{"id":152091,"date":"2015-10-10T13:26:05","date_gmt":"2015-10-10T07:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=152091"},"modified":"2015-11-17T18:40:12","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T13:10:12","slug":"gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/","title":{"rendered":"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Laksiri Fernando<\/span><\/a> –<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Dr.<\/a>

Dr. Laksiri Fernando<\/p><\/div>\n

When asked \u201cDo you really believe the proposed judicial mechanism can help address accountability issues?\u201d former Defence Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa<\/span><\/a> (GR), has started talking about \u201cone of the major accusations directed against the army\u201d \u2013 the \u201cexecution of surrendering LTTE cadres during the last phase of the offensive on the Vanni east front.\u201d<\/p>\n

I am quoting his own words published by Shamindra Ferdinando in \u2018The Island\u2019 (7 October 2015). The interview is titled \u2018War crimes probe Gotabhaya speaks out.\u2019 As a teacher, I am well aware that there are people who fail to answer questions directly and sometimes we call them \u2018rigmaroles\u2019 or malle polls. However, there are other psychological reasons why people become obsessed with something, even when something else is asked. The possible reasons can be \u2018guilt\u2019 or \u2018over enthusiasm.\u2019<\/p>\n

However, it should be admired that GR has been straight forward and bold in giving this interview particularly at this juncture. As the interviewer has stated \u201cthe former Defence Secretary now faces the prospect of a no holds barred judicial investigation never held in this part of the world.\u201d He may also be believing that he has done \u2018nothing wrong\u2019 according to his \u2018limited knowledge and beliefs.\u2019<\/p>\n

It is interesting note that he has not disputed the validity of the now proposed \u2018judicial mechanism\u2019 whereas he has been apparently opposing purely an \u2018international investigation\u2019 before. Even he has suggested that the \u201cThe proposed court [could] call the then Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Tore Hattrem (present State Secretary at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) to verify accusations.\u201d The interviewer however has noted, that in the past, \u201cThe Gajaba Regiment veteran strongly opposed an external investigation into Sri Lanka\u2019s war which he quite rightly believed was an internal matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

GR has admitted that the \u201cWidely dubbed the white flags killings<\/span><\/a>, the allegation brought the Sri Lankan Army to disrepute.\u201d However, according to him, the army hasn\u2019t done anything wrong because \u201cThere had never been an agreement or an understanding between the government and the LTTE for the latter\u2019s surrender though various interested parties alleged execution of surrendering persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

But for surrender, there is no need for an agreement or understanding between two parties and in this case \u2018between the government and the LTTE.\u2019 Of course the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) was now defunct and abrogated. According to Jan Romer (Killing in a Grey Area between Humanitarian Law and Human Rights<\/em>) the customary international humanitarian law (IHL) pertaining to non-international armed conflicts rules the following.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttacking persons who are recognized a horse de combat<\/strong> is prohibited. A person horse de combat<\/strong> is: <\/em><\/p>\n

(a) Anyone who is in the power of an adverse party;<\/em><\/p>\n

(b) Anyone who is defenceless because of unconsciousness, ship wreck, wounded or sick; or<\/em><\/p>\n

(c) Anyone who clearly expresses an intention to surrender; provided he or she abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.\u201d (p.74).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

One difference is that in this case the matter is not about \u2018attacking\u2019 as Romer said, but alleged killing or massacre. More pertinently, what should have applied in this case is the principle C, the protection of \u2018anyone who clearly expresses an intention to surrender.\u2019 Romer further says,<\/p>\n

\u201cSurrender requires that attacked person to discontinue his\/her participation in hostilities, in particular, by resisting or defending him or herself. Surrender is not bound by strict formalities<\/strong>. In general, a soldier surrenders by laying down his or her weapons, raising his\/her hands, or waving a white flag.\u201d (p. 77, with my emphasis).<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The surrender does not require strict formalities. Does not require an agreement between the two parties to the conflict or war. And in this case, did not require the dictates or ruling from GR who was in Colombo (I may add in an air conditioned room!). It was a simple procedure, of course with caution, which should have been followed by the commanders or whoever in charge on the ground.<\/p>\n

