Visit to Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vanni, Jaffna, Colombo and Upcountry
Website : www.tchr.net
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established in 1990)
Visit to NorthEast and Upcountry
in the island of Sri Lanka
by representatives of TCHR
July - August 2004
9, rue des Peupliers
95140 - Garges les Gonesse
FRANCE
Email : tchrgs@tchr.net
tchrdip@tchr.net
Fax : + 33 - 1 - 40 38 28 74
Website : www.tchr.net
Tamil Centre for Human Rights - TCHR
Centre Tamoul pour les droits de l'Homme - CTDH
Centro Tamil para los Derechos Humanos
(Established in 1990)
Contents
Fact-finding / Study Mission 04
Situation in Colombo
Constitutions 05
Mandates
Overnight Bills 06
Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
National Police Commission (NPC)
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka – HRCSL 07
International news agencies 08
Visit to East
People recall some incidents after the CFA
The Tamil Muslim problem-a new phenomena 09
Karuna was discharged
Batticaloa
Seven disabled cadres killed 10
LTTE political office closed in Batticaloa
Special Task Force (STF)
The modus operandi of the STF
17,500 Widows
Mahiladythivu-Kokadichcholai 11
January 1987
Survivors’ eye witness accounts of Massacres in Batticaloa 13
Pullumalai Massacres
Mahiladythivu-Kokadicholai massacres 14
Survivor of Prawn breeding farm massacre
Survivors of Mahiladythivu, Kokadicholai massacres 15
Thonni Thaddamadhu Massacre 16
Sithanddy Massacre 17
Vantharumoolai Massacre
Punanai Massacre 19
Pendukalchenai Massacre 20
Udumpankulam Massacre
7000 thousands widows in Amparai
Adapallam Massacres 21
Veeramunai Massacres 22
Samanthurai Malaikaddu
Kondaivedduvan
School at Karathivu
School at Karathivu
Army from Malwathai camp
1
Sathurukoddan Depot Massacre
Col. Karuna? 23
Child soldiers in Batticaloa
Release of under age youth by the LTTE (2004) 24
Colonisation in Batticaloa
Tamil-Sinhala populations in the Eastern province, 1827-1981
Tamil and Sinhala populations in the Batticaloa district, 1827-1981
Amparai 25
Tamil and Sinhala population in the Amparai district, 1963-1981
A few noteworthy massacres in the Amparai district
Visit to Trincomalee
Internally Displaced People 26
1986 massacre in Thampalakamam 27 1998 massacre in Thampalakamam
Some massacres in the Trincomalee district 28
Kanthalai massacre
Sampur, Muthur
Sampalthivu
Thamplalakamam (Forest)
Mullipothanai
Peruveli Manatchenai Refugee Camp
Pankulam
Trincomalee (Iruthyapuram)
Disappearances during Col. Thenekoon’s tenure
Colonisation in Trincomalee
Encroachment on Tamil's paddy fields by Sinhalese
Tamil and Sinhala populations in the Trincomalee district, 1827-1981
Geysers in Kanniya 29
Visit to Vanni
State and Private schools in the North East 30
Standardisation 31
Technical Colleges
Tamil Eelam Police
Meeting with Mr Nadesan - Head of Tamil Eelam Police
Mr. Nadesan's concerns 32
Mass graves in Kilinochchi
Discovered un-identified skeletons
Discovered identified skeletons 33
Tamil Eelam Judiciary
2
NESOHR 34
Saiva Temples
Post Traumatic Stress
Malarcholai 36
Niraimathi Illam
Senthalir
Kurukulam Children’s home
TRO
Recollections from an artist’s memory about a massacre 37
Saved from two suicidal attempts
Gathering information by some staff of INGOs
Visit to Jaffna
Internally Displaced People
Sorrowful stories of displacement
Military Zones in Jaffna 38
Christian churches
Navaly Church
Muslims in Jaffna 39
Fishing restrictions
Journalist Nirmalarajan Mylvaganam
Nirmalarajan's family went quietly – BBC 40
Jaffna Library
Free and fair election
Plantation Tamils
Leader of Up-Country People Front (UPF)
Disenfranchisement 43
Nutshell - Plantation workers in Ceylon/Sri Lanka
Internal rift in the EPDP 45
Concluding Comments
Grateful acknowledgements 48
List of abbreviations used 49
3
Fact-finding / Study Mission
The Tamil Centre for Human Rights is the first and the only human rights organisation which has visited the conflicting villages in the NorthEast where there had been severe human rights violations - massacres, disappearances, rape, looting, arson arrest, torture and what not during the twenty years of bloody conflict in the NorthEast and upcountry in the island of Sri Lanka.
