{"id":58959,"date":"2012-11-06T11:15:22","date_gmt":"2012-11-06T11:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=58959"},"modified":"2012-11-09T12:08:37","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T12:08:37","slug":"army-inquiry-on-war-crimes-no-longer-credible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/army-inquiry-on-war-crimes-no-longer-credible\/","title":{"rendered":"Army Inquiry On \u2018War Crimes\u2019 No Longer Credible"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>

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

Army spokesman Ruwan Wanigasooriya yesterday (5 November) told Xinhua newspaper that the army investigations into some incidents or alleged \u2018war crimes\u2019 still continuing. This is the first time for a long period that we heard about it after its so-called appointment in January this year. There must be a particular reason why the statement was made to the official press agency of the People\u2019s Republic of China<\/a><\/span> instead of local newspapers or any other. It appears that even China is watching what is happening in Sri Lanka, as it has to unfortunately defend Sri Lanka and that means the present government in the Security Council and other forums.<\/p>\n

I browsed through the Ministry of Defence<\/a><\/span> website seeking some information. It is full of political propaganda for the Defence Secretary<\/a><\/span> and the President<\/a><\/span>, two of the three brothers who apparently govern the country, apart from some items still glorifying the war and news about the three armed forces. The latter might be quite permissible for a defence website compared to the atrocious political propaganda.<\/p>\n

Of course there was one portal titled \u201cWar Crimes<\/a><\/span>\u201d just above a bigger window on \u201cLTTE Atrocities<\/a><\/span>.\u201d I was trying to find any news about the so-called army inquiry there, but none. It largely consisted of reports like \u201cHumanitarian Operation: Factual Analysis,\u201d \u201cSri Lanka\u2019s Humanitarian Effort\u201d or counter propaganda for the international accusations such as \u201cAppalling Journalism \u2013 Jon Snow<\/a><\/span> and Channel 4<\/a><\/span>,\u201d and \u201cLies Agreed Upon<\/a><\/span>.\u201d At last, there was an item called \u201cLet\u2019s Take Accountability Seriously,\u201d and then I thought that might be the place to find some information. No, it consists of an article by The Nation<\/em> newspaper dated 12 March 2012.<\/p>\n

The situation is the same in the Army website, although it is more professional than the Defence Ministry one. The question is why the inquiries are so secretive given the public importance of the matter, nationally and internationally. There is no question that the army did the right thing by defeating the LTTE<\/a><\/span> militarily. But it should have been done respecting the international humanitarian and human rights law and laws of the country. Torture<\/a><\/span> or killing of the unarmed or any such thing is not permissible even under the domestic law. There are so many other norms that the armies should follow under the international law. The protection of civilians is of paramount importance. Deviations or atrocities in other countries, including the US, or the atrocities by the LTTE are not an excuse. That is why the government declared a \u2018zero civilian casualty\u2019 policy in the first place. Now it should inquire with credibility whether that policy was adhered to and whether other violations of the international law have occurred.<\/p>\n

When the army inquiry was appointed in January, it was stated that the matters referred to in the LLRC<\/a><\/span> report and accusations of the Channel 4 videos would be investigated. The UNHRC<\/a><\/span> recommendations in March were much broader to investigate all accusations including what were highlighted in the UN Darusman report<\/a><\/span>. But no new investigation mechanism has been set up outside the army inquiry. The government also has not shown any remorse on what happened or might have happened during the last stages of the war, as those are the direct responsibility of the present government.<\/p>\n

Some of the revelations or alleged revelations as to what happened during the last stages of the war are extremely shocking to say the least. The naked body of Isaipriya<\/a><\/span> among others with audio voices of army personnel, bullet ridden body of a child who is alleged to be Prabhakaran\u2019s 12 years old son<\/a><\/span> and the video footage of the questioning of the LTTE leader Ramesh<\/a><\/span> after capture and then the pictures of his battered body are some clear examples. These cannot be condoned just because they were linked to the LTTE. In ordinary parlance these are called sahagahana aparada<\/em> or \u2018unforgivable crimes.\u2019 Even if one may argue cynically that the videos are completely doctored; these are matters to be investigated. Anybody who supported the government in good faith in defeating the LTTE, like me, cannot condone these crimes. More profound matter is the credible allegations as to the shelling of the civilian areas (including hospitals) even when the demise of the LTTE was abundantly clear. The quoted numbers may be controversial (between 10,000 and 40,000) but the matters need to be impartially and transparently investigated.<\/p>\n

