It’s now bordering the ridiculous when foreign MPs are muttering ‘genocide’ without stopping to actually ask a basic question – how many actually died or were killed. It is ludicrous of them to be parroting ‘genocide’ for killing ‘terrorists’ even banned by their countries. As for ‘civilians’, to claim genocide, surely we must know how many civilians died or were killed. The simplest method to ascertain that is if those mourning their dead can at least produce the names of the supposed dead, or a police complaint that they are still missing. However, in the absence of all these basic facts – groups of people have got some white men and women foreign MPs to be parroting ‘genocide’ across the world. This is now looking rather hilarious when it is clear that they are being used to commemorate LTTE dead.

Fundamental questions to answer

How many civilians died or were killed during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s conflict? 

–      We need to have a number

–      We need to know their names

Were they really civilian (by international definition)

–      Rules of War clearly define who a civilian is. Therefore, no one who had been engaged in hostilities can claim to be a civilian.

–      The distinction of a civilian is blurred by LTTE because some LTTE fought in civilian attire,

–      LTTE had its own civilian clothed army, LTTE recruited (forcefully/voluntarily) civilians

Thus, 

–      Any LTTE fighting in civilian clothing and getting killed is NOT A CIVILIAN

–      Any LTTE member of the LTTE CIVILIAN ARMY is NOT A CIVILIAN

–      Any Civilian who died engaged in hostilities IS NOT entitled to claim to be A CIVILIAN 

LTTE must take blame for blurring the distinction of ‘civilian’ afforded to civilians in an armed conflict and by Geneva Conventions.

Thus, 3 groups not entitled to be called civilian are

1. LTTE fighting in civilian clothing & getting killed
2. LTTE civilian army fighting & getting killed
3. Civilians who took up arms and were killed engaged in hostilities

But, we must know how many died in the above groups too.

• how many LTTE were killed fighting in civilian or LTTE uniform?
• How many LTTE CIVILIAN ARMY combatants died?
• How many civilians forced to or voluntarily taking up died engaged in hostilities?

Thereafter, we come to the all-important question – how many civilians who were not members of the LTTE, who did not engage in any form of hostilities with the army, who did not die from natural causes were killed?

Answering this is not easy, because LTTE fired and killed fleeing civilians.

How many of these civilians, fleeing LTTE, were shot & killed by LTTE? 

These deaths cannot be credited to the Sri Lanka Army. 

For anyone to claim ‘genocide’ accusing a national army of killing civilians must answer the above questions first.

The Sri Lanka Armed Forces can only be accused of killing civilians who were not LTTE firing in civilian clothing, civilians in LTTE CIVILIAN ARMY, civilians who temporarily engaged in hostilities)

What is this number? Do they have facts to prove so? 

What has happened since 2009, is that even the international pundits in the UN and UNHRC without answering these fundamental and basic questions are allowing the usage of the term ‘genocide’ unfairly against a National Army, who was only doing their duty in protecting the Nation and its People from an armed non-state actor indulging in terror.

Until such time those making allegations can prove by name and number as well as evidence that Sri Lanka Armed Forces purposely and with intent killed civilians, no charges against the Sri Lankan Armed Forces should be entertained and the GoSL must make this very clear to the foreign governments. 

We also see quite a lot of commemorations by Tamil groups across the world.

Are they commemorating LTTE dead or Civilians?

Obviously, the reason why they are hesitant to give names and numbers is that the moment they give a name, Sri Lanka’s intelligence will be able to determine if

• They are LTTE member
• They are in LTTE CIVILIAN ARMY
• Or if they were actually born – the level of lies taking place, we can be sure that they may likely create names.

A recent report that did forward some names were all LTTE asylum seekers or runaway LTTE and this is possibly why the LTTE fronts are reluctant to name anyone as dead for it will expose their lies.

As a result, they are more than happy to fund foreign MPs to mutter ‘genocide’ and in turn become a laughing stock over social media as was seen in the manner people were ridiculing Mayor in Canada, MPs in UK & Australia.

