The Paranagama Commission report tabled in parliament on Tuesday states that the extra judicial executions of 18 May 2009 that were dubbed “White Flag Killings” in the Channel 4 programmes must be the subject of an independent judicial inquiry.
Pulidevan
These events are alleged to have led to the death of Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the political wing of the LTTE and Seevaratnam Pulidevan the LTTE’s head of the peace secretariat and others who are said to have emerged under the protection of a white flag and on assurances of their personal safety.
The commission states, if proven such conduct undoubtedly qualifies as a war crime under the Hague regulations and under the Geneva convention.
Paranagama commission notes that the desire of Nadesan, Pulidevan and others to surrender was communicated to the well known British Journalist, the late Marie Colvin.
The Commission says that assurances of safety from the Government were conveyed to Nadesan at about 6.30 am on 18 May 2009, according to an unsigned statement of a witness.
Quoting a US State department communique the report says that Nadesan and Pulidevan spoke to international and domestic actors who acted as intermediaries with the then Secretary to the Foreign Ministry Dr. Palitha Kohona to negotiate along with 300 other people.
Again quoting US state Department the reports says “Nadesan requested the presence of UN Secretary General envoy Vijay Nambiar to witness the surrender, but was told that he had President Rajapaksa’s assurance that the safety of surrendering LTTE leaders would be assured. On the morning of May 18, Nadesan and Pulidevan led a group of approximately one dozen men and women out to the SLA troops, waving a white flag. According to a Tamil witness who later escaped the area, the SLA started firing machine guns at them, everyone in the group reportedly was killed”.
Noting the above facts the commission states that it has come to the conclusion that an independent judicial inquiry is necessary to establish the facts, determine responsibility and arrive at the truth.
Dev / October 22, 2015
Will Sri Lankan + Independent ever occur in the same sentence?
History tells us NO, let us await the newest chapter of this continuing saga.
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Sinhala_Man / October 23, 2015
Dear Dev,
Yours is what I would call an encouragingly honest but moderate response. These are serious issues and a rather solemn approach is necessary.
Let us hope that the Rajapaksas accept punishment, if it comes, with dignity. Sad, that after their great achievement in ending a seemingly intractable war, they should now be held accountable. But it is only they who are to blame for the discomfiture that they now obviously are in. They imagined that they could act with impunity for ever, and let us thank all the gods in creation that we succeeded in our effort to throw them out.
If the Rajapaksas do indeed accept that an inquiry is necessary, and show a degree of co-operation, I’m pretty that they will not really be humiliated in the way they treated General Sarath Fonseka.
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nimal fernando / October 23, 2015
“Rajapaksas accept punishment, if it comes, with dignity. Sad, that after their great achievement in ending a seemingly intractable war”
This type of Sri Lankan mind-set baffles me no end.
If one casts aside all the hoopla, and look the truth straight in the eye, Gotabaya Rajapakse is a crazed serial killer; not only of Tamils (for those who think killing Tamils is excusable) but Singhalese too.
For Gotabaya, the answer to any problem is murder. That’s the mind-set of the man.
Where and when have we Sri Lankans begun to admire serial killers? By the same token, why can’t we admire Jeffrey Dahmer? Why can’t we admire Charles Manson, who also sent out crazed killers to do his bidding? By what logic do we differentiate Gotabaya from Manson?
Somewhere else when I said there is no morality based on deep conviction some people got disgusted because they wanted a moral-code applied to Sirisena that they were not willing to apply to the Rajapakses.
Sure, there is selective, subjective, relative ……. morality; a bird that flutters in people’s minds without deep conviction.
But categorical imperative? That’s a laugh.
Who are we trying to fool? Ourselves?
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Siva Sankaran Sarma / October 22, 2015
We should definitely investigate the deaths of a bunch of card carrying terrorists, but only after we’ve finished investigating the murders of thousands of actual innocents by We Thamizh :D
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Burning Issue / October 22, 2015
Imposter Sarma
:D your impersonation has done overtime and reached the sell-by date. :D it is about time you reinvent yourself as things have got rather uncomfortable for the bigots of your ilk :D
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Native Vedda / October 22, 2015
Wee Thamihz Senior Journalist Siva Sankaran Sarma Menon
“but only after we’ve finished investigating the murders of thousands of actual innocents by We Thamizh :D”
Who is stopping you from an independent credible investigation? You should ask Dayan and other smart ass patriots to organise farce onto death protest. Don’t forget Wimal Weerawansa.
Make sure you cover the entire investigation in case Wee Thamihzs do not have access to all those theatrics.
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Kumar R. / October 22, 2015
Hi NV,
When you wrote “Dayan and other smart ass patriots to organise farce onto death” I wondered if you meant to say “FAST until death” or perhaps more appropriately “FART until death”!
