“…Against partisans backed by the entire population, colonial armies are helpless. They have only one way of escaping from the harassment which demoralizes them …. This is to eliminate the civilian population. As it is the unity of a whole people that is containing the conventional army, the only anti-guerrilla strategy which will be effective is the destruction of that people, in other words, the civilians, women and children…” Jean Paul Sartre’s Statement ‘On Genocide’
Posts Categorized: Military
One Hundred Thousand Tamils Missing After Sri Lanka War
The leaked World Bank spreadsheets broken down by village for the north of the island estimate numbers of returnees to the former conflict area in mid 2010. The Bank also cites Statistical Handbook Numbers for population in 2007 – before the fighting intensified. The two sets of data reveal 101,748 people missing from Mullaitivu District – the area that bore the brunt of the final fighting…
Nearly four years on there is no agreed death toll, even to the nearest ten thousand lives. That’s why an international investigation is required to establish the truth about what may be one of the least reported but worst atrocities of recent decades – both in terms of the speed and the scale of the killing.
“Killings at End Stage of Lanka Civil War Unprecedented’’
Quoting a World Bank document, she said one lakh persons were missing between 2006 and 2010 and there had to be an explanation on where these people are.
Blood of the Combatants and the Trauma
During the confrontation with the LTTE, he killed five of the enemy carders. After some years, he predominantly preoccupied with the thoughts that were related to these killings. Although they came to kill us, they too were human beings says Sergeant Sx78.
“They were poor village boys like us who had no many options in life. They were indoctrinated, poisoned with racial hatred and directed to attack us. We had no alternative except firing at them. I in a war things are intense, either you or the enemy. If you don’t kill him he will kill you. Anyhow, these Tamil youths had parents like us, they too had expectations. All ended very sadly. Someone in somewhere may be still missing them. I know killing is bad. It is a violation of the first Buddhist precept. I was compelled to do that act.
Sergeant Sx78 feels that one day he has to face the Karmic repercussions for these killings in 1993 at the Jaffna Fort. His conscience was shattered and he became more religious. Sergeant Sx78 wishes to be a monk after his retirement from the Army.
Insider Account of Government Forces Torturing Civilians
[T]he captain… was transferred to Colombo, where he helped with search and cordon operations that rounded up ethnic Tamils. He said he knew the army was torturing, beating and raping civilians.
“I admit that it is a harassment of these people,” he said. “I admit that.”…
[T]he board ruled in February he was not eligible for refugee protection because he was complicit in crimes against humanity.
Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on UN Action in Sri Lanka
aka ‘Petrie Report’ by UN Secretary-General, New York, November 2012 Report of the Secretary-General’s Internal Review Panel on United Nations Action in Sri Lanka Report of the Secretary General’s Internal Review Panel of the UN s Action in Sri Lanka 2012 Petrie
Stranglehold on Peace
Kumaratunga will not sacrifice power for peace by Tamil Guardian editorial, December 22, 2004 Fear of a renewed war has become all pervasive. Tamils, both in the homelands and the diaspora are closely following developments in the Norwegian peace process, albeit with deepening pessimism. Even the usually upbeat Norwegian Special Envoy, Erik Solheim, could not conceal… Read more »
TAGOT: War Drums in the South
by The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT) PRESS RELEASE 21 December 2004 We, The Action Group of Tamils (TAGOT), unhesitatingly compliment the Sinhala President Chandrika Kumaratunga for her political skill. She is implacably opposed to negotiating a political settlement with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But she has cast the ultra-Sinhala Jathika Vimukthi… Read more »
Talking with Tigers
Negotiations with suicide bombers can end violence, as Sri Lanka demonstrates Jonathan Steele in Kilinochchi, The Guardian, UK, Friday December 17, 2004 Come to Elephant Pass to witness a rarity: a place where the contradictions of the “war on terror” have not produced the usual regression. In most of the world the fight against “international… Read more »
Letter from a Youth to the LTTE
