started walking toward Pattalipuram while SLAF Kfir jet resumed its bombing  26 April, Wednesday  early morning.." more

"..Initial reports from Muttur east in Trincomalee district 26 April, Wednesday morning said at least twelve bodies of Tamil civilians including men, women and children killed in Tuesday evening air strike by Kfir jets, and artillery attack by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were recovered from Muttur east area. More casualties are expected from Tuesday attack by government troops, a NGO source in the affected area said. Five bodies have been identified as belonging to K. Meiyan and his two year old son Meiyan Kishanthan, Ms Nagiah Rukmani, Ms Pathiniyan Nagamma and Ms Veerapathiran Pagawathipillai. All were from Sampoor, Muttur east, according to civil sources.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) launched air strike on several villages in the LTTE held Muttur east village Tuesday evening following the bomb attack on Lt.General Sarath Fonseka, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Colombo.

Three-pronged attack launched by the SLA, SLAF and Sri Lanka Navy on Muttur east villages commenced around 5.30 evening Tuesday ceased around 10 p.m. in the night. But the attack resumed around midnight Tuesday for about an hour, civil sources said.

Groups of people searching for causalities in the Tuesday attacks said at least twelve bodies of Tamil civilians were recovered so far. The death toll is expected to increase. Large number of injured is seeking treatment in Sampoor government hospital where acute shortage medical facilities prevail, sources said."

"Bodies of 12 victims, all Tamils were counted so far in Kadatkaraichenai, Kaddaiparichaan, Senaiyoor and Eachilampatrai. Bodies of women and children were also found among the dead. Many are wounded. Damage to property is extensive. In the air-attack on a Muslim village in Muthur, a Muslim was killed and 9 wounded. On Tuesday alone, the SL Forces had bombed at least in 150 places."

"The armed Forces of Sri Lanka - Army, Navy and Air Force are conducting a joint-non-stop attack on Tamil civilian areas in Trincomalee. Dr. Kohona, the Director-General of the Sri Lanka government Peace Secretariat said the navy shelling and air strikes should not be counted as violation of CFA. He called it a fair reply to the suicide bomb blast earlier in the day in Colombo (on a military target). Condoning the attack on Sampur and adjoining villages in Trincomalee... the Sri Lanka Peace Secretariat boss called the attack by state armed forces on its unarmed civilians, justifiable...  The International community, neighbouring India and the so-called Co-Chairs and the Diplomatic community in Colombo have not thundered "Halt!" nor denounced the violation of the humanitarian laws of armed conflict by the Sri Lanka State." more

"war crimes" means - Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities..." Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 2(e)(i)

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed five Tamil civilians Tuesday night close to an SLA 51-1 Division camp located at Vatharavathai, 13 km north-east of Jaffna. The soldiers took the five civilians, a Municipal Council official, an electrical mechanic, a farmer and two auto-rikshaw drivers, into their camp and later brought them out to an open terrain and gunned them down, villagers said. A terror-campaign, let loose on the civilians in Puthur in October 2005, when the villagers spoiled a rape attempt by the soldiers, triggered a series of Claymore attacks in Jaffna. Tuesday's killings come a few hours after Australia commending Colombo for "not retaliating in kind."

 "...The plan is to destabilize the Tigers, bait the group into confrontation and ultimately launch an offensive aimed at destroying the fractured Tamil movement once and for all," the analysts at Strategic Forecasting (Stratfor) said quoting unnamed sources inside the Sri Lankan government....Colombo probably hopes a renewed guerrilla war will be tempered by internal struggles and that, once weakened, the Tigers can be destroyed, the US analysts said....According to the US analysts, in the event of a renewed war “the Tigers will likely end up weaker - perhaps no longer in a position to make the demands for autonomy that helped cause the internal strife in the first place. 'On the other hand, baiting a wounded tiger could be a dangerous game',  they cautioned. Colombo promoting Karuna to destroy LTTE with tacit approval of US  says US based think tank Stratfor 

"the intentional withholding of medicine and medical supplies from LTTE controlled areas  is a clear violation of common Article 3 and is a war crime." Professor Jordan J. Paust

"The MEPs, Richard Howitt and Robert Evans, say the government has not done enough to protect civilians caught up in the war against Tamil Tiger rebels and is covering up their suffering. The men accuse the authorities of implementing an oppressive press-censorship policy and of not allowing essential supplies, including baby food and medicine, to be distributed in areas controlled by the Tamil Tigers..."

