Refuting Channel 4 - Sri Lanka’s killing Fields

by Dushy Ranetunge in London

(June 26, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The screening of the Ch4 documentary Sri Lanka’s killing fields In NY has given the opportunity for Sri Lanka’s permanent Representative to the UN, Dr Palitha Kohona and his Deputy, General Shavendra Silva to respond to some of the allegations presented in the programme.

The programme shows an incident where the UN had been requested to pullout of Kilinochchi and some civilians had gathered outside the UN office, protesting about the imminent UN withdrawal. A UN official is interviewed and mentions that he filmed the protesting group of civilians and that he ran his camera along the gate where Tamils were pleading with their hands through the gate. The camera pan then stops near a particular girl, who was not protesting and looking into the camera in a sad manner, which is described by the UN official as being a very sad impression, which had disturbed him.

It has since been pointed out by the Sri Lankan team in NY, that this girl was an LTTE cadre and that the civilians were put up by the LTTE to come and protest outside the UN.

This writer examined the film again and can confirm that the shirt the girl is wearing is one that forms a part of the many uniforms used by the LTTE. This is found in LTTE propaganda video sold in the United Kingdom.

The Sri Lankan team highlighted that "At the time the UN had said that the demonstration was not genuine. In any event while the expatriate staff that are in jeans and 4WDs of the UN left, thousands or even hundreds of locally recruited staff remained on the ground. They were also UN staff. It was mischievous to suggest that the UN was forced to leave to hide the evil plan of the government."

The Sri Lankan team has been pointed out that the use of the word "killing fields" has been plagiarized from John Pilger’s 1970 documentary on the Khemer Rouge, indicating the emotional impact of the title.

The Sri Lankan team has pointed out that the narration is clearly designed to create an impression of the Government of Sri Lanka deliberately targeting the Tamil population. This is rejected as a blatant lie.

They refute the allegation that upto 40,000 civilians were killed, in stating that there is no evidence to support such a conclusion.

They have pointed out that had the Government deliberately intended to attack the Tamil population, it would suggest that the Government had learned nothing from the experiences of other military forces fighting terrorists in distant lands. (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya) The deliberate targeting of civilians only creates more martyrs and volunteers for the rebels. The Government’s objective was to win over the Tamil civilian population and not to create more volunteers for the LTTE was the thrust of the Sri Lankan defense.

The Sri Lankan team pointed out that the LTTE used hundreds of thousands of civilians as human shields, having forcibly herded them together as it retreated, and then it had located its fighting units and heavy guns in the midst of the civilians, as was evident even from some of the footage itself.

Although the Sri Lankan’s often use the word "human shields" in respect of the LTTE, the UNSG’s panel has rejected this assertion.

The panel report states "237. Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: Credible allegations point to a violation of Common Article 3’s ban on the taking of hostages insofar as they forced thousands of civilians, often under threat of death, to remain in areas under their control during the last stages of the war and enforced this control by killing persons who attempted to leave that area. (With respect to the credible allegations of the LTTE’s refusal to allow civilians to leave the combat zone, the Panel believes that these actions did not, in law, amount to the use of human shields insofar as it did not find credible evidence of the LTTE deliberately moving civilians towards military targets to protect the latter from attacks as is required by the customary definition of that war crime (Rule 97, ICRC Study)).

This is a legal definition. To satisfy the strict interpretation of International law in respect of "human shields" there should be evidence that civilians were moved to protect a military position. In the case of the LTTE, it moved military positions near civilian positions such as hospitals. Therefore the use of the term "human shield" in respect of the LTTE is not accepted in law, although it is popularly used in Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan team highlighted that International law and practice permits retaliatory strikes when fired upon subject to the principle of proportionality and reasonableness, which is also acknowledged in the video. They said that at no stage could it be said that government fire breached this rule.

It was brought to the attention of the audience that "Wars are ugly things and civilians do get hurt. This war was brought upon Sri Lanka by the LTTE. The LTTE controlled territory, had an air capability and a naval force. They recruited over 5,700 child combatants according to the UNICEF, invented the suicide vest and deployed it more than 236 times successfully, bombed UNESCO protected places of religious worship, massacred civilians endlessly, including in temples and mosques and ethnically cleansed the Northern Province of all non Tamils. The government was forced to use force only after a series of efforts to negotiate an end to the conflict was rebuffed by the LTTE. The government acted responsibly."

This writer is aware that the Rajapaksa Presidency prepared for war from the time it gained office. On 24th December 2005, at his home at military HQ in Colombo, Sarath Fonseka informed this writer that he intends to clear the East, hand it over to Karuna and go after Prabakaran in the Vanni.

During peace talks, the State was preparing for war, and the LTTE played into the government’s hands by their over-confidence and intransigence. The Rajapaksa presidency successfully out maneuvered the LTTE.

They also stated that "It is malicious to suggest that the media was excluded. There were journalists who were in the front, including Al Jazeera. The BBC operated out of Colombo. Perhaps it was because Channel 4 was kicked out that it has decided to seek vengeance from Sri Lanka. In fact, the scene where thousands of civilians are filmed crossing the lagoon, escaping from the LTTE, was filmed by Al Jazeera. Many NGOs stayed within the conflict zone and the ICRC was present till the very end. When it became impossible to transport food and medicine by land to the civilians held hostage by the LTTE, the ICRC began transporting these items by sea with the assistance of the Government."

It had been highlighted that "The ICRC continued to transport the sick and the wounded, out of the LTTE area, including pregnant mothers, until the very end, by sea. It transported approximately 7,000 sick and wounded and over 8,000 friends, relatives and carers. It is highly unlikely that a responsible organization like the ICRC would have transported 8,000 people who were not sick or wounded, if there had been sick and injured awaiting transportation."

In respect of investigating war crimes, the Sri Lankan team stated that "It was the responsibility of the sovereign state to deal with any infractions of international standards on its own. This is the law. Sri Lanka has established the LLRC for this purpose and the Attorney-General’s Department has created a special unit to deal with the relevant recommendations of the LLRC. In addition the military has also said that it would investigate specific instances where soldiers may have broken the law."

Dr. Kohona had concluded by stating that it is one thing to present facts to be judged by viewers but it was something else for the malicious misrepresentation of facts to create an unreal and exaggerated picture with an ulterior motive.

During Sri Lanka’s rebuttal in NY this week, Gen Shavendra Silva took the floor and a YouTube video is available of a part of his presentation. While he made good points, his delivery was poor, and use of time highly inefficient.

Sri Lanka needs effective diplomats to fight its corner, but the quality on display indicates the need for much improvement.