Dear Mr V. Prabakaran, Mr S.P Thamilchelvan and the other Officials of the East and North of the LTTE, This is a statement of a student, age 18 (Social Juridical Worker / Low Lawyer) of the Royal Kingdom of The Netherlands. At the first place I want to congratulate all of you with achieving and… Read more »
Annual Heroes’ Day Speech by Pirapaharan
from LTTE Peace Secretariat, November 27, 2004 “TAMIL TIGERS WILL LAUNCH FREEDOM STRUGGLE IF PEACE TALKS ARE FURTHER DELAYED” – LTTE LEADER The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, in his annual statement marking Heroes’ Day, cautioned the Sri Lanka government that his organisation would be compelled to launch the… Read more »
Velupillai Pirapaharan Turns Fifty Today
Ethnic Politics By Taraki (aka D. Sivaram), Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 26, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/663.html It is not my intention here to interrupt the unceasing labours of those who love to hate him. There is little I can add to the invectives that Sinhala nationalist politicians, academics, opinion makers and editorialists relentlessly heap on the LTTE… Read more »
A Set of Killings in the East
To The Editor, Sangam.org — The TamilNet news website of 18th November reported two killings in the East within a space of 14 hours. The first was the killing of a political worker of the LTTE at 9.45 PM on Wednesday by gunmen suspected to be paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lanka military intelligence… Read more »
A Victory, But Little Is Gained
by DARYL G. PRESS and BENJAMIN VALENTINO, The New York Times op-ed, November 17, 2004 Does any of this sound familiar to Sangam readers? sangam.org/articles/view2/644.html Hanover, N.H. — The textbook urban assault on Falluja reflected well on the dedication, training and equipment of the American military. Unfortunately, it has not brought the United States appreciably… Read more »
Tigers to Part Ways for Want of Southern Consensus?
by Taraki (aka D.Sivaram), Daily Mirror, Colombo, November 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/641.html A military solution to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict remains a very real option today although we are almost into three years of a fairly stable no-war atmosphere. In large measure this is due to persistent beliefs and perceptions in the Sinhala polity about the… Read more »
LTTE Rationale for Talks Based on the ISGA Alone
by Taraki (aka D.Sivaram), Daily Mirror, Colombo, Wednesday, October 23, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/625.html Why are the Tigers refusing to restart peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) on any basis other than their Interim Self Governing Authority proposal? With each passing day, the opposition to the ISGA is gathering such irreversible momentum in the… Read more »
Will the New Karuna-led Alliance Pose a Serious Threat
to the LTTE? by A.R.M. Imtiyaz, Ph.D. [1], October 27, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/624.html The straightforward answer is ‘No.’ Why? Scholars of ethnic political conflict from Gurr to Howard clearly maintain some basic understanding of the dynamics of these struggles to answer the question. Accordingly, no ethno-political military group or alliance would enjoy the loyalty and political… Read more »
Only Inflicting Pain Pays
Tamils should recall old lessons: only inflicting pain pays by J. S. Tissainayagam – Comment, Northeastern Monthly, October 8, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/586.html Tamils have forgotten a golden rule that has come down during the 20-year armed struggle, between the Tamil guerrilla groups and the Sri Lankan state. In the 1980s, before signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord… Read more »
Back to Basics for S.Lanka’s ‘Mine Sweepers’
By Simon Gardner sangam.org/articles/view2/579.html THADDUVANKODDY, Sri Lanka, Oct 5 (Reuters) – In a remote sun-baked corner of northern Sri Lanka, farmers are pioneering an unlikely new weapon in the fight to clear hundreds of thousands of landmines strewn during two decades of civil war. Across a no man’s land littered with mines, small groups of Sri… Read more »
Endless Struggle against Terrorism
Hallmark of new world disorder by Tom Plate / Syndicated columnist, Seattle Times, September 17, 2004 sangam.org/articles/view2/555.html The dialectic — who’s a terrorist? who’s a freedom-fighter? — is not merely academic. Some of the world’s hot spots may be susceptible to cooling down if we break away from straitjacketed thinking. A perfect example, in fact,… Read more »