Mahinda Gunasekera SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA

SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario M1P 4Z7 Canada
Website: www.sluna.org E-mail: sluna@idirect.com

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ By E-mail August 9, 2010

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ His Excellency, Ban KiƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…”Moon
Secretary General
United Nations Organization
New York, NY

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Your Excellency,

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Three Member Advisory Panel On Sri Lanka

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Further to our media release of July 5, 2010 titled ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”UN Secretary GeneralƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Panel on Sri Lanka is a Blunder of Serious ProportionsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ wherein we discussed your having over-stepped your powers in appointing a Panel of Outside Nominees to investigate alleged human rights violations by Sri Lanka during the latter stages of the military action taken against the internationally designated terrorist group called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without the prior sanction of either the General Assembly or the Security Council and in contravention of the decision taken by the UNHRC in June 2009, we are now writing to raise some pertinent questions for you and your panel which is attempting to function in violation of the UN Charter.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You are no doubt aware that Tamil civilians of the Vanni had been forcibly removed from their villages and herded to form a human shield for the retreating Tamil Tiger terrorist forces. The Sri Lankan authorities declared cease fires for the express purpose of having the trapped civilians move out of the battlefront to safety and care, but this was denied to them by the LTTE which turned their guns and suicide bombers on the civilians that sought to move out of the latterƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s area of control. In the circumstances, the government had to unilaterally demarcate safe zones for the civilians whilst they battled the armed cadres of the Tamil Tiger terrorist group.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Your panel has been mandated to review the resultant deaths of Tamil civilians during the latter four months of the military action taken by Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s security forces aimed at regaining the usurped territory, eliminating the three decade long threat to the right to life of her 20 million citizens posed by the LTTE, rescuing the nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians held hostage and used as a shield, and extending the rule of law and democracy to all parts of her sovereign territory.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ You would appreciate that the Sri Lankan security forces abandoned the use of heavy weapons in the latter stages, and mainly used hand held weapons, sharp shooters and small units of special forces to penetrate the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s defences and strike at the armed cadres of the terrorists and thereby avoid harming the entrapped civilians. Counter fire had been resorted to sparingly in order to neutralize the heavy guns of the LTTE which were constantly aimed at the advancing security forces.

Some of the questions that need to be answered at the very outset for purposes of ascertaining the prevailing ground situation are as follows:

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Were you aware that a large proportion of the Tamil Tiger fighting cadres did not wear any uniforms whilst they engaged in hostilities? Would you deem such cadres who fell in battle as combatants or civilians?

How would you assess the Tamil civilians who were pressed into battle to replace fallen cadres? Would you still consider them to be civilians or combatants?

How would you classify those Tamil civilians who were willingly or unwillingly employed by the LTTE to dig 12 foot deep trenches and build 20 foot high earthen bunds to bolster the Tamil TigersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ defensive fortifications? Were they engaged in hostile actions that made them vulnerable to attack as part of the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s combat units?

In what way can you justify the UN spokespersonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s guesstimate of 7,000 civilian deaths in the latter four months when the UN Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes publicly stated that such numbers are unacceptable to the UN as these figures have not been verified as there was no UN presence on the ground? The ICG led by Madam Louise Arbour which is heavily influenced by pro-LTTE Tamils including South African Tamil Navi Pillay has been hallucinating and come up with a guesstimate of 30,000 plus civilian deaths. How do you reconcile your guesses with that of the ICG?

Are you aware that the various exaggerated figures of civilian casualties given by certain doctors who remained in the diminishing LTTE controlled areas to UN agencies, foreign media and HR groups, later admitted at a media interview to having given bogus numbers at the behest of the Tamil Tiger terrorists?

Have you been appraised of the fact that one of the makeshift hospitals where these same doctors claimed that 300 died and 700 became seriously injured in supposed shelling by the security forces was subsequently inspected and found to be totally false, as the hospital was found to be free of any damage?

Are you aware that it is a common strategy of the Tamil Tiger terrorists to place their heavy guns in the vicinity of civilian concentrations to draw retaliatory fire that is likely to strike the civilians, for no other purpose than scoring some propaganda points and vilifying the opposing forces?

