Sri Lanka: Conviction by Malicious British Media
Posted on May 24th, 2009

Ravi Randeniya

Our war on terror is now over, guns are silent and it is time to reflect on how awful it all was. Well wishers rushed in with sound counsel on how to move forward to impose a lasting peace – now we have reached a phase for reconciliation and nation-building. Certainly we never spared the time to seek retribution as victors for we just underwent a cleansing ritual to eradicate terror from our nation, and bloody one too.

However, one group of people on the planet thinks otherwise. A section of the British media appears to have a ferocious appetite to come out against the Sinhala for defeating the LTTE the way we did, by hook or crook they are willing to prolong the stranglehold on our nation by bringing sleazy unsubstantiated “allegations” of “war crimes” despite the fact we just conquered the most ruthless terror outfit the world has ever seen using conventional warfare methods conducted within defined parameters.

I researched the barebones of their allegations and have come to the realization that they exhibit a perfect portrait of confusion over the definition of “war crimes.” Let’s look at the fundamentals of bringing such charges anywhere. In short, the burden of proof falls heavily on the “allegers,” rather than on the proof of innocence by the “alleged perpetrators” of the atrocities against humanity. I must note that the standard of proving “war crimes” is exceptionally high under any circumstances.

In the absence of legal scholarly, the British media base their allegation heavily on dubious interpretations of international law and highly questionable evidence. They are compelling the rest of the world to accept unverifiable and manipulated evidence, especially from damaged goods (the IDPs) that do not have right presence of the mind to know what they really witnessed as they were traumatized, exhausted, hungry, some injured etc. They are basically emotionally flat-lined to provide any accurate claims of who was firing shells or anything else at whom.

MISPLACED TRUTH SEEKERS

Instead of seeking the truth, they pursue unethical exploits like fabricating evidence colluding with the notorious feigns in the Tamil Diaspora without any hesitation or having any personnel in conflict zones to corroborate. What is callous is their attempt to paint acceptable casualties of war as true horrific crimes by dealing with unreliable or tampered evidence. These media cheaters always found suckers or allege “victims,” who are in plenty in the Tamil Diaspora, to garnish their stories to authenticate the “allegations.” Here is my fury, just because the Western media was not allowed into the battlefield, by default it does not lend to any “war crimes” by the SLA. This is the dishonest side of these media people, looking for anything newsworthy to print headlines. The stark truth is we do not need the Western media to come over and exonerate the SLA.

Moreover, neither the questionable chain of custody for crucial evidence is mentioned nor can this be verified even in the worst case. False or inaccurate claims are made justify by reporting that civilian witnesses reported to ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”foreign’ NGOs. Is that the criterion for collecting evidence of such crime of that magnitude? And most of all why ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”foreign” NGOs are the most reliable evidence gathers? All reported cases of unproven abuse in recent incidents in IDP camps had direct association with NGOs that lack credibility as partner to their “crime” of deceit. Therefore, by association all evidence coming from NGOs are contaminated.

FICTIONAL ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”MOTIVE’ & ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”INTENT’

Hypothetically, let’s assume that the charges were brought against the SLA. To present a successful case of “war crimes” any prosecution has to present its evidence, for the defence to exercise the protections and the discovery rights that are available to them, so they can find out what evidence they need to vigorously defend their client.

A trial process, which I seriously doubt, must be the fairest, just, and transparent process on Earth that exists to resolve divergent issues of facts on the ground and must come to a reasoned, solid and just conclusion. This can only be achieved if the burden of proof is beyond a reasonable doubt. It could well be the clash of ideas, the clash of facts and clash of instigation.

The burden for the prosecution is that they must prove the accused had committed the any “killings” with the intent of destroying Tamils, in whole or part. Therefore, whatever the tribunal, it must take the wording to include a requirement of a “motive,” namely, requiring proof of the fact that allege perpetrators committed these acts because they wished to destroy a particular group of people i.e. Tamils. A requirement of a “motive” paves the way for a defense, which was to win a war rather than to destroy a particular group, Tamils.

In 1948, when the definitions of “genocide” and “war crimes” being worked out, the concepts of both “intent” and “motive” were understood differently. However, the common law does not differentiate between general “intent” and “special intent,” and defines a crime includes an intent to commit some future act as well. What conduct exactly constitutes a crime under the 1998 Rome Statue has not been solved. Therefore, qualification of “motive” and “intent” is fundamental to initiate any “war crimes” tribunal.