Four representatives of TCHR - Ms. Deirdre McConnell – Director International Programme (United Kingdom), Mr. S. V. Kirubaharan – General Secretary (France), Mr. Indiran Chinniah (The Netherlands), Mr. Thambirajah Gengatharan (Switzerland) and many other local representatives of TCHR participated in the recent six week study mission to Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Vavuniya, Vanni, Jaffna, Kandy, Hatton, Nuwara Eliya and Colombo.
The TCHR delegation met with many members of the civil society – lawyers, religious leaders, journalists, women’s groups, NGO representatives, academics, parliamentarians and civilians including victims of war.
Everyone with whom we met and spoke, requested us to withhold his or her name and address in our reporting for obvious reasons, except the people in Vanni. In fact, some of the people whose names were published in our last reports had been warned by some government authorities.
Terminologies used in this reporting were expressed orally by the people whom we met.
In the past, there had been reports of fact finding missions by a few foreign human rights organisations. Those reports were written after visiting Colombo the capital of Sri Lanka, Kandy, Beruwela and other tourist locations where there is no ethnic conflict.
TCHR representatives have travelled from Maha Oya in the East to Kankesanthurai in the North through every village and town. We have visited Puttalam, Chilaw, Negombo, Colombo and Upcountry.
Situation in Colombo
During our stay in Colombo we met many NGO representatives, parliamentarians, academics and media personnel.
In Colombo, we saw vehicles being checked by the Police and the other security personnel in the evenings. Three wheelers known as “autos” were frequently checked by the Police. Our cab (taxi) was stopped on two occasions in Colombo by the Police. The Police enquired from the driver in Sinhala about us and the destination of the vehicle.
In Colombo Fort, all the roads close to the President's residence are closed to public use. This is a commercial area where Central bank and other prominent banks are situated.
Local public transports were overloaded with commuters hanging on at the foot boards of buses and trains.
We were told that the conditions of public transport have worsened since the nationalisation of transport. Ministers get their job for their own betterment but not to improve public transport. Ministers enact laws to achieve their own ulterior motives and not to improve the living condition of the people.
Near old Parliament Gale Face Green is like open carnival in the nights. It is over-crowded and people enjoy fresh air at the beach of the Indian Ocean.
In Colombo, people are in panic after President Kumaratunga's interview to the United Press International (UPI) on 16 August 2004.
In that interview the volatile President had the effrontery to issue an indirect challenge to the LTTE that she is prepared to meet the LTTE militarily. Her statement seems to be highly unwarranted and premature, especially at a crucial juncture when the Norwegian delegates are shunting off from country to country to uphold the cease-fire environment and to explore ways and means of recommencing the peace process.
4
Colombo, Sri Lanka, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga has cautioned the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam that she would order troops to march into the rebel-controlled areas if the internecine war between the guerrillas were to endanger the country's stability. Such action would amount to a violation of the two-year-old Norwegian brokered cease-fire. (Excerpts - Interviewed by Ravi R. Prasad of United Press International)
Since the present government came into power, the earlier tactics of lobbying the international community have started again, said a Lawyer in Colombo.
This involves calling for various seminars, meetings and conferences through some institutions in Colombo and using those occasions to carry out the government’s lobbying. At the end of these meetings, the Minister of Foreign Affairs will throw a cocktail party and give his final brain washing talk, said the Lawyer.
He further said he has his doubts about the meeting on "Peace in Sri Lanka" which took place on 20 August 2004, in Oslo, Norway. When one looks at the people behind this meeting, one could easily understand who sponsored it! The speakers were the usual "Pied-Pipers" who play for good pay. They were silent during the UNP regime, now they have got an opportunity again.
