Sri Lankan President Rajapakse needs, Hague ICC trial

by thirukk | April 9, 2009 at 04:05 am

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Sixty years have gone since the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was adopted by the UN. The International Community is being a silent observer while a genocide is perpetuated in the Tamils in Vanni, Sri Lanka.

Do we have a problem in defining what is a genocide? Genocide convention 1948 states clearly, "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."

In every genocide there is a common pattern occurs targeting and singling out a particular community or ethnic group. It was the case in Ottoman Empire, Nazi regime, Rwanda, Darfur, Cambodia, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Sri Lanka is repeating the same on Tamils in the North East.

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'Commander in chief or army ruthless killer'

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Now, In the case of Sri Lanka there is a systematic economic blockade enforced on the Tamils by the Sri Lankan government in the 1990s to 2002 by the Chandrika Kumarathunga government. It was then removed during the beginning of the Norway brokered peace process -Cease Fire Agreement (CFA 2002) between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka run by the Ranil Wickramasinghe government. The government was in agreement with the LTTE (so called 'terrorists' nowadays) on territories controlled, administered and protected by both the parties and to end the hostilities, travel bans and economic blockade enforced ONLY ON Tamil people (no Singhalese faced/face these systematic oppression). Again the restrictions for movement of food, medicine and essential goods to the Tamils areas (North East of the island) were enforced by the Mahinda Rajapakse government. This seriously deteriorated the 'condition of life' of Tamil people. LTTE (that was formed as a consequence of the state oppression on Tamils) is used as a scapegoat by the Sri Lankan government to eliminate the Tamils from exercising their political rights.

Tamil people were grilled in search operations and military intelligence and CIDs, which is a clearly designed state oppression on the Tamils to cause fear, intimidation and affect their mental health. Abductions, targeted killings and disappearances were/are systematically operated by the army, army intelligence, CID with the support and blessings of Gothebaya Rajapakse, the defence secretary. Brutal cold blooded murders and assassinations were carried out by the government forces causing fear, anguish and helplessness to the Tamil people. Even the democratically elected parliament members of the Tamil National Alliance were shot dead in Xmas mass celebration, ambushed on their way to the parliament/constituency by the government and its supportive armed group.

Tamil women were tortured, gang raped and killed by the armed groups and the military. The current regime of Rajapakse and his brothers came in power with a mandate to end the peace process and Cease Fire Agreement with the support of Singhala Nationalists who are the extremists and Buddhist fundamentalists who campaign for all out war (that is typical to Sri Lanka). Nowhere else in this world Buddhist monks march on the streets staging violent protests against peace and favouring war except in Sri Lanka.

The current government unilaterally pulled out from the Cease Fire Agreement and waged an all out war on Tamil people with indiscriminate aerial bombs, artillery barrage, cluster bombs, fire-bombs and now chemical bombs too, killing more than 5 thousand Tamils and inflicting wounds to more than 15 thousand. Even hospitals and 'safe zones' were bombed and violated by the government forces.

Media, ICRC and other humanitarian agencies were chased out so that a war without witness is carried out to eliminate the Tamils who want to exercise their political rights that are ensured in the Universal declaration of Human Rights and International Covenant on Civil Political Rights, which are uncompromising universal values and rights to all.

Government keeps tightened the economic blockade on Tamils arresting the supply of food, medicine and essential goods. This brings serious consequences to the Tamils such as death due to starvation, malnutrition, mental sickness, death, injury, fear, psychological trauma, widowed, orphaned and children lost their education and future.

The Tamils who are internally displaced to the government controlled area are kept in detention camps in inhuman conditions, undermining the humanitarian laws and international standards. Many are grilled every night in these concentration camps by the army intelligence, CID and armed groups. Young Tamils are forced to disappear after cruel torture, rape. Many are murdered and bodies were burned.

NO Singhalese face all these discrimination, abuses and human rights violations inside Sri Lanka. ONLY TAMILS face these crimes against humanity. This proves clearly that Sri Lankan government is systematically eliminating the Tamils from preventing their own political opinion and exercising theitr rights.

Also, surprisingly those who accuse only the LTTEs armed struggle are keeping an unusual silence on the above crimes carried out by their own government against the Tamil civilians. Except a very few Singhalese people who speak out, others fell prey to the 'nationalists' propaganda machine run by the Rajapakse brothers. Singhalese or members of the international community who ever supports the Tamils are simply branded as 'Terrorists' or 'LTTE' by the nationalist Singhalese extremists and their government. One could see lots of similarities between Hitler and Rajapakses related to genocide and war crimes!

These crimes should not be excused under the disguise of "war on terror" in a civilized world. A democratic state has legal obligation (more than any other party) to protect everyone from such abuses irrespective of which ethnic, political views they belong to. When a state fails the UN and the international community MUST ACT!

In the case of Sri Lanka it is not just a failure of the state, it is also a systematically motivated genocide on Tamils. Rajapakse brothers are running a ruthless, brutal, fearsome, corrupted, undemocratic regime. WE SHOULD NOT BE AFRAID OR SHY TO VOICE OUT to EXPOSE THESE HEINOUS CRIMES and get the perpetuators punished in Hague.