{"id":150398,"date":"2025-06-25T17:18:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=150398"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:20:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T00:20:04","slug":"will-the-unhrc-head-meet-tamil-victims-of-ltte-terror-or-only-tamils-who-defend-ltte","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2025\/06\/25\/will-the-unhrc-head-meet-tamil-victims-of-ltte-terror-or-only-tamils-who-defend-ltte\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the UNHRC Head meet Tamil Victims of LTTE Terror or only Tamils who defend LTTE?."},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><em><strong>Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"532\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-13.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-150399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-13.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-13-300x156.png 300w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-13-768x399.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk&nbsp;is currently in Sri Lanka inspite of the devastation taking place in Israel, Iran &amp; Gaza. He is scheduled to&nbsp; tour the Northern Province. His visit will put him to the test. Will he meet&nbsp;Tamil families&nbsp;who lost their loved ones to LTTE cruelty or will he like all previous UNHRC Heads give audience only to those who promote the same narratives the LTTE used to justify mass murder?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thunukkai: The Camp of Horror the UN refused to see<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While UN &amp; its entities continue to desperately defend the narrative of 40,000\u201d dead which it is being challenged to prove, the UN is happy to ignore the sites of torture, detention &amp; even executions committed by LTTE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to multiple testimonies, backed by research from&nbsp;University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR-Jaffna):<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The LTTE operated a\u00a0brutal torture and detention facility in Thunukkai, Mullaitivu.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Between 3,000 and 6,000 Tamil civilians\u00a0were abducted and held without trial.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Many were\u00a0executed, others died under\u00a0torture, and the rest were\u00a0never seen again.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Child soldiers, forcibly conscripted, were made to\u00a0guard and torture their own community.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Victims included:<ul><li>Tamil youth who resisted recruitment<\/li><\/ul><ul><li>Journalists, teachers, clergy<\/li><\/ul>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ordinary civilians accused of being traitors\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So much for claiming to carve a separate state for their own\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UTHR\u2019s reports&nbsp;describe&nbsp;underground bunkers, hidden camps, and systematic torture run by LTTE\u2019s&nbsp;intelligence wing&nbsp;(Kittu\/Thuraiappa Group).<br>These reports were available to&nbsp;the UN from the early 1990s. What did the UN do about them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uthr.org\/SpecialReports\/spreport34part8.htm\">https:\/\/www.uthr.org\/SpecialReports\/spreport34part8.htm<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-monstrosity\/?tztc=1\">https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/a-monstrosity\/?tztc=1<\/a>&nbsp;(write up on Thunnukkai LTTE detention camp by Prof. Hoole)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/16hz4inEA5\/?mibextid=wwXIfr\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/share\/p\/16hz4inEA5\/?mibextid=wwXIfr<\/a>&nbsp;(Arun Siddharth)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LTTE killed my beloved father\u201d \u2013 Arun Siddarths wife Thangathurai Thayani\u2019s heartbreaking story&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/02\/23\/ltte-killed-my-beloved-father-arun-siddarths-wife-thangathurai-thayanis-heartbreaking-story\/\">https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2023\/02\/23\/ltte-killed-my-beloved-father-arun-siddarths-wife-thangathurai-thayanis-heartbreaking-story\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-150400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-12.png 474w, https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/image-12-139x300.png 139w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet&nbsp;not a single OHCHR report\u2014including the Darusman, OISL, or Petrie reports\u2014has cited&nbsp;UTHR\u2019s primary Tamil testimony&nbsp;on these crimes committed by LTTE. Why the omission?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Families Plead for a Meeting \u2014 Will Volker T\u00fcrk Give them a hearing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The&nbsp;Jaffna Civil Society Center (JCSC)&nbsp;has sent a formal request to Mr. T\u00fcrk\u2019s delegation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Survivors of Thunukkai are\u00a0alive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Families of those tortured and killed are\u00a0ready to testify.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Documents have been compiled.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>They have waited\u00a016 years\u00a0for the UN to acknowledge their pain.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>They are not state agents. They are not Sinhalese. They are not Muslims. They are&nbsp;Tamils, wrongfully branded traitors\u201d by the LTTE, and then forgotten by the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know the UN is little bothered about Sinhalese or Muslim victims of LTTE. But why omit Tamil victims of LTTE too?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Questions to the UNHRC to Answer<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Will the High Commissioner meet these Tamil survivors of LTTE atrocities?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why has no UN report mentioned Thunukkai, despite UTHR and other Tamil sources providing credible documentation?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Why are only LTTE-aligned or diaspora-linked groups invited to speak at UNHRC sessions?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How can justice be served when half the victims \u2014 those killed by the LTTE \u2014 are erased from UN records?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What kind of human rights system refuses to even meet the victims of terrorism, while legitimising the grievances of its perpetrators?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Truth, silenced by the UN<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>UTHR\u2019s reports confirm:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>LTTE ran secret prison networks\u00a0across the Vanni.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Thunukkai,\u00a0Kilinochchi, and\u00a0Visvamadu\u00a0housed thousands of civilians.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Mass killings of Tamil dissenters\u00a0occurred as early as the late 1980s.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Civilians who tried to escape LTTE areas were shot, sometimes in front of their families.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These are&nbsp;well-documented,&nbsp;Tamil-sourced, and&nbsp;independent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So why did the&nbsp;OHCHR ignore UTHR&nbsp;in every war crimes narrative it built &amp; happy to accuse the Sri Lanka Armed Forces of war crimes\u201d instead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Selecting victims\u201d is not justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Volker T\u00fcrk\u2019s itinerary, so far, reportedly&nbsp;excludes meetings with Sinhalese and Muslim victims&nbsp;of LTTE terror. That is understandable &amp; nothing to be surprised about. It was a foregone conclusion. However, why is the itinerary ignoring a segment of Tamils who were victims of LTTE?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If that is politically convenient,&nbsp;it would be morally indefensible&nbsp;if he ignores&nbsp;Tamil victims of the LTTE&nbsp;\u2014 especially those with documented evidence, survivor testimony, and decades of silence behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A Tamil Mother\u2019s Appeal<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They took my son in 2005. We found his name in a UTHR report.<br>No one came to ask us. Not the media. Not the UN.<br>We are Tamil too. Why won\u2019t Mr. T\u00fcrk speak to us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We saw how speeches only spoke of LTTE mothers bewailing their dead terror sons\/daughters. It\u2019s a pity the victims of LTTE get shoddy treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Time to be Heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Tamil people were not all with the LTTE. That\u2019s why we have continued to say All Tamils are not LTTE though ALL LTTE were Tamils\u201d.<br>Many Tamils were LTTE\u2019s first victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alfred Duraiappah \u2013 the Tamil Mayor of Jaffna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tamil Policemen on duty in Jaffna \u2013 all killed by LTTE before they turned guns on Sinhalese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If the UNHRC Head is in Sri Lanka for truth, it must face&nbsp;<em>all of it<\/em>.<br>If Mr. Volker T\u00fcrk refuses to meet these survivors,&nbsp;his visit will be remembered as another performance \u2014 not a step toward justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ball is in Volker Turks court \u2013 we are all watching<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shenali D Waduge The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker T\u00fcrk&nbsp;is currently in Sri Lanka inspite of the devastation taking place in Israel, Iran &amp; Gaza. He is scheduled to&nbsp; tour the Northern Province. His visit will put him to the test. Will he meet&nbsp;Tamil families&nbsp;who lost their loved ones to LTTE cruelty or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-shenali-waduge"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}