{"id":100409,"date":"2020-03-28T20:58:56","date_gmt":"2020-03-29T02:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=100409"},"modified":"2020-03-28T07:59:36","modified_gmt":"2020-03-28T14:59:36","slug":"if-ltte-hardcore-killers-can-be-pardoned-why-shouldnt-sunil-ratnayake-be-pardoned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/03\/28\/if-ltte-hardcore-killers-can-be-pardoned-why-shouldnt-sunil-ratnayake-be-pardoned\/","title":{"rendered":"If LTTE hardcore killers can be pardoned why shouldn\u2019t Sunil Ratnayake be pardoned?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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As\nif we did not have one global virus to contend with \u2013 there is another biased virus.\nA bandwagon calling themselves human rights activists deem the pardon of \u2018butcher\u2019\nSunil Ratnayake to be an unpardonable offence by President Gotabaya Rajapakse. Where\nwere these angels when LTTE were killing pregnant Sinhalese mothers in Kent\n& Dollar Farms in 1985? Of course, it\u2019s important to understand that the\nattack against Sunil Ratnayake is in reality an indirect attack against the\nPresident who was gaining popularity amongst the people for his professionalism\nin handling the covid-19. That professionalism was spraying charcoal over those\nthat they brought to power in January 2015. Let these goody-two-shoes bathe in\ntheir glory-minutes as the pardon has afforded a life-line to those that had\nbeen biting their nails searching for some news to make them relevant. Bless\nyou, Sunil Ratnayake, they must be saying!  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nmanner of the one-sided justice and human rights mechanism is today exposing\nitself globally and it won\u2019t take too long for people to call their bluff or perhaps\ncorona-karma might visit them before that, but whoever is parroting about the\ninjustice in releasing Sunil Ratnayake must also explain why they have failed\nto object when hardcore LTTE combatants were equally released even by the\nMahinda Rajapakse government? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why\ndidn\u2019t the same media and human rights group object when 594 Tamil child\nsoldiers were also given presidential pardon after May 2009? Why didn\u2019t they\ndemand justice for attacks by LTTE on innocent villagers killing sleeping women\n& children, on mosques killing people in prayer, on Buddhist temples\nkilling those in meditation, on Buddhist student priests killed one after\nanother inside a bus? On innocent passengers in buses and trains blown to bits\nfor doing no harm to LTTE? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

President\nSirisena pardoned convicted LTTEr Sivaraja\nJenivan at a ceremony too in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why\ndidn\u2019t this same media & human rights organizations call LTTE as \u2018butchers\u2019\n\u2013 why is the reference to murderers applicable only to the Sri Lankan\nArmy?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nLTTE terrorists carried out over 300 such attacks against innocent civilians, the\ncase of Sunil Ratnayake is dependent on one flimsy \u2018witness\u2019 account of a man\nwho managed to escape from 14 Sri Lankan soldiers! If these soldiers could kill\n8 why did they spare this \u2018witness\u2019 whose testimony is as a result of him\nhaving his eyed bound by his sarong and then thrown to a fence and then his\nblindfold getting removed allowing him to see Sunil Ratnayake and escape 14\nsoldiers! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sensationalism\nat its best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those\nparroting reports on Sunil Ratnayake \u2013 pause for a few minutes and ask yourselves\nthese questions about this supposed \u2018massacre\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tamil civilians were barred from coming\nto the area where the Army was located?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

LTTE\ndressed like civilians and came pretending to gather firewood and other items\nto carry out terror attacks or collect information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could SL Army identify LTTE from a\nCivilian? No<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nLTTE had a separate Tamil Civilian Armed\nForce (MAKKAL PADAI\nBRIGADE)<\/strong> who were trained to kill. This civilian armed force\ncomprised children as young as 7years. So whether they were 7 or 10, 19, 35 or\nage old grannies, LTTE had trained them in combat to kill Sri Lankan soldiers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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– LTTE CIVILIAN BRIGADE \u2013Do we call them \u2018Civilians\u2019 or \u2018Combatants\u2019?<\/a><\/blockquote>