A Barbaric and Senseless Massacre of Innocent Sinhalese Civilians

by Dharakan, Brisbane, Australia

“The Claymore attack on Sinhala civilians in Kebitigollawe today, 15th June 2006, morning was senseless violence used for political ends.  Armed acts targeting civilians cannot be justified under any circumstances for political ends…” (LTTE).

Without a doubt or second thought, all Tamils should condemn this cruel act, and wholeheartedly vow to do whatever is within our control to demand the international community to undertake an investigation.  In a civilised society, nobody should be invested with the power to kill innocent civilians, including children, women, and elderly.  Civilians should not shed blood in this unwanted, inhuman war engineered by the Sri Lankan government.  Civilians should not be victims for political ends.  Will the international community come forward to undertake an impartial investigation into the murders of civilians taking place in Sri Lanka?

An impartial and international investigation is warranted immediately to identify the real culprits of this inhuman massacre, instead of deliberately blaming the LTTE.

I condemn in the strongest terms the recent barbaric and senseless massacres of innocent civilians, both Sinhalese and Tamils and the wounding of many more with intent to kill them.  These deliberate killings of many innocent civilians and wounding, among them the extra-judicial execution of families in Allaipiddy and Vankali in Tamil areas, cannot be justified under any circumstances.

I strongly believe that these civilians’ massacres are being used to blame the LTTE and to create a justification to break the peace and to start war against the Tamil people in the immediate future. These cowardly attacks constitute very clear acts of state-sponsored terrorism against innocent people by the corrupt, indisciplined and murderous occupation troops and their support groups – the paramilitaries. These heavily armed occupation troops are given free license to kill, pillage, rape, infect, loot and settle personal disputes through acts of violence, such as the ones at Vankali and Allaipiddy and many hundred previous acts in north-east of Sri Lanka.

These deliberate and indiscriminate attacks are clearly further proofs of paramilitary operation under the noses of the Sri Lankan armed forces, and in broad daylight. As such, I consider not just the perpetrators of these acts, but the entire Sri Lankan government should take total responsibility.  These unmistakable enemies of our civilized and peace-loving people, and of our aspirations and struggle for freedom, peace, unity and development should be identified and punished immediately.

Targeting civilians to further political objectives by any individual, group, political party or State-sponsored militia should be stopped right now in Sri Lanka.  Surely, the people of the north-east of Sri Lanka have been traumatized and victimized for too long by these murderous forces.

On behalf of the expatriate Tamils, I extend their condolences to the innocent victims of these attacks and urge international human right groups to take a closer look at the conduct of the government and the paramilitaries and their activities in the north-east, noting the clear pattern of deliberate violence being perpetuated against innocent citizens.  I also further extend our sincere condolences to the families who have lost loved ones as a result of these barbaric and beastly attacks and regret the dastardly attempts by the Sri Lankan government to quickly lay the blame on the LTTE, instead of calling for an immediate impartial investigation into these killings by the international community.

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