ARMY DEAD

As per the report by Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (2011)

• 5,556 Sri Lanka Armed Forces personnel died in battle
• 28,414 Sri Lanka Armed Forces personnel were wounded in battle
• 169 Sri Lanka Armed Forces personnel were missing in action

(note: adding 169 to the 5556 makes 5725 deaths)

LTTE DEAD

As per the report by Lessons Learned and Reconciliation Commission (2011)

• 22,247 LTTE combatants killed in battle
• 11,812 of the 22,247 LTTE identified and named
• 10,435 LTTE dead were not identified and named

This 10,435 LTTE dead CANNOT be put as CIVILIAN DEAD

Therefore, the GoSL must conclude identifying and naming this 10,435 LTTE dead and ensure these names are not quoted by any groups claiming Sri Lanka killed civilians.

Therefore, Robert Blake, Siobhain McDonagh, Gordon Weiss, Charles Petrie, Times of London, Amnesty International, Alan Keenan, UK Guardian must be able to answer all above questions before blurting numbers unfairly alleging Sri Lanka Armed Forces.

What cannot be overlooked is the figures given with facts – the names of these must be used to verify against the names that may be duplicated to present ‘dead’ civilians

• 7400 dead (included LTTE probably in civilian clothing) / 2600 missing (1600 had been with LTTE) – Survey by Govt at conclusion of conflict
• 7721 dead – UN Country team in Sri Lanka
• 7896 dead – Survey by Tamil officers in July 2011 covering migration, deaths & untraceable persons from 2005 to 2009 & placed natural deaths at 1102.
• 7432 dead – GoSL census by Tamil teachers in Feb/Mar 2012 (without armed forces)
• 10,000 – 18,000 – Dr. Michael Roberts
• 7398 – Tamilnet LTTE propaganda

The Presidential Commission of Missing Persons listed 23,586 missing as of 2017 (covering 1982 to 2009), of which 5000 are missing Sri Lankan soldiers.

Who are the 18,586 in the Missing Persons Commission? (are they all Tamil or people belonging to other communities) 

Are they still missing – how many are living overseas as refugees, how many are LTTE and fled overseas? Who can answer? GoSL must seek lists of refugee seekers by name through foreign ministry from respective countries. 

The ‘Missing’ issue also poses further questions

• How many Tamils were forcibly taken by LTTE& killed for disobeying LTTE
• How many Tamils were forcibly taken by LTTE, made to fight & died fighting
• How many Tamils fighting for LTTE in civilian clothing were left to die or shot by LTTE when injured to prevent them disclosing details to Sri Lanka Armed Forces
• How many LTTE fighters who were injured were killed by LTTE (ex: put into buses & exploded)
• How many Tamils did LTTE bury without informing their parents?
• How many unidentifiable LTTE fighters who died during fighting were not accepted by LTTE when ICRC wanted to hand over bodies to them and had to be buried by Sri Lanka Army (none of these can be categorized as civilians)
• How many Tamils fled the country & where did they flee too?
• How many Tamils are using UN cards & buying time to gain residence in countries?
• How many Tamils applying as asylum seekers/refugees are kept secret by foreign govts for geopolitical arm twisting against Sri Lanka.
• How many Tamils who were not involved in hostilities died due to collateral damage as a result of both LTTE & Sri Lanka Armed Forces exchanging fire
• How many are intentionally hiding and living under a bogus name but are claiming to be ‘missing’ in order for their families to claim compensation?

All those crying crocodile tears commemorating Mullaivaikkal dead – please let us know how many LTTE dead you are mourning – that the Mullaivaikkal commemorations are for LTTE is visible by the emblems and decorations used.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maaveerar_Naal– LTTE flowers used during Maaveerar Naal commemorating dead LTTE. Tamils in UK universities commemorating this event & emblems used is further highlighted https://www.tamilguardian.com/content/british-tamil-students-hold-maaveerar-naal-tributes%C2%A0

Can these Canadians answer the above questions

Can UK’s Foreign Secretary Dominique Raab, 

Surely, these foreigners should not make a fool of themselves making statements without knowing facts. The commemorations claiming them to be ‘genocide day’ ‘Mullaivaikkal commemoration’ ‘Remembrace Day’ etc is only to mourn the DEAD LTTE and no one else. 

Shenali D Waduge