Tag Archives: Tamil Tigers

News, Politics, Government

UN Sri Lanka vote threatens India's government

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A United Nations resolution criticizing the actions of Sri Lanka‘s government during its war against the Tamil Tigers has threatened India‘s shaky coalition government.

Early Tuesday, a key ally from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu said it had withdrawn its 18 members from the Congress-led government.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is demanding the government push for a strongly worded resolution at the United Nations. It also wants Parliament to condemn the Sri Lankan government.

The government has yet to say how India will vote.

Finance Minister P.Chidambaram insisted the defection of the Tamil party would not put the government at risk. National elections are not expected until next year.

The Congress-led coalition is already a minority government that leans heavily on small regional parties.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

News, Politics, Government

Filmmaker says photos prove that Sri Lanka rebel leader's son was killed by government

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A British filmmaker says photographs have emerged that show the son of a Tamil rebel leader prove the boy was executed in 2009 by Sri Lankan soldiers.

Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of Velupillai Prabhakaranm — the former leader of the Tamil Tigers – was captured by Sri Lanka‘s army on the final day of the 26-year war between the two sides, the BBC reports.

Sri Lanka‘s government has said the boy was killed in crossfire during a battle, but two photos show Balachandran in custody before his death.

In the first photo, Balachandran is seen eating chocolate. In the second, he is shown dead after being shot five times in the chest. The photos were taken less than two hours apart on May 19, 2009, according to data analysis done by the Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka, the BBC reports.

“His death was deliberate and calculated,” filmmaker Callum Macrae said. “This is a proof, beyond reasonable doubt, of the execution of a child — not a battlefield death.”

Sri Lanka Army spokesman Ruwan Wanigasuriya denied the claims, and said the photos showed “no substantive evidence.”

The photos are being released in Macrae’s latest documentary, “No Fire Zone,” which will be screened at the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival during a UN meeting in March, the BBC reports.

Click for more from the BBC.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News

Articles of Interest

Photos Of Balachandran Prabakaran, Son Of Tamil Tiger Leader, Suggest He Was Murdered In Sri Lanka (GRAPHIC PHOTOS)

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By The Huffington Post News Editors

By Shihar Aneez and Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO, Feb 19 (Reuters) – Photographs of the son of the leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels suggest he was murdered, and not killed in the cross fire during the chaotic end of Sri Lanka’s three decade war, a British-based documentary maker said.
If confirmed, the accusation would leave the Sri Lankan government with more questions to answer about allegations of systematic executions at the end of the war, especially given Balachandran Prabakaran was just 12.
WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTOS BELOW
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in 2009 in the final months the war, a U.N. panel said, as government troops advanced on the ever-shrinking northern tip of the island controlled by Tamil rebels fighting for an independent homeland.
The U.N. panel said it had “credible allegations” that Sri Lankan troops and the Tamil Tigers both carried out atrocities and war crimes, and singled out the government for most of the responsibility for the deaths.
Sri Lanka has rejected all rights abuse allegations.
One of the photographs obtained from anonymous sources by Britain’s Channel 4 showed Balachandran, son of Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabakaran, being given a snack and some water after being captured. Another shows him dead.
Digital image analysis indicates the photographs were taken by the same camera, suggesting he was killed deliberately, said Callum Macrae, director of the Channel 4 documentary “No fire zone: The killing fields of Sri Lanka“.
“They prove that Balachandran was not killed in crossfire, or in a battle. His death was deliberate and calculated,” Macrae wrote in The Hindu, an Indian daily.
The government has said Balachandran and many rebel leaders were killed in crossfire.
Macrae said the photographs formed a part of new evidence in the documentary that will be shown for the first time next month in Geneva, to coincide with a United Nations Human …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Huffington Post

News, Politics, Government

Sri Lanka army wants local rules for civil war

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Sri Lanka‘s military on Thursday asked the government to introduce its own rules to deal with civil wars, saying existing international humanitarian laws cover only state actors and not terrorist organizations.

The country’s armed forces face numerous human rights allegations and possible war crimes for their conduct during a decades-long civil war with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels that ended in 2009.

The suggestion is part of the military’s response to a call to implement a war commission report that suggests investigating abuse allegations against government soldiers.

The army also rejected a suggestion by the commission to confine police to civil matters only, saying they should be placed under the defense ministry. Even though it is common for police to be under home ministry or under purview of a regional administration in many countries, “such countries do not face widespread internal disorders,” it said.

Sri Lanka is likely to face questions at the United Nations Human Rights Council meeting in March on what steps it has taken to implement the report of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.

Three diplomats from the United States, deputy assistant secretaries of state, James Moore and Jane Zimmerman, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Vikram Singh visit the country on Saturday to discuss the implementation of the report.

Army Commander Lt. Gen. Jagath Jayasuriya handed over the military’s seven recommendations to Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on Thursday. It also includes a suggestion calling for local guidelines on the roles of international humanitarian organizations in civil war situations.

During the civil war Sri Lanka often loudly accused aid groups of helping the Tamil Tigers and ordered their eviction from the war zone when it started its final offensive, limiting essential supplies to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped inside the war zone.

A United Nations report said at least 7,000 civilians were killed during that time.

International human rights groups have accused government troops and Tamil Tigers of possible war crimes. Sri Lankan soldiers were accused of deliberate targeting of civilians, and blocking food and medical convoys to the battle zone, while the rebels were accused of child recruitment and using civilians as human shields.

Source: FULL ARTICLE at Fox World News