"I am given to understand that the attitude of the armed forces is that " it is better to kill the people than allow them to go into the LTTE controlled areas". "

"International Educational Development/Humanitarian Law Project requests that the Commission take immediate steps to secure the release of 5114 Tamil women, children and elderly who are trapped in St. Mary’s Church and school at Kilali near the Sri Lankan Army’s (the SLA) Elephant Pass military base. ..We fear that the SLA is trying to use them as human shields. We consider this action by the SLA to be "hostage-taking" under the Geneva Conventions and hence a serious violation of humanitarian law. If they are killed in the course of the armed conflict, the SLA would be the chargeable party based on its refusal to let them flee..."

"..Twenty one Tamil civilians were killed and 35 wounded when the air force carried out a bombing raid in northeastern Sri Lanka, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Thursday (16 September 1999). Fifteen civilians, including women and children, died during the attack while another six died in hospital in the district of Mullaitivu on Wednesday, an ICRC spokesman in Colombo said. He said the bombs fell just two kilometres away from the ICRC office in the district of Mullaitivu. "We can confirm that 21 civilians were killed consequent to the air strike at Manthuvil junction," the spokesman said. "The ICRC deplores the fact that the air strikes were carried out in a civilian area." 

In a letter to President Chandrika, Batticaloa MP Joseph Pararajasingham says, "despite many written complaints to her, indiscriminate shelling of populated areas continues. According to reports, 75 civilians were killed and over 185 were injured in 1998 in security force attacks."

"Sri Lanka is using civilians as a human shield for transporting troops and materials to and from the war zone, a Tamil parliamentarian alleged ... The government thinks security personnel may have more cover if they are transported with civilians in the same ship or aircraft. "

"On 9 June, under cover of the press censorship, Sri Lanka launched a calculated bombing raid on Tamil villages in the Mullaitivu District... The attack launched by Sri Lanka follows an earlier pattern. On 22 September 1996, the Sri Lanka airforce bombed the Nagar Kovil school within hours of Sri Lanka imposing a Press Censorship. The British Refugee Council, Sri Lanka Monitor commented on that occasion: "Hours after the Sri Lanka government imposed military censorship on press reporting ... on 21 September, aircraft bombed a Jaffna school yard crammed with 750 children on their lunch break, killing 34 and seriously injuring over 150 others"

"Are the denial of adequate and available food and the denial of adequate and available medicine and medical supplies violations of human rights law? This Essay demonstrates that such denials are not only violations, but are quite serious violations of basic human rights. Such denials of food or medicine and medical supplies tend to be among the most egregious types of human rights violations, since those who can least afford to suffer tend to be victims... As the authoritative commentary by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC} adds, the duty to respect and protect the wounded and sick is "a categorical imperative which cannot be restricted.  Therefore, the intentional withholding of medicine and medical supplies from LTTE controlled areas, as recognised by the State Department, is a clear violation of common Article 3 and a war crime. "

"..Military operations have damaged 80% of the 176,300 houses in the peninsula. Over 17,000 houses have been completely destroyed.... A number of houses and schools are occupied by the Army. People complain that a large number of trees, including coconut and palmyrah trees providing livelihood, are being cut down for military use..."

"Another humanitarian crisis is looming as Sri Lankan forces shell and aerial-bomb Tamil border villages on the edges of Vavuniya and Mannar districts in their latest offensive. Heavy artillery fire is raining down on a number of villages causing civilians to flee in massive waves.."

" I have been struggling in my mind against the conclusion that the SL government is trying to kill or terrorize as many Tamil people as possible; that the government is trying to keep the conditions of the war unreported internationally, because if those conditions were reported, the actions of the military would be perceived as so deplorable that foreign nations would have no choice but to condemn them. And this would be embarrassing to everybody.  But it seems now that no other conclusion is possible... "

"When we first head the noise of the jets, we ran into the air-raid shelters which had been dug into the ground. Two bombs exploded near our bunker. I fainted. When I regained consciousness, I found my father had had his head blown off. My sister's body had been torn apart and pieces of her child were near by. "

"Seventeen Tamil civilians, mostly children and the aged were killed by Sri Lanka helicopter gunships on 16 March 1996 in the village of Nachchikuda in the East. About sixty were seriously injured..."

 "...you are actually steamrollering through the area. Step by step. Do a certain distance first, then clean up, converge on the next one. Any building from which resistance comes or where there is likely to be resistance, bring it down with air bombing or with tank fire. You clean up. But then as you pass -- you're leaving behind rubble as you go. So that was the other problem for which they have resorted to censorship so that this doesn't come out. .. they have made sure that there is no adverse publicity (world opinion, the press, doesn't know what is happening there, because it's all controlled). .."