Constitutions
Many lawyers, academics and others in Colombo told us that within a short period, Sri Lanka has seen three new constitutions, but none has taken the ground reality into account.
When then Ceylon was given independence by the British in 1948, the first constitution came into effect, and it was known as the post-independence constitution. It was superseded by the 1972 Republican constitution which re-named Ceylon as “Sri Lanka” and declared Buddhism as the state religion. This constitution deprived the Tamil people in the island of the minimum protection that was provided for in the previous constitution. Then again in 1978, when the Presidential system was introduced in Sri Lanka, a fresh constitution replaced the 1972 one. This conferred unswerving executive powers to the President.
Mandates
In Sri Lanka, every political party claims to have certain mandates. However only a few mandates are endorsed by the people. Unfortunately none of the mandates goes well with each other! This creates a very delicate political situation. Here we would like to high-light some of the mandates which the people from civil society whom we met, discussed with us.
* The United National Party (UNP) claims that the people have given them a mandate to form a government but that party’s grudge is that its political right was denied.
* Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) claims that it has a mandate to safeguard Sinhala Buddhism from any sort of conversion and to build-up Sri Lanka as a Sinhala Buddhist country.
* Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have the people’s mandate to asseverate that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are the sole representatives of Tamils and that any future political negotiations by any government should be only with the LTTE.
* President Chandrika says that United Party Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has been given a mandate to re-start negotiations with the LTTE. She also claims that she has another mandate to use her executive presidency to restart the war, if the necessity arises.
* The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) being part of UPFA government says that it has the mandate to oppose any negotiations with LTTE and to any political solutions to the island’s ethnic problem.
* The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) says that it has the mandate to play a part in any negotiations on political matters in the island.
* The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) says that it has the mandate to join any government party of its choice to upgrade the life style of the plantation workers who are also known as estate workers.
There are so many more confusing mandates claimed by other political parties.
5
Overnight Bills
At the moment many bills were brought to parliament by the ruling party and the people consider those bills as over-night raids on people. Out of those many bills, two bills seem to be rather controversial!
The one which is known as the "Anti-conversion bill" which is aimed at preventing Sinhala Buddhists from being converted to Christianity. Most of the people whom we met, including Buddhists, strongly believe that this bill will bring religious disharmony in Sri Lanka.
In fact, this bill is in violation of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 18 of the International Covenant of Economic Social Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and many other International laws.
The second bill introduces special identity cards for local, provincial, general and presidential elections in the future. Many political parties and individuals belonging to civil society and organisations are against this bill and they argue that those who drafted it have "Ulterior motives".
They say that the National Identity Card (NIC) system which is in practice now is enough to identify voters. They further said that this special new identity card system for the elections will only disenfranchise displaced people from the North East as well as the Plantation Tamils. It is also believed that this would lead to further malpractices by the authorities, would involve a massive cost and would serve no purpose. This special identity card system would violate many an international law.
Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)
One of the subjects spoken of widely by civil society in Sri Lanka is the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). This Act was introduced on 19 July 1979 by the then President J. R. Jayewardene as a temporary oppressive measure to use against the newly born Tamil militancy in the North East of the island.
Under the PTA, the police and other security forces have the power to arrest anyone, search their houses without warrant and detain anyone for a period of eighteen months without trial. During which period, the victim undergoes severe torture by the Police and other forces. Thousands of Tamils fall victim to this act and there are still people in detention and serving long term jail sentences with no scope of a fair judicial proceeding.
"Today this temporary bill (PTA) brought to curb terrorists acts is now 25 years old and the so called militants metamorphosis into fully fledged freedom fighters is an undeniable truth" said a human rights lawyer in Colombo.
Civil society in the North East and in Colombo is demanding that the government repeal the PTA. In the mean time, some International institutions and certain sections of the civil society in Colombo, mostly Sinhalese, are advocating amendments to this act, which would include a provision that children be exempted. In other words these international institutions still want the PTA to be in use. This Act has inflicted abominable suffering on Tamils.
National Police Commission (NPC)
The National Police Commission (NPC) appointed on 24 December 2002 has no provision to take legal action against any police officers below the rank of an inspector.
