Chairman, Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement
Our organisation, The Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement, is extremely alarmed by secret defence reports written by our adversaries, the US, UK, which accuse our Sri Lankan Armed Forces of being responsible for the perishing of civilians during the last phases of the war with no proof whatsoever to prove such bogus charges. In sharp contrast, our contention is that such secret reports written by our adversaries, the US, UK, should be categorically rejected outright.
Those of us who have actually lived in the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. know very well that these countries routinely lie about those countries that they do not like, in their secret defence reports. In Sri Lanka’s case, although the said secret defence reports were apparently produced by the US, UK defence attachés who were resident in May, 2009 in Sri Lanka, in actuality, these secret defence reports have been produced by the CIA and the MI6. What we think is that the US, UK’s fallacy spread about forty thousand civilians perishing was proved totally false. Then the US, UK spread the next fallacy which was twenty thousand civilians perishing. This also, over the years, proved to be totally false. Therefore the US, UK have now produced secret defence reports suggesting that in the case of the UK, seven thousand civilians perishing and in the case of the US, five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!). We think that these secret defence reports were produced maybe a few months ago, but backdated to show as if they were produced in May, 2009, in order to cover up the previous fallacies of the US, UK etc. However, these charges are totally false with no proof whatsoever to prove such bogus charges. Therefore, our contention is that the Sri Lankan Government should categorically reject outright such bogus charges since our Sri Lankan Armed Forces fought only with LTTE terrorists and only LTTE terrorists died, as a result, during the last phases of the conflict. No civilians perished during the last phases of the conflict at the hands of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces as we have shown by use of irrefutable proof below.
Our best informant as far as the last few months of the war is concerned is our own Sri Lanka Army who was there all the time, after all, and knows exactly what happened. It is our own Sri Lanka Army, Navy etc. and those commandeers who commandeered those divisions of the Sri Lanka Army, who we should turn to for factual information.
When observing the events of the last year or so of the war, the LTTE itself admitted that they drove the entire civilian population under their control all the way from Mannar in the North West coast, all the way up to the North East coast of Mullaitivu way before the Sri Lanka Army reached any of the LTTE held towns such as Kilinochchi, Mankulum etc. Around 300,000 civilians, partially from the Mannar and Vavuniya districts and totally from the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts, were driven away by the LTTE all the way up to the North East coast of Mullaitivu. Once the Sri Lankan Army commenced advancing from Mannar, the LTTE quickly evacuated the Vanni civilians and made them travel deep into the Vanni inlands. Therefore, civilians were not anywhere near the fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE until mid February to mid May, 2009. Therefore, when the army captured Kilinochchi, Mankulum etc. and all other LTTE towns, there were no civilians there to be affected. The army only fought with the LTTE terrorists at all these places. In newspaper reports we read, the Sri Lanka Army stated that when they entered Kilinochchi, it was a ghost town, since all the civilians have been made to move deep into the Vanni inlands quite sometime prior to the arrival of the army. In a programme on TV, the Sri Lanka Army stated that at Mankulum, which was an LTTE held town, when the army took over, around 60 LTTE terrorists perished, according to the army.
Even at Puthukudiyiruppu, which was a major LTTE camp where a major battle took place, there were no civilians there to be affected, since the army fought only with LTTE terrorists. Therefore our contention is that there could not have been any civilians casualties all the way from Mannar, via capturing of Kilinochchi, Mankulum, Puthukudiyiruppu etc. since there were no civilians at any of these places at all since all the civilians were driven away by the LTTE deep into the Vanni, as the LTTE itself admitted. The army only fought with LTTE terrorists and both our soldiers and LTTE terrorists did perish, as a result. Subramanium Sivagami alias ‘Colonel’ Thamilini, leader of the LTTE women’s political wing, in her book published prior to her death due to an illness recently, says that after the Sri Lankan Army secured Kilinochchi, the final counter offensive launched by the LTTE at Puthukudiyiruppu during the first week of April, 2009, led to the loss of over 600 LTTE cadres, including several senior LTTE personnel. This, again, suggests that it is the LTTE terrorists alone who the army encountered and it is only the LTTE terrorists who perished in these operations.