"The military's artillery shell machine at Neerveli was switched on at 3.00 AM. on the 29th, and the frequency of shelling (sometimes four to six shells were blasted within a single minute) was so frightening that most of the staff ran for its safety to the University that was already crowded with people rushing from Uduvil, Marutanamadam, Enuvil, Urumpurai, Urelu, Kokkuvil, Kondavil, Kulappiddy and other villages of the Valigamam area. A Supersonic and two Puccara bombers began encircling the Tirunelveli-Kondavil area and suddenly began to fire rockets, the impact of which was like a powerful strike of lightening and thunder.More than ten persons died in and around Tirunelveli, among them three children belonging to one family..."

"Hours after the Sri Lanka government imposed military censorship on press reporting of its bitter and unpredictable war... on 21 September, aircraft bombed a Jaffna school yard crammed with 750 children on their lunch break, killing 34 and seriously injuring over 150 others. Two surgeons from French medical agency Medecins Sans Frontierers (MSF) worked through the night at Point Pedro's Manthikai hospital carrying out 22 amputations, four cases of both legs. Ten of the amputees were under 12. The LTTe says 71 Tamil civilians were killed in bombing raids in Nagarkoil and Vadamaratchy areas in a 24 hour period. Military sources first denied the attack then claimed Nagaroil was a Sea Tiger base where LTTE cadre had gathered to honour Tiger martyr Thileepan..  Civilians are unidentifiable from the air - unless perhaps there are 750 of them all dressed in spotless white school uniforms."

Sri Lanka armed forces contravened Geneva Convention says NGO

"..Bombing by high flying supersonic jets continue to cause considerable civilian casualties… Sustained shelling from the Palaly army camp has compelled tens of thousands of Tamils to leave their homes. Several houses have been flattened. At the sametime the Sri Lanka Government has imposed an economic blockade on the transport of goods to the Tamil homeland including essential food items and medical supplies.The actions of the Sri Lanka armed forces are a clear contravention of the Geneva Convention relating to non international armed conflicts.."

"Having dropped leaflets asking the people to move to places of worship the Sri Lanka air force there after attacked the places of worship where Tamil civilians had sought refuge. St.Peters Church and St.Peters School in Navaly at a great distance away from the line of battle and where hundreds had sought shelter was deliberately bombed on 9 July 1995." "Thirteen babies were among the 65 dead found under the rubble of a Catholic church bombed by the Sri Lankan air force, an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said.."

"Indiscriminate and continual night shelling on 9, 10 and 11 July of Kokuvil, Thalayady, Maruthanamadam, Thavadi, Uduvil, Manipay, Anaicottai, Sangarathai, Vaddukodai, and Navaly areas led tens of thousands of Tamil civilians to evacuate their homes. During certain periods shells were fired at the rate of almost one per minute... During the first six days of the onslaught, 245 Tamil civilians including almost one hundred women and children were killed"

"The Batticaloa (Tamil) civilians are being used as Claymore mine detectors by the (Sri Lanka) forces. The farmers in the Vantharamulla area are being forced to walk ahead of the soldiers and sometimes even asked to dig with bare hands for buried mines, the Batticaloa TULF M.P. K.Thuraisingham told the 'Sunday Leader'. "On the 2nd of May I complained to Brigadier Igadagolla who is in charge of the Kalkudah district about these human rights violations... Also some farmers reported to me that they were forced to feel the ground for hidden mines through a hooked wire, a routine task for the soldier..."

"Reports say 116 people died in the Jaffna hospital in the Jaffna Hospital, the majority of septicaemia. Only a fraction of the 300 lorry loads of food required for 200,000 people has reached Killinochchi District and reports say the GA has no reserve food stocks. Kerosene is hard to obtain even at a high price." - British Refugee Council Publication, Sri Lanka Monitor

"Sustained shelling from Sri Lanka Army Camps in the North has compelled over 5000 Tamil civilians to evacuate from their homes in Panipulam and Chulipuram. In these areas many houses have been badly damaged..."

"..On 12 November 1993, at about 2.30 p.m. Sri Lankan supersonic jets bombed the safety zone around the Jaffna Hospital. The bombs were dropped within 50 yards of the main entrance to the Hospital. This area is under ICRC control. Doors, windows and tiles of the Hospital were broken and fell in pieces. The outer wall of the OPD came tumbling down. Glass shutters of some vehicles within the hospital were shattered. Two security guards of the hospital, a Red Cross volunteer worker, and an infant in the hands of a woman who rushed into the hospital for safety were injured..."

"Following the overrunning of the Pooneryn camp by the LTTE on 11 November 1993, on the morning of 12 November at about 8.30 a.m. Sri Lanka supersonic planes bombed the Jaffna Secretariat premises. The first bomb hit the Kacheri and splinters caused injury to Mr.K.Manickavasagar, the Government Agent who was at his desk attending to his duties. As the shrapnel hit Mr.Manickavasagar he ran out of his room and down the stairs to reach the lower floor..."