The following is the narration that GR has given about his part on the saga which might not be the full story.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the night of May 16th, 2009, Hattrem visited me at my official residence, Baudhaloka Mawatha, where he claimed that LTTEer Pulithevan had offered to surrender along with some other cadres and their families as all senior leaders were dead by then. Hattrem had been in touch with Pulithevan over the phone. However, arrangements couldn\u2019t be made for the surrender as Hattrem failed to get in touch with Pulithevan to know the identities of those willing to surrender. Primary objective of an investigative judicial mechanism is to verify accusations made by various parties.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Note that \u2018all senior leaders were dead by then.\u2019 It is commendable that GR has accepted the objective of \u2018investigative judicial mechanism to verify accusations made by various parties.\u2019 There is no question that there can be some questions that Hattrem has to answer as well.<\/p>\n

However, there cannot be any dispute that GR was placing unnecessary preconditions or one might say obstacles<\/strong> from Colombo for the purported surrender. Of course there can be some reasons why he was doing that, and he has explained some of the matters in his interview. However, those are not necessary under the international humanitarian law and what were at stake in this instance were lives, not only one or two but of several.<\/p>\n

We at least know or have credible evidence that at least the lives of Pulidevan and Nadesen (and their families) were involved. For some people, those lives might not be worth, but those are not the premises of the international humanitarian law or our civilized human conscience. Killing of those who surrender is barbaric<\/strong>. What we have lost is also valuable information to know the \u2018truth\u2019 from the LTTE side.<\/p>\n

This is not the first time that such things have happened in Sri Lanka. We know that a similar fate happened to Rohana Wijeweera (the JVP leader), who was under state custody, whatever the crimes he himself had committed. The impunity has continued. That is another reason why these incidents should be investigated and investigated thoroughly.<\/p>\n

GR has said, \u2018for the failure of the surrender arrangements,\u2019 passing the buck to Hattrem, \u201cHowever, arrangements couldn\u2019t be made for the surrender as Hattrem failed to get in touch with Pulithevan to know the identities of those willing to surrender.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a strange order to rule that \u2018the identities of those willing to surrender\u2019 should be known or revealed before the acceptance of surrender. This was 16th of May 2009 evening, two days before the body of the LTTE leader Prabhakaran was found. This was a period of extreme uncertainties. However, the demise of the LTTE was exceedingly clear. It is not revealed in what form the identities of those who wanted to surrender was required. The decisions were taken in Colombo. Verifications were obviously problematic and communications were exceedingly difficult with those who wanted to surrender. GR was asking for the impossible.<\/p>\n

The interviewer has very clearly asked, \u201cQ: Who wanted to establish the identities of those wanting to surrender?<\/strong>\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer given is also very clear, \u201cA: That decision was mine<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is apparent that the decision was given over and above the international humanitarian law and in violation of international humanitarian concerns. The alleged \u2018massacre\u2019 was the result, extent of which has to be determined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":92325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,46,8,6968],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-constitutional-reforms","category-editorial","category-popular-columns"],"yoast_head":"\nGota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"[…]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Colombo Telegraph\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-10T07:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-11-17T13:10:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"237\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"263\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/\",\"name\":\"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-10T07:56:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-11-17T13:10:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg\",\"width\":\"237\",\"height\":\"263\",\"caption\":\"Dr. Laksiri Fernando\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/\",\"name\":\"Colombo Telegraph\",\"description\":\"In journalism truth is a process\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3\",\"name\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","og_description":"[…]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/","og_site_name":"Colombo Telegraph","article_published_time":"2015-10-10T07:56:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-11-17T13:10:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":237,"height":263,"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/","name":"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019 - Colombo Telegraph","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg","datePublished":"2015-10-10T07:56:05+00:00","dateModified":"2015-11-17T13:10:12+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg","width":"237","height":"263","caption":"Dr. Laksiri Fernando"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/gotas-inadvertent-admission-of-complicity-in-the-white-flag-massacre\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gota\u2019s Inadvertent Admission Of Complicity In The \u2018White Flag Massacre\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/","name":"Colombo Telegraph","description":"In journalism truth is a process","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9db3d0cfcfa59e1997e3c3524d454cb3","name":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/920b3181b0bf86b5c339ad9f0963a89f6a8b19c4b971e629987a021ba7a663df?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"COLOMBO TELEGRAPH"},"url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/author\/colombo_telegraph\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/Laksiri-Fernando.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152091"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152102,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152091\/revisions\/152102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}