It is only during the last few weeks of the war that the army even encountered any civilians, after reaching the Nandikadal lagoon area. Here, the army was given strict instructions to use only light weapons when dealing with the LTTE terrorists by the Sri Lankan Government. To acquire an idea of how vast this area is, the Nandikadal lagoon is a vast lagoon which is as vast as the Negombo lagoon. Therefore, imagine how vast this area is. There was a vast land area to the North of the lagoon. It is best to purchase a map of the area from The Survey Department in order to acquire a knowledge of how vast this area is. The LTTE built earthen berms at one end of the vast land area stopping the army from advancing. These berms however covered only a small strip of this vast land area. The army wanted to breach a point of these berms and fired at the LTTE terrorists who were on the other side of the earthen berms but using light weapons. Therefore, since these earthen berms covered only an infinitesimally small area of this vast land area, only the LTTE terrorists on the other side firing back at the army could have been affected by the army firing at them. Civilians, we are sure, took refuge in the vast land area beyond and therefore they could not have been affected by the firing between the army and the LTTE terrorists across these earthen berms since the earthen berms took up only an infinitesimally small area of this vast land area and to the South was also the vast Nadikadal lagoon, as large as the Negombo lagoon itself.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is irrefutable independent confirmation that the army used light weapons only during this time. This confirmation is contained in a book published recently, written by Sri Shiv Shankar Menon, the Indian Foreign Secretary at the time. He states in his book that a troika inclusive of Shiv Shankar Menon flew to Sri Lanka regularly using the Indian Air Force in order to meet their counterpart troika in Sri Lanka i.e. Basil Rajapakshe, Gotabhaya Rajapakshe and Lalith Weerathunga. Shiv Shankar Menon states that Pranab Mukheerjee the Indian Foreign Minister was kept informed at all times of every meeting and happening that took place. He says that all the requests of the Indian Government i.e. only to use light weapons due to the civilian presence in the area, corridors for civilians to escape, adequate food and medicine deliveries into the area by sea, safe areas where no conflict was to take place and where civilians can take refuge, evacuation of all persons who were ill by sea, Indian medical teams at standby at Pulmuddai, Trincomalee etc., requests to the LTTE terrorists to put down arms and surrender and no harm will come to them etc. all these requests by the Indian Government were adhered to and implemented by the Sri Lankan Government to the satisfaction of the Indian Government. Therefore there is irrefutable proof that the army used light weapons only.
Since the LTTE terrorists shut all land routes by the end of January into the area by use of earthen berms, civilians who fell ill due to normal illnesses or LTTE terrorists who were injured due to firing between the army and the LTTE terrorists across the earthen berms, all were evacuated by ICRC ferries from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, according to the ICRC. Regular ICRC press releases at the time states that from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, a period of twelve weeks, the ICRC evacuated 13,500 persons in total from the area, from Puthamathalan to the Pulmuddai base hospital by sea where there were Indian medical teams as well as Sri Lankan medical teams to treat all patients. Of the 13,500, only half were patients i.e. 6,750. The rest, 6,750, were a relative or a friend who accompanied each patient. Of the 6,750 patients, half were evacuated due to normal illnesses such as flu, cold, cough, diarrhoea, pressure etc. who we can assume were civilians i.e. 3,375. Only the other half, i.e. 3,375 were evacuated due to conflict related injuries i.e. LTTE terrorists since all, LTTE terrorists and civilians, were evacuated during this time. We can conclude that if only 3,375 LTTE terrorists were injured during these three months, then around 1,125 (taking into account a 1:3 ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries) LTTE terrorists would have actually perished. Taking a 1:4 ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries, 845 LTTE terrorists would have perished. Therefore around 1,125 LTTE terrorists would have perished from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009 due to the conflict. How did we come up with this ratio? Major General Kamal Gunaratne in his just released book says that over 5,900 Sri Lankan Forces were killed while over 29,000 were injured from 2007 until May, 2009. This provided us with a 1:5 ratio which should be similar for the LTTE terrorists. However, since the fighting near the Nandikadal lagoon area was more continuous rather than intermittent events spanning over many months and years, even if light weapons were used, a higher ratio of conflict related deaths to conflict related injuries would have taken place. What is interesting is that Major General Kamal Gunaratne says that between January, 2009 until May 2009, around 2,500 Sri Lankan Army soldiers perished in the war.