"..On Friday, 26 November Sri Lanka Airforce jet dropped two bombs at Kalasalai Road in Thirunelvely. The houses of Sivapatham and Vijayaratnam were badly damaged. Immediately after this attack the supersonic jet targeted the Sri Ramakrishna Saratha Ladies College in Kokuvil. The Vice Principal of the school , Mrs. T.Sri Pathmanathan, a teacher and some students, six in all, were injured. The Science laboratory was damaged..."

"..At about 8.40 a.m on Monday, 28 December 1993, two Sri Lanka Airforce bombers dropped five bombs in Alampil, a village in the Manal Aru area. Five houses were damaged. The Multi Purpose Coop Society building was completely destroyed. Siyamani Komala (aged 4) and her brother Siyamani Theepan (aged 12) were killed. Another young girl Priya (aged 18) was also killed by the attack. Siyamani Jayaranjani (aged 8), a sister of the deceased Komala and Theepan, and who was taken to the Killinochchi Hospital, later succumbed to her injuries and died..."

"On 13 November , Sri Lankan supersonic bombers attacked St.James Church at Gurunagar at about 7.30 a.m. St.James is one of the largest and oldest Roman Catholic churches in Jaffna. The church was completely destroyed. A nursery school nearby, two shops and ten houses in the neighbourhood were also destroyed. Ten persons were killed and over 30 injured. Of the dead three belonged to the same family. The bodies of the dead were torn and charred. The blown up parts of all the bodies were collected and buried together. "

'We religious leaders from the North, belonging to the Hindu, Christian and Catholic religions... strongly protest against the actions of the Sri Lankan Air Force which seems guided by the sole motive of revenge and striking terror among the Tamil people.Following on the recent Pooneryn operations, the Air Force has used its supersonic bombers to bomb the Jaffna Secretariat killing and injuring several. The Government Agent of Jaffna, Mr.K.Manickavasagar being one of those injured. It has bombed a place of worship, the St.James Catholic Church in Main Street, Jaffna destroying that large and venerated house of God and killing and injuring several innocent citizens. It has dropped its bombs within the protected zone around the Jaffna General Hospital damaging the hospital and striking panic among the patients and the public. We have reports that the hospitals in Killinochchi and Mulaitivu have also been bombed. The market block in Chavakachcheri has also been bombed and destroyed..."

"... Over 200 have been killed in air and navy attacks this year. In one attack in January which killed 50, a man feigned death while sailors boarded boats mutilating dead bodies to steal jewellery. Another 17 people drowned in August when their boat capsized during shelling. Defence sources in Colombo usually describe the attacks as clashes with the LTTE.''

'"Daily life in Jaffna is conditioned by the distant drone of aircraft engines and the run to the bunkers behind almost every house...Over 1,000 civilians have been killed in the three years bombing of Jaffna and almost 1,500 have died from gruesome injuries. Another 1,000 children died needlessly in 1992 because Jaffna hospitals lack basic drugs and medical equipment to save them… "

"..Last summer (1990),  I spent five weeks in Sri Lanka reporting on the civil war in the North and East. I am not a scholar of Sub continental politics or history, nor am I a think tank or development agency intellectual -- my work is more a glorified form of visiting with people than anything so respectable. When in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Amritsar and the Middle East, my job description has been amended to visiting with people who are fighting for independence. In my work, I have seen horrific torture, beatings, bombings and shootings, but nothing so terrible as I witnessed in Sri Lanka last year. "

"The Sri Lankan government has begun bombing and machine gunning civilians in Jaffna and other cities in the Tamil dominated north after its failure to contain the rebels from the ground. The attacks began before dawn on Monday, a day of intensive fighting. Bombers and Bell helicopter gunships flew sorties of and on throught the day until 9 p.m. The government forces have been sporadically bombing the outskirts of the city for several days but Monday was the first time the centre was the target .." Christopher Lockwood, reporting in the Independent

"Fifty two villages have been destroyed in the Trincomalee district in the last two months by the Sri Lankan armed forces according to an eyewitness who fled the country. The middle aged person who claims that he was helped by the Sri Lankan Government to escape from Trincomalee, told PTI many shops and houses in the district had been razed to the ground rendering thousands of Tamils homeless in the Government's bid to "drive away Tamils from the strategic port town of Trincomalee". The person, a non Tamil belonging to a group settled in Trincomalee for generations who wanted to be anonymous said he fled from the town following the ghastly attack by the Sri Lankan Home Guards on September 4 in Trincomalee town. Virtually, the entire town was wiped out in the attack driving away.."