Have you been made aware of the fact that the Sri Lankan security forces suffered nearly 60 percent of their total casualties, both fatal and disabling injuries, in the last two to three months of the three and a half year military operation, for no other reason but their abandoning the use of heavy weapons to confront the fully armed Tamil Tiger terrorist forces with the sole intent of minimising harm to the entrapped civilians?

We would like to conclude by commenting on the much talked of attempt said to have been made by some of the Tamil Tiger leaders to surrender themselves to the Sri Lankan forces in the eleventh hour by raising white flags, only to be cut down in the dying moments of the battle taking place in a narrow strip of jungle in the midnight darkness on May 17, 2009, by repeating what we stated in our media release of July 5, 2010.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Extracted from Media Release of July 5, 2010:

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”There is also talk of Tamil Tiger leaders carrying white flags with intent to surrender being gunned down by the Sri Lankan forces in the final battle which took place within the narrow one square kilometre strip of land in Puthumattalan. It probably was part of the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s plan to have some evacuated overseas with international help and some surrendered in order revive the whole game of terrorism to once more pursue their goal of a separate state to be carved out of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sovereign territory.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As all hell broke loose in the final hours with Prabhakaran the LTTE Supremo attempting to break through the Sri Lankan lines west of the Nanthikadal Lagoon with 200 of his special body guards from the Charles Anthony Brigade, the LTTE detonating the various bombs placed on trucks, burning and destroying whatever they could not take with them, causing a huge wall of smoke which lasted several days, certainly would make it hazy and extremely difficult to identify any with white flags even if such an attempt was made that night to draw the attention of the opposing forces. Who could blame the Sri Lankan forces in failing to spot the small group with white flags if any, as they had to take measures to prevent any of the Tiger Terrorists from breaking through and getting inside the surrounding jungle. Furthermore, it is not possible to trust the Tigers who could be attempting to deceive the security forces by advancing on them with a squad of suicide bombers, as the LTTE unleashed suicide bombers and fired weapons on their own people who fled the diminishing terrain held by the Tigers. It all happened so fast, the resistance put up the Tigers came to an end and before daylight on May 18th, 2009, the battle was over.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The enormous war machine of the ruthless Tamil Tiger Terrorists built with funds poured by the pro-LTTE Diaspora in western countries has been completely crushed, and the nightmare of thirty two plus years of terrorist violence finally brought to an end in Sri Lanka. The Tamil civilians who were herded by the LTTE and used as a human shield and forced to trek across the northern Vanni from west to east for a period of almost 30 months have been rescued from the evil clutches of their self declared sole representative and dictatorial Tiger masters. It is unfortunate that some civilians died in the crossfire despite the precautionary steps taken by the security forces, which number has been estimated to be between 1,000 and 1,500 by experts who interviewed a wide cross section of the IDPs and the doctors who served them till the last before surrendering at the conclusion of the military operation. Priority has been given to de-mining the land which hides over two million explosive devices buried by the terrorists, whilst caring for the immediate needs of these internally displaced Tamil civilians before they may be re-settled in their villages to resume a life of near normalcy. Over 85 percent of the 300,000 IDPs have already been re-settled within an year of concluding the military action, with the remaining 35 thousand expected to be sent to their homes by the end of August 2010 or soon thereafter. Normalcy is rapidly taking shape with the re-settled IDPs electing their own representatives to legislative bodies after a lapse of two decades, and both the state and the public at large making every effort to develop the affected north and east and evolve a home made solution that will bring about reconciliation and peace.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In the circumstances, you and your panel of interlopers will be looking for non-existent dead bodies based on wild guesstimates, allegations, hearsay, propaganda of prejudiced minds that failed in their attempt to tear up Sri Lanka by force of arms, in the hope of resurrecting the vanquished Tamil Tiger terrorist marauder. Your efforts no doubt will be in vain and contribute to damaging the trust that people place in the United Nations and will lead it on the path to irrelevance by acting as an agent of vested interests contrary to the aims of the UN Charter..

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours sincerely,

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mahinda Gunasekera

Honorary President