We also know of an incident where the LTTE fired at and killed around one hundred civilians who tried to escape to the army’s side from mid February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009. There was also the incident where an LTTE suicide bomber dressed as a civilian blew herself up near a makeshift IDP reception centre killing Sri Lankan military personnel as well as a few civilians. The one hundred civilians fired at and killed by the LTTE would have been buried at the LTTE graveyards created by the LTTE within the area concerned.
What also needs to be taken into consideration is that by the 11th of May, 2009, the LTTE leadership let the civilians leave to the army’s side. From the 12th of May 2009, there were no civilians in the Nandikadal lagoon area. Therefore, from the 12th of May 2009 until the 18th of May 2009 there was only Prabhakaran and his gang of around three hundred LTTE terrorists who hid in the Nandikadal lagoon area and the army went after them from the 12th of May 2009 onwards. From newspaper reports from that time, we read that Prabhakaran and around three hundred LTTE terrorists died at the hands of the army from the 12th of May 2009 until the 18th of May 2009 around the Nandikadal lagoon area. We also read from newspaper reports that once the conflict was over on the 19th of May 2009, our soldiers were told to bury those LTTE terrorists that perished during this time in the LTTE graveyards that the LTTE already created in the area. Therefore around three hundred perished LTTE terrorists would have been buried at these LTTE graveyards after the 19th of May 2009 by the army.
The Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights Project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) acquired and analyzed commercial high-resolution satellite imagery of the area concerned. Imagery analysis was initially requested by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International USA (AI-USA) (the ill intention of HRW and AI-USA was to place the Sri Lanka Army in trouble, of course). However, only three gravesites were found from satellite imagery taken of the area concerned on five separate days, the 23rd of March 2009, 19th April 2009, 06th May 2009, 10th May 2009 and the 24th of May 2009. One contained 342 graves and was considered to be an LTTE graveyard. Another contained 960 graves and was considered to be an LTTE graveyard. The third contained 44 burials and was considered to be a civilian’s graveyard. Therefore in total around 1,346 graves were found in the area concerned as three separate graveyards.
What is noteworthy is that the LTTE graveyard containing 960 graves was present prior to the 6th of May, 2009 and did not expand since that time. The civilian graveyard of 44 graves was also present prior to the 6th of May, 2009 and did not expand since that time. However, the Southernmost LTTE graveyard expanded from the 19th of April, 2009 to the 6th of May, 2009 by 195 graves. From the 6th of May, 2009 until the 10th of May, 2009, this Southernmost graveyard expanded by another 77 graves. By the 24th of May, this Southernmost LTTE graveyard expanded by a further 70 graves to 342.
This suggests that when the army breached a berm and advanced further on the 20th and 21st of April, 2009 (with most of the civilians evacuating to the army’s side as a result, however with some civilians and LTTE terrorists remaining), the army took extreme precautions when engaging with the LTTE terrorists since that time, since the LTTE graveyard expanded only by 272 graves from the 19th of April until the 10th of May, 2009. By the 11th of May, 2009, the LTTE leadership allowed all the remaining civilians to evacuate from the area to the army’s side. From the 12th of May until the 18th of May, 2009, the army went after Prabhakaran and a gang of perhaps three hundred LTTE terrorists within the Nandikadal lagoon, located further to the South. Prabhakaran and his gang of LTTE terrorists are presumed to have perished at the hands of the army during the crossfire between them. Therefore the expansion of the Southernmost LTTE graveyard by a further 70 graves by the 24th of May, 2009 would have been the army itself burying these perished LTTE terrorists at this LTTE graveyard since in numerous TV programmes, we saw that the army was told to find and bury any perished LTTE terrorists within the Nandikadal lagoon area from the 19th of May, 2009 onwards, once the conflict ended.
