Elmo de Silva Mount Lavinia  Courtesy The Island

(The reference to a soldier in this article would include any person in the Armed Forces, who is placed in such a situation).

I refer to the article, written by Mr. Neville Laduwahetty, appearing in The Island Newspaper of 9th March 2016, on the question of “Addressing Accountability”.

While I found this a most educative and valuable contribution to the debate on this very important subject, I would like to reproduce an excerpt from it, on which I wish to add my own comments.

” The circumstances were so extraordinary and unique that commanders away from the battle scene would NOT have been in a position to lay down policy. Furthermore, they also could not have been in a position to give instructions to the Field Commanders because of the fluidity of the unparalleled circumstances presented minute by minute, hour by hour, and day by day .Their only option was to leave it to the judgment of those in the thick of the battle to realise the twin objectives of saving the civilians as an integral part of Military Necessity and neutralizing the LTTE to restore the territorial integrity of the State …”

My comments are as follows:

Christiane Amanpour on a war: the dilemma facing forces in the battle field

I watch the Christiane Amanpour programme on CNN, quite often, once, last month (February) the subject was about a movie produced in Denmark titled A WAR (amanpour.com). All Actors are persons in the Danish armed forces, and had fought in the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. This is what they said when talking to Christiane Amanpour. (I have given what follows below in my words as it is not possible to couch this in the words spoken by those, in the Amanpour interview on television). What is said below, by the Danish personnel cum actors, is based on their real experiences on the Battle Field.

One Commander cum Actor tells Christiane Amanpour that when he and his Regiment were fighting the Taliban, in Afghanistan, there was one instance (among many), where his platoons were facing an imminent attack from the enemy. They had to face a ruthless enemy and were outnumbered. The only solution was to bomb the enemy. But since the enemy was amongst civilians, collateral damage was inevitable. Not to bomb was to face annihilation. He is in a dilemma. To safeguard his troops he has to act. He orders the bombing.

When he gets back home, he is sure he will be accused of human rights violations. He tells this to his wife. She screams at him and asks him to lie in the Courts, denying the charge. She says “You are thinking of other children, what will happen to our children, if you are incarcerated”. This portrays the ‘The Dilemma of the Soldier’.

The other Commander cum Actor says that when the Politicians send us out to war, they want us to abide by the Rules of War. But when we are in the thick of the battle it is not always possible to keep to the Rules of War.

Those who preach Human Rights and war, should get into boots and go to the battle front

In this Category should be included the following:

Those in the Geneva Human Rights Commission who pontificate on Human Rights, who have never put on boots, or been on the battle front, particularly when fighting ruthless terrorists.

Those persons in Governmental and Non-Governmental organizations who blindly speak of Human Rights and who have never fought ruthless terrorists or perhaps never held a gun.

The Tamil Diaspora who are able to fool all the people all the time with their diabolical lies.

My own experience in the Volunteer Force (Gemunu Watch) which was for a few years and not in troubled times (I was a sub-lieutenant)

I would challenge anyone who speaks of Human Rights, to be in Army fatigues and boots for just one day in the jungles, to see whether he or she can endure this for even for one day.

The Human Rights resolution against Sri Lanka. When I was under training at Diyatalawa, at that time we had to undergo training in bayonet attack. (The command was in Sinhalese: ‘vamin valakkan (avoid from the left), atchu kaden pahara then (hit with the butt of the gun), pannin (jump) annin (pierce). Though I had no occasion to do this drill in battle, I was too sensitive to even think of doing this, and that partly contributed to my resigning from the Volunteer Force. The point I am trying to make is that we do not consider the mental state of the soldier on the battle front. Does not the soldier on the battle front value his life, just as any of us value ours?

Co-sponsoring the Human Rights violation resolution against Sri Lanka

I consider the co-sponsoring of the Resolution against Sri Lanka, as a gross betrayal of our armed forces, as it was a meek submission by persons, who are not aware of battlefield conditions.

This is an affront to each and every Sri Lankan.

Why do we meekly endorse a pack of concocted falsehoods without challenging them?

Why did we not contest the damnable lies, concocted by the Tamil Diaspora?

Why did we not ask the Chairman of the so called Human Rights Commission to cite any report or inquiry where witnesses cannot be cross examined, and is the basis of unfounded allegations against our Armed Forces?

Is the above not against Natural Justice?

He who pays the piper calls the tune, even though devoid of veracity

Co-sponsoring of this Resolution, could have been avoided if those responsible had some idea of battlefront conditions. My experience of international institutions, it is that you do the bidding of those who pay the Piper. I can say this with some knowledge of how international organizations are financed and function. There was an instance, when the US authorities refused to pay the American Contribution for maintaining The World Customs Organization (WCO), as there was a dispute between the American Authorities and the Secretary General of the WCO, who was a Senior American Customs Officer, and was on secondment. The American annual contribution was twenty-five per cent of the Total Cost of maintaining the WCO. The balance was shared by the hundred and forty eight other member countries. T
he WCO management was contemplating terminating operations of the Organization, if the American contribution was not forthcoming. The Secretary General of the WCO, resigned and the issue was settled.

Do armed forces personnel have no Human rights?

Those in the battlefront are also human beings, but are more subject than others to immense stress and strain. If they do not fight for the safety of all of us, who will?

That is why Sir Winston Churchill said, during the Second World War, “Never in the field of human conflict, have so many, owed so much, to so few”. We could say the same of our Armed Forces.

Elmo de Silva

Mount Lavinia