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Nirmala Nithy / October 23, 2015
[Edited out]
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Native Vedda / October 23, 2015
Nirmala Nithy
“[Edited out]”
Thank you for keeping it brief.
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Native Vedda / October 23, 2015
Kumar R
I stand by what I wrote.
Does Wimal Weerawansa ring a bell?
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Nirmala Nithy / October 23, 2015
[Edited out]
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ravivararo / October 23, 2015
classic
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janaka / October 23, 2015
Did Gota order killing of surrendering tigers Shavendra? No comment
Wrong answer Shavendra should have been definite NO
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jen / October 23, 2015
From what we read , the minorities request for an independent inquiry is fully justified as the previous regime has completely muddled up this inquiries ( The military inquiry which said they did no wrong ) and thanks to diplomats such as Dayan .Tamara , Palitha who justified and white washed these horrendous crimes at international forums . but now the truth seems seeping out from within Srilanka and the minorities claims are being fully justified in the international arena .
I firmly believe as what is said in All religions where may it be buddhism , Hinduism , Christianity or Islam where we need to first accept and then repent the crimes we committed and then ask for forgiveness from God .
The Guilty has to be punished no matter who they are and that would create Permanent Peace in Mother Lanka.
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Non PhD / October 23, 2015
Which sovereign country this Dr. Palitha Kohana belongs to Australia , US or SL ? Any wikileaks record of his actions during the war ? Which faith or religion he belongs to ? Who is his wife? What faith or religion she belongs to ? How many children he has? Which sovereign country they are studying ?
Based on his conscience and in the best interest of humanity and in the best interest of an effective reconcilliation, is he prepared to voluntarily confess what exactly happened ?
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Jim softy / October 23, 2015
Why some Tamils are leaving Sri lanka in speed boats to Tamilnadu and leave the boat on the shore and vanish ?
I think, they are scared for what is coming.
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Tamil from the north / October 29, 2015
[Edited out]
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kolitya / October 23, 2015
This is absolutely right.
There is no independent justice system in Sri Lanka. It functions under the direct control of Executive.
You need go that far to realize this.
After Sirisena was installed in office as the President, CJ Mohan Peiris was pleading with PM Wickramasinghe to remain in office offering to give any judgment the govt wants. (ref PM’s speech on 30-01-2015). Yet he was unceremoniously removed without following the due process.
Then Shirani Bandaranayake was offered the Job only after obtaining an undertaking to step-down in 24 hours, after clearing her name. She had no option but to return home as per the undertaking.
Then Sripavan was installed in the office. He knows that he can do nothing much but to dance according to government’s tune.
I saw DEW Gunasekara tried to send home all rejected candidates appointed home through the judicial mechanism. It is something like asking feather form the tortoise, which will never happen in this country.
The Tamil minority is absolutely right here; they have a judged our justice system correctly, what they demand that is for international court to try the accused for war crime is perfectly correct. And this will be a good lesson for our Court system that had miserably failed their duty.
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curtis hellfire / October 23, 2015
Oh how wonderful it is to Live in the Wonder of Asia.
A gentle peaceful Country, a veritable paradise where everybody is polite and gentle to each other !!!!!!!!!!!!
Ha Ha and then I awoke from my dream and looked around and quickly realised that I was actually in hell.
Some higher body needs to save us, and qquickly.
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soma / October 23, 2015
LTTE heros would never have surrendered. That is not the way the big boss had schooled them. White flag story was cooked up to belittle and insult them.
Or else, having sensed the impending situation the big boss would have acted in the appropriate manner.
Soma
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Jindasa Waduge / October 23, 2015
”This Commission is acutely conscious of the ‘Channel 4’ allegations. It is critical of Channel 4 for not releasing the original video footage to the GoSL, but accepts that despite some opinions to the contrary, the weight of independent expert analysis of the video footage suggests the images are unlikely to be faked. The Commission is mindful of the fact that forensic pathology and other corroborative expert evidence support the video footage as genuine”(Paranagama Commission Report para 77, Page 7)
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Tassimo / October 24, 2015
US killed white flag waving Korean civilians ib 1950.
Members of the U.S. military killed a large number of South Korean refugees under and around the bridge, early in the Korean War even though they had a white fkag
.they also had to kill Japanese who surrendered because of their fanaticism. I prefer to focus on innocent Tamil civilian deaths by Tamil Tiger terrorists and SLA. THESE terrorists had ample opportunity to surrender before that fateful day.
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jamesfolly / October 25, 2015
rajapaksas will be hanged for killing journalists. this inturn will avoid politcal backlash they would receive if they were to have been hanged for war crimes
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