There is no consensus of the concept of “crimes under international law” included in the Rome Statute and are subject to debate as to their status in current international customary law. It is understood that international agreement on the criminality of conduct of under international law many only become possible if the Court applies the definitions of crimes prudently, in order to win the confidence of those whose cooperation with the court and whose participation in international lawmaking is needed.

In its defence, the counter measures of the SLA were propelled by circumstances beyond their control and no different to any other army in the West would do in conducting a hostage rescue in the face of the cowardly LTTE without facing the enemy.

My line of reasoning is that the SLA ought not to feel that they are bordering on the burden of proof. Without a doubt, there is no proof of ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”motive,’ willful or otherwise, deliberate or even reckless. These allegations are unsupported charges against the SLA of harming civilians without presenting evidence to back any ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”motive’ for killing civilians.

3 Responses to “Sri Lanka: Conviction by Malicious British Media”

  1. Richard May Says:

    To Whom It May Concern and All Fair-minded Sri Lankans,

    Sri lanka appears to be on the verge of defeating terrorism that has plagued the country for over quarter century. If one were to consider the amount of sacrifice the Sri Lankan masses have sustained in loss of lives, military, property, and peace for a peace loving country such as Sri Lanka, it is highly commendable that Sri Lankan Government has finally been able to overpower the corrupt LTTE and hopefully regain control in order to give its people both the Sinhalese and the law abiding Tamils their well deserved freedom of religious worship, travel, communication without fear of being taken hostage,kidnapped, murdered, attacked, assassinated, destroyed, terrorized, in the guise of freedom fighting or liberation, and using suicide bombers, weapons, firebombs, explosives, airattacks etc; it is only the people who have fled the island or have relatives in Sri Lanka and in touch with day to day happennings in Sri Lanka, their motherland, who would know with reasonable degree of certainty, what is actually happenning in the Country and the tragedy created by this Terrorist so-called liberation group called LTTE. This group has been very clever at misleading the UN as well as some higer -ups in US to believe in them as a peace-loving organization, when in fact they suffer from greed and desire to terrorize, plunder, and own other’s property, be they children or property, for ulterior motives.
    Truth always prevails and by the Grace of God and by the Grace of the Catholic Church and the Triple Gem propagated by Buddha, in a country which has almost twothirds population peaceloving Buddhists, let it be that the island is finally able to resolve the conflicts created and masterminded by the LTTE, and as a result of their departure and/or understanding, that the wave of violence and criminal behavior by LTTE are able to be halted in Sri Lanka, a country that has prevailed for centuries with democratic principles and lots of compassion and loving kindness toward all without any discrimination regardless of race, creed, religion, or socioeconomic status,with a live and let live attitude, for the prosperity of each individual, village, city, community, province, and the nation as a whole.

    May all Sri Lankans and those Sri Lankans and fairminded indiduals or Governments outside this Island, express their appreciation to the Government of sri Lanka and its valiant efforts primarily by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces who have for so long( and even today) fought to restore Peace to this small Peace loving Country; furthermore as a US Citizen and a former Sri Lankan citizen, I wish to make a plea to the US Government , to provide whatever assistance possible, monetarily, such as via IMF, to help rebuild the country for the good of the masses and for their Peace and prosperity.
    Sincerely,

    Richard May.
    May 24, 2009

  2. shaz Says:

    Richard May I salute you, I am British, you are American but we think the same and it is heartwarming You have said it all I can only agree with you. If the western world does not respond with real and dedicated aid, if the press continuesl to present the LTTE as a means to an end to Tamils in Sri Lanka they will cause the next round of misery for these beautiful people. They were a murdering bunch of thugs and their offspring the Tamil diaspora are no better. I hope for a better future for all Sri Lankans and hope that the Grace of the Triple gems bless you forever.
    So much love

  3. saisie Says:

    Forget what the world says. Ignore them. Just go about doing what you can do best to grow your country. your family. your own self. I am not a victim of violence, so I will never know what you folks have gone through there – a Tamil soul or a Sinhala soul or a Buddhist soul – is only incidental. I hope Sri Lanka does not look for so called foreign assistance. You are a country blessed by the Buddha. You don’t need any other assistance. Prayers are sent your way.

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