{"id":156313,"date":"2026-05-20T16:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=156313"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T23:29:07","slug":"allegation-civilians-were-deliberately-targeted-by-sri-lankas-armed-forces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/05\/20\/allegation-civilians-were-deliberately-targeted-by-sri-lankas-armed-forces\/","title":{"rendered":"Allegation: \u201cCivilians were deliberately targeted by Sri Lanka\u2019s Armed Forces\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

WHO ARE THESE CIVILIANS\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. LTTE combatants, including child soldiers, who engaged in hostilities while in civilian clothing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. LTTE civilian armed force operating in combat while in civilian clothing<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Civilians forced to engage in combat\/hostilities under coercion<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Civilians who had no role in hostilities\/combat<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Only the 4th type retains full civilian protection under International Humanitarian Law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    WHAT WERE CIVILIANS DOING INSIDE A WAR ZONE?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • LTTE took civilians as hostages<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE used civilians as human shields<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE forced recruitment of civilians including children<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE trained civilians in combat and used forced labour<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE prevented civilians leaving the conflict zone<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE shot at civilians attempting to escape to Govt controlled areas<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE placed military assets among civilians<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE fired at the Armed Forces from within civilian concentrations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE operated media channels from war zone & inflated situation<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • LTTE used suicide bombers among civilians who attacked refugee centres killing both civilians and military personnel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      LTTE RESPONSIBILITY<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      LTTE stands guilty of all above and by their own actions is the cause of civilian casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In taking civilians and keeping civilians with LTTE, LTTE showed no concern for Tamil civilians (men, women, elderly, pregnant, sick, children).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      LTTE should have faced its enemy directly instead of using the very people they claimed to represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

      WHAT THE ABOVE CLEARLY SHOWS<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        \n
      1. The LTTE exercised physical control over civilian movement \u2013 LTTE held the sole decision to allow civilians to escape to safety or not<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      2. The LTTE deliberately increased civilian exposure to combat \u2013 LTTE compromised the lives of its own people<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      3. The LTTE used civilians as a tactical protective layer \u2013 LTTE betrayed its own people<\/li>\n\n\n\n
      4. The LTTE actively prevented civilian evacuation to safe areas<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        LTTE placed civilians in a vulnerable situation.
        LTTE compromised civilian lives.
        LTTE\u2019s conduct is directly responsible for civilian casualties.
        LTTE fired from civilian areas and expected the Armed Forces not to respond.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        The LTTE deliberately destroyed the civilian\u2013combatant distinction by removing separation between armed cadres and civilian population<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        Let it also be noted that the close to 12,000 LTTE combatants who surrendered were all in civilian clothing<\/p>\n\n\n\n

        UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          \n
        • Civilians are protected unless and for such time as they take direct part in hostilities<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The presence of civilians does not prohibit attacks on legitimate military objectives<\/li>\n\n\n\n
        • The use of human shields is a serious violation of IHL by the party employing them<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          LEGAL CONTEXT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Where:
          \u2022 Civilians are forcibly retained in combat zones
          \u2022 Combatants are embedded within civilian populations
          \u2022 Civilians are used as shields against military attack<\/p>\n\n\n\n

          Then:
          Civilian casualties occurring in such conditions cannot be interpreted as deliberate targeting by the opposing force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \n
          • The LTTE systematically embedded civilians within its military operations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Civilian harm resulted from this deployment strategy<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • LTTE deliberately dismantled the separation between civilians and combatants<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • The Armed Forces operated in a context where civilian-combatant separation had already been destroyed by LTTE actions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • An attack directed at a legitimate military objective does not become deliberate targeting of civilians\u201d simply because civilians are present or harmed in the vicinity<\/li>\n\n\n\n
          • Where one party unlawfully creates conditions that place civilians in harm\u2019s way, responsibility for resulting civilian risk exposure must be assessed in light of those actions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            This invalidates the allegation of deliberate targeting of civilians by the Armed Forces\u201d, as LTTE used civilians as shields, hostages, and operational cover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            If civilians are intermingled with combatants
            If civilians are forcibly retained in combat zones
            If military positions are embedded within civilian structures
            If LTTE fires from these positions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Then civilian casualties cannot automatically be interpreted as deliberate targeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Shenali D Waduge<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

            <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            Shenali D Waduge WHO ARE THESE CIVILIANS\u201d? Only the 4th type retains full civilian protection under International Humanitarian Law. WHAT WERE CIVILIANS DOING INSIDE A WAR ZONE? LTTE RESPONSIBILITY LTTE stands guilty of all above and by their own actions is the cause of civilian casualties. In taking civilians and keeping civilians with LTTE, LTTE […]<\/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-156313","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\/156313","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=156313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156314,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156313\/revisions\/156314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}