In conclusion, two LTTE graveyards of 960 and 342 graves and a civilian’s graveyard of 44 graves have been found in the area concerned. Of this, around 1,125 and a further up to three hundred, are of LTTE combatants themselves as shown above. Over one hundred civilians were shot at and killed by the LTTE itself may have been buried at these graveyards, too. Since, as stated above, the around 300,000 Vanni population were driven by the LTTE itself deep into the Mullaitivu area, the army did not encounter any civilians as their operations advanced, until mid February, 2009 onwards. Therefore civilians could only have perished from mid February, 2009 until the 12th of May 2009. However, only 1,346 graves have been found in the area concerned, which are overwhelmingly of LTTErs. Therefore, apart from the one hundred civilians who were shot at and killed by the LTTE itself, where is the proof that any civilians perished at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army? The overwhelming conclusion from the evidence above is that almost all those who perished until the 18th May 2009 at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army were LTTE terrorists.
In the secret defence reports the US, UK have produced suggesting that in the case of the UK, seven thousand civilians perishing and in the case of the US, five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!), where is the proof on the ground that these bogus claims are true? The only conclusion is that this is a fallacy similar to all the other fallacies that the US, UK came up with over nearly three decades as far as Sri Lanka is concerned.
We suggest to the US, UK to provide Sri Lanka with the names, the identity card numbers of those they claim perished during the last five months of the conflict so that we can cross check as to their whereabouts. After all, these persons should have a name, an identity card number, a birth certificate, an address etc., surely, if they actually existed and also figure out if they were an LTTE terrorist or not. The US, UK will never ever provide such proof since their bogus claims come straight from the separatist terrorists themselves and are total lies.
One thing to note seriously unlike the US, UK’s totally bogus charges is that the United Nations Country Assessment Team and the UN representative in Sri Lanka, just a week after the conflict concluded, declared 7,721 persons (meaning LTTE terrorists and all others and not ‘civilians’ as even some mistakenly call this figure since persons means LTTE terrorists and all others which may have included a few civilians too) killed and 18,479 persons (again meaning LTTE terrorists and all others) injured from August 2008 until 13th May 2009. However, we think that the UN had no time to investigate anything just after the conflict concluded and extracted this figure from Tamilnet, the mouthpiece of the LTTE, since they had no other sources to extract their information from, as far as what happened on the LTTE’s side is concerned. We think this information was extracted from Tamilnet since Tamilnet also had very similar figures in its reports at that time. Therefore these figures are totally unreliable too and almost certainly untrue. What can be estimated is that from August 2006 until May 2009, over 6,600 Sri Lanka Tri Forces members perished and therefore it can be estimated that a similar number of LTTE terrorists also perished from August 2006 until May 2009.
It should be noted that when the ICRC evacuated any patients from Puthamathalan from the 10th of February 2009 until the 12th of May 2009, they were brought by ferry by sea from Puthamathalan to Pulmuddai where there was a base hospital. At Pulmuddai were Indian medical teams as well as Sri Lankan medical teams ready to treat any patients of any illnesses or LTTE terrorists of any conflict related injuries. They could then easily access the main hospital in the entire province which was at Trincomalee and even Colombo by air. Food and medicine too were regularly shipped by the ICRC by use of the ferry into the area concerned, for use by civilians. Once the conflict was over, around 300,000 civilians left the area concerned and were held in IDP camps by the Sri Lankan Government. At the conclusion of the conflict, over 11,300 LTTE terrorists surrendered too. All these persons were given medical examinations by Indian medical teams at the IDP camps, without exception. In fact, after about one month, the Indian medical team stated, as we read in newspaper reports at the time, that they have examined all the around 300,000 civilians and that they have nothing more to do and so they left after a successful task completed back to India.