There are two different arguments on the lack of this provision. One, the acts of torture is carried out mostly by the officers below the rank of an Inspector and the NPC has no provision to take any action against them. Police inspectors and police personnel holding them ranks above are the real culprits. They should take responsibility for acts of torture committed by the police.
On the whole, NGOs feel that there should be an independent Commission on torture for all categories of officers in all forces because torture is rife in Sri Lanka.
6
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka - HRCSL
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka was established in March 1997 under the Human Rights Commission Act No. 21 of 1996.
The HRCSL has failed to realise that the violation of human rights has neither a deadline nor an expiry date. The present political atmosphere permits anyone to travel anywhere and gather information and carry out investigations into the violations which had taken place in the past.
The HRCSL has failed in its duty towards the NorthEast of the island. Hundreds of complaints which were made in the past by the people from the NorthEast, still have not been entertained by the NRCSL. But ironically the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka came out with a report about Child soldiers in the East. (Batticaloa in February 2004)
"HRC Chairperson, Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy said a fact-finding mission sent to the East recently by the HRC purports to claim that child abduction is rife in the region.
The team held extensive discussions with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the parents of the children who had been abducted by the LTTE.
"We are convinced that child recruitment and child abductions continue to take place in the east after the ceasefire agreement. This is one of the most disturbing elements since the signing of the ceasefire," Coomaraswamy told The Sunday Leader. (Excerpt – The Sunday Leader of 08 February 2004)
Human Rights activist (DC) in the East told us that "Batticaloa town is not the only place in the East, it includes Amparai, Trincomalee and hundreds of villages where horrendous human rights violations have taken place.
A Lawyer (PR) in Batticaloa told us that "for the HRCSL, human rights violations means only ‘Child soldiers’. This idea is unduly manifested to discredit the LTTE. The HRCSL is a mouth-piece of the government".
A school teacher (LR) from Batticaloa said "the HRCSL was established to carry out propaganda against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - LTTE. It became so obvious when they published their report about the recruitment of child soldiers, which the HRCSL says exists in the East - ignoring all the other violations suffered by the Tamil people in the same area. They have funds and manpower to investigate about child soldiers, but nothing is done about the other violations that take place in the same area".
He asked us whether the HRCSL has taken any effort to investigate the massacres, rapes, looting and what not which have been carried out by the security forces in Batticaloa and other places. What have they done so far about twenty years of state terrorism against the Tamil people and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)? Are the foreign funders aware of the hidden agenda of the HRCSL?"
A Priest (MG) in Batticaloa told us that "the government has found a Tamil as the Chairperson to the HRCSL to inform the world that it is headed by a Tamil like the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sri Lanka. These are matters for analysis", he said.
A Human rights activist (DC) from Trincomalee told us to "look at the prominent people working at the HRCSL. In the past they all, including the chairperson of the HRCSL, justified the state violations internationally and ignored the human rights violations faced by the Tamils.”
Many members of the civil society in the East told us that the HRCSL has never visited any of the villages controlled by both the army and the LTTE in Batticaloa. They write reports after visiting only the town, staying in luxury hotels, meeting only those who are amicable to them and those who could provide them with information to serve their purpose.
The HRCSL sends letters to Tamils in Sinhala. TCHR is in possession of such a letter. In fact, the Paris principles are totally ignored by the HRCSL.
Witnesses to the horrendous human rights violations from NorthEast are still living and waiting to relate their stories. But neither the international organisations nor the HRCSL is ready to listen to them, compensate them or even bother about them.
7
Large sums of foreign and local funds are used by the HRCSL and other international organisations to pursue the subject of child soldiers.
"Why does the HRCSL have such double standards? What has it done for the victims of the twenty year war? Did it take any interest to list those victims? If it does it would have to go against the Sri Lankan security forces for which it is not ready", said a school teacher (LR) in Batticaloa.
The HRCSL branch in Jaffna never dealt with issues like HSZs, disappearances, the Chemmani mass grave, massacres, violence against women, loss of public properties like school, churches, temples, etc. It deals only with petty complaints about the police.