The deeds of \u2018Good Samaritan\u2019 during the war perhaps by some of the soldiers are not excuses to hide the crimes committed even by a few. There is no reason to delay or not to investigate these allegations credibly unless the high command or the government is clearly responsible for these alleged crimes. The government\u2019s credibility is becoming more and more suspicious because of the way the government is handing human rights and justice issues since the end of the war in the country. Development or even resettlement\/rehabilitation is not enough fig leaves to hide them.<\/p>\n

According to what the former Attorney-General Mohan Peiris<\/a><\/span> told Xinhua newsagency on the same day (5 November), the Army Court of Inquiry has had only 50 sittings for the whole of last ten months. That is little more than one sitting per week. It has only recorded statements from only 20 witnesses. These statistics speak very poorly of the so-called investigations now going on or claimed to be going on. It is not clear how many cases or incidents that they have been investigating. All these are kept as guarded secrets. That is why these investigations are considered like \u2018asking evidence from robber\u2019s mother\u2019 (horage ammagen sakki aheema<\/em>). It should be kept in mind that these are only preliminary inquiries. For any military prosecution, the cases have to be filed before the General Court Martial.<\/p>\n

It is possible that some cases may be filed before the General Court Martial in view of the next UNHRC sessions in March 2013 as a show case. But this is not what the UNHRC Resolution expected from Sri Lanka on the issues of accountability. By the time of the resolution, the UNHRC knew about the army inquiries and what they wanted was not selective inquiries. The resolution \u2018called upon\u2019 the government \u201cto take all necessary additional steps to fulfil its relevant legal obligations\u201d including accountability and \u2018requested\u2019 the government to \u201caddress alleged violations of international law.\u201d The diplomatic language in the resolution would not be an excuse for Sri Lanka to take the recommendations leniently.<\/p>\n

The UN itself is \u2018soul-searching\u2019 on what happened in Sri Lanka and its own mistakes during the crucial days and a report on the subject by Charles Petrie will be submitted to the Secretary General next month. Marzuki Darusman is still heading an expert panel on Sri Lanka advising the SG and has recently said that accountability in the case of Sri Lanka primarily means \u201cwhat happened to the 40,000 civilians\u201d (Daily Mirror, 5 November 2012).<\/p>\n

I was one who initially questioned the need for an \u2018international inquiry\u2019 on alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka in view of the army appointed court of investigation (Asian Tribune, 20 February 2012), but at present it is abundantly clear that the army inquiry is no longer credible given the above explained reasons. While it is primarily the responsibility of a credible government to investigate what happens within its jurisdiction in respect of war crimes and\/or violations of human rights, if that government fails to do so within a reasonable period of time with credibility and impartiality, it rests upon the international system (UN, ICC and other bodies) to do so or otherwise justice would not be done to the victims, the perpetrators would go scot-free and the necessary lessons would not be learnt.<\/p>\n

Related posts;<\/p>\n

WikiLeaks: Gota Softens Tone On War Crimes<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

WikiLeaks: Gota Has Been Punishing Army For Rape And Murder<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

New Evidence:The Death Of Colonel Ramesh \u2013 Warning Disturbing Images<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sri Lanka Can\u2019t Deny: Colombo Telegraph Revelation Turns Sri Lanka\u2019s War Crime In To A New Chapter<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":48998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,2938],"tags":[6212,6211,1453,1390,6210,5381,1401],"class_list":["post-58959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-editorial","category-popular","tag-accountability-sri-lanka","tag-appalling-journalism-jon-snow-and-channel-4","tag-human-rights-violations-in-sri-lanka","tag-panel-of-experts-on-accountability-in-sri-lanka","tag-sri-lankas-humanitarian-effort","tag-war-crime-sri-lanka","tag-war-crimes-ltte"],"yoast_head":"\nArmy Inquiry On \u2018War Crimes\u2019 No Longer Credible - 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\/army-inquiry-on-war-crimes-no-longer-credible\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Army Inquiry On \u2018War Crimes\u2019 No Longer Credible - 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