One thing to note is that in spite of the LTTE terrorists preventing them doing so, the safe zone enabled a large number of civilians to escape the LTTE terrorists in April, when the earthen berm confining the civilians who were now the LTTE’s captives was breached by the army at a certain point while loosing many of its own soldiers circa 20th to the 21st of April, 2009. However, a segment of persons, mostly loyal LTTE cadres and a segment of civilians moved to the Southern segment of the safe zone.
During the last few months of the conflict, ITN and Rupavahini journalists were embedded with the Sri Lanka Army. There were also The Hindu correspondents, Kanchan Prasad and Muralidar Reddy. Contrary to claims that there were no witnesses to events that took place, several journalists, e.g. Kanchan Prasad and Muralidhar Reddy from The Hindu, and reporters from Doordarshan TV of India were embedded with the 58th Brigade on the Sri Lanka army’s side. David Gray, a Reuters correspondent, had also been touring the battlefield for a month in April, 2009, and clearly states that the soldiers were feeding those civilians that escaped etc., and no mention of any ‘indiscriminate attacks’. Reddy indicates having access to the internet (and being aware of allegations of civilian casualties that were being made at the time), they would have acted and reported any such incidents if they ever took place, which they did not, of course. Sri Lankan academics (e.g. Dr.Tammita-Delgoda, a historian at the Kadirgamar Institute) and other local journalists were also embedded with the Sri Lanka army. There were approximately 535 NGO workers who were with the LTTE terrorists, and all of them returned unharmed at the end of the conflict!
When observing the food distribution etc. the ICRC was present throughout the conflict, and suspended operations only on the 12th of May 2009, since all the civilians had successfully escaped the LTTE entrapment by that time. The government had issued the ICRC 104,765 metric tons of food and medicine to be taken to the conflict zone. There were also the UN/WFP convoys providing food and medicine, and the Darusman Report mentions 7,435 metric tons of food being delivered over five months, but omits the 104,765 tons delivered by the ICRC. A measure of food needs accepted by the UN can be obtained from the UN-run Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Northern Kenya: they shelter approximately 535,000 refugees, and were supplied 10,000 metric tons/month of food by the UN/WFP. This was prior to a 20% cut in November, 2013. This suggests that the around 300,000 hostage population held by the LTTE would need 5,610 tons/month, or about 28,050 tons for five months. Hence, using typical UN/WFP food-supply rates, it is clear that roughly four times the needed amount of supplies were provided by the Sri Lankan Government via the ICRC and the UN/WFP combined.
If the OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. want to know what really happened, why not inquire from the Sri Lanka Armed Forces themselves? They can talk to the ITN, Rupavahini journalists, The Hindu journalists Kanchan Prasad and Muralidar Reddy. They can talk to the Reuters journalist David Gray. They can talk to the Doordharshan TV of India’s journalists who were embedded with the 58th brigade of the Sri Lanka Army. They can talk to the Sri Lankan academics (e.g. Dr.Tammita-Delgoda, a historian at the Kadirgamar Institute) and other local journalists who were embedded with the Sri Lanka army. They can inquire from the Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon who, after all, wrote about this in his book. Why not talk to the Indian medical teams who examined all the civilians of around 300,000, once the conflict ended and the Sri Lankan medical teams who treated patients. The OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. will not talk to the above mentioned persons since this is not about seeking the truth but a witch hunt against Sri Lanka.
It should also be kept in mind that over 6,600 Sri Lankan Tri Forces members i.e. the army, navy and the air force perished due to the conflict from August 2006 until May 2009. This means that at least 33,000 of our Sri Lankan Armed Forces members would have been injured during this time from August 2006 until May 2009 too. We can add a few hundred police forces members who would have perished too, to this figure. Over 626 overwhelmingly Sinhala civilians were blasted to pieces by various incidents such as bomb blasts, claymore mine blasts in buses, trains, shops, roadsides etc. all over the country by LTTE terrorists during this time (we have obtained incident by incident of individual incidents which have been lodged with the police as police incidents, as a list, and counting the victims led us to this figure). Therefore, around 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons have been massacred by the LTTE terrorists during this time. Our question is who is questioning the LTTE terrorists, those of the Tamil diaspora who supported the LTTE terrorists, the TNA etc. and other separatists, the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. who indirectly supported the LTTE terrorists, who is questioning them as to why around 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons died during this time at the hands of the LTTE terrorists? Why is the OHCHR not interested in investigating as to why over 7,500 overwhelmingly Sinhala persons perished at the hands of the LTTE terrorists from August 2006 until May 2009?
Another important fact to note is that after the conflict concluded, for months and months, we saw on ITN, Rupavahini etc. the vast amounts of weapons caches that the Sri Lanka Army found in the Northern Province which belonged to the LTTE. There is no doubt that the LTTE possessed the most advanced and the most sophisticated weapons in vast quantities, either equivalent to in sophistication or superior to and in quantities equivalent to or greater than the Sri Lankan Tri Forces themselves. In effect, the LTTE possessed sufficient weapons to blow up the whole of Sri Lanka three times over, if necessary! Our question is, why is the OHCHR or the US, UK, EU, Australia, Canada, Norway, Sweden etc. not paying any attention to the fact that the LTTE was a well armed terrorist group and the Sri Lankan Tri Forces engaged with such a well armed terrorist group and not normal Tamil civilians as they seem to call the LTTE terrorists.
One more thing we need to point out is that countries such as the US, UK, who have routinely lied about Sri Lanka at every stage by use of fallacies such as forty thousand civilians perishing with no proof whatsoever to prove such a fallacy and then a second fallacy of twenty thousand civilians perishing again with no proof whatsoever to prove that fallacy too, are we stupid enough to accept their latest fallacy of seven thousand civilians perishing or five thousand persons perishing of which 25% were LTTE terrorists (all in a time period of the last five months of the conflict!), again with no proof whatsoever? If so, we Sri Lankans must be the stupidest people on earth. We should instead categorically reject outright any secret defence reports produced by our adversaries, the US, UK. Our Sri Lankan Armed Forces should only accept facts that can be proven by evidence on the ground and certainly not any fabrications by any quarter whatsoever.
We note, however, that Lord Naseby who obtained these reports using the Freedom of Information Act of the UK, is a good hearted person who has helped Sri Lanka (an unfortunate victim of our adversaries) at all times. However, all he did was obtain these secret defence reports. It is up to our Sri Lanka Armed Forces, The Ministry of Defence and the Sri Lankan Government to verify if these secret defence reports are true or not and categorically reject them outright as fallacies since there is no proof whatsoever to prove these fallacies. Our own Ministry of Defence, our own Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the Sri Lankan Government have all the information at their disposal to prove that these are all fallacies.
We also urge the Sri Lankan Government to categorically withdraw from being the co-sponsor of the UNHRC resolution since the other co-sponsors i.e. the US, UK are actually our adversaries who have lied about Sri Lanka for nearly three decades, who have placed Sri Lanka in deep trouble by concocting up fallacies about civilian casualty figures again and again and have been found out. The US, UK etc. have indirectly supported the LTTE terrorists throughout the nearly three decades of conflict and the their ulterior motive is to partition Sri Lanka via an amendment to the constitution and they are trying to scare Sri Lanka into passing such an amendment by use of totally bogus war crimes charges.
The build up to and the manner in which Sri Lanka is being treated, despite freeing around 300,000 civilians whilst providing a safe nation for 21 million people to live in, seems not to hold any importance to those drafting resolutions and they forget their silence for over 26 years when the LTTE terrorists massacred with impunity and are now making a hypocrisy of themselves investigating what may or may not have happened during the last five months of a long drawn out conflict with ulterior motives in mind.
Kind regards,
Chairman,
Sri Lankan Solidarity Movement
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