It is obvious that the National Commission on Human Rights of Sri Lanka has only a selective application on Human Rights, especially in the NorthEast. In fact, its functions are mingled with politics.
International News Agencies
A journalist (VG) in Jaffna told us that, "All the international news agencies and the representatives based in Colombo are dominated by Sinhalese. Therefore the information spread to foreign countries is biased. It is always against the Tamils and the LTTE. They indirectly support the government’s propaganda against the Tamils’ political aspirations. The truth remains mute in this country".
A Lawyer (YS) in Jaffna told us that "many foreigners do not know the differences between the Tamils and Sinhalese. When a Sinhalese correspondent reports for a foreign press on the political situation in Sri Lanka, he/she gives his/her biased opinion. This opinion is accepted as a correspondent’s report from Colombo. But this is actually a Sinhalese point of view. The international community perceptions are based on lack of true information".
* * * * *
Visit to the East
When we were travelling through the Eastern province we saw numerous military camps and check points. There were many new check points in the East. We saw Sri Lankan Army, Navy, Air force, Police, STF and Home guards in the Trincomalee and Batticaloa areas where they are involved in joint operations.
Due to twenty years of military operations, hundreds of acres of paddy lands remain uncultivated, with grown up bushes on both sides of the road.
Wherever you see a Home Guard battalion you can be sure that those areas have Sinhala settlements in the Tamil areas.
Many lands legitimately owned by Tamils in the East have been forcefully acquired by the government and Sinhalese. In Batticaloa and Trincomalee many acres of such land have been confiscated from the Tamils. They are left wondering as to where they should lodge a complaint regarding this illegal encroachment. (Please refer to page 28)
People recall some incidents after the CFA was signed
In April 2002, the Sri Lankan Navy attacked the Tamil and Muslims civilians who were diving for crustaceans/shellfish at Vakarai. Three people were killed in this incident.
On 09 October 2002, when people demonstrated protesting against the STF for assaulting the LTTE cadres in Kanchirankudah in Amparai district - the STF opened fired at the demonstrators killing seven and injuring fourteen.
Following the Kanchirankudah incident, there was a demonstration in Trincomalee on 11 October 2002 and a grenade was thrown at the demonstrators by Army personnel in the guise of civilians. In that incident, three protestors were killed and twelve others injured.
The government maintains a divide and rule policy as far as the Muslims and Tamils are concerned. In our discussions with both the communities, we gathered that the government is the one that masterminds the division between these two communities.
In order to achieve this task, the state uses several tactics. One method is to create confusion among the Muslims and Tamils, which always results in bloodshed.
8
The Tamil-Muslim problem - a new phenomena
"The Tamil-Muslim problem is a new phenomena which never existed earlier in this country", said a Muslim trader in Kathankuddy, Batticaloa. "If you go through the history, you will see that we (Muslims) had several violent clashes with Sinhalese in the past. In every community you find extremists. It is true that some of our people (Muslims) helped the STF and Army in harassing and killing Tamils here. Even some Tamils helped the Army to kill their own people. It is the government that creates problems among us. We are Tamils, we want to live in peace with our Tamil brethren like before".
The harassment of journalists continues in Batticaloa. After the assassination of renowned journalist Mr. Nadesan, other journalists too have received death threats and as a result many have fled Batticaloa.
When we met some of the lecturers in the Eastern University in Batticaloa, they explained to us how and why their colleague Mr. Kumaravel Thambyaiah was killed on 24 May 2004 by Karuna's group.
Mr. Kumaravel Thambyaiah (48), a senior lecturer and head of the Economics department of the Eastern University, was shot dead at his home in Gnanasooriyam Square in Batticaloa town by (then known as) unidentified gunmen. Mr.Thambyaiah was from the village of Aasikulam in Vavuniya. Mr. Thambayiah was forced out of Batticaloa due to the harassment he had received at the hands of Karuna's friends. He had later returned when normalcy had returned in Batticaloa.
Batticaloa
Our visit to Batticaloa was a frightening and risky one. We visited both areas – the government controlled areas as well as the LTTE administrated areas.
Batticaloa abounds with security forces. Every hundred yard there was a large battalion of STF personnel either moving about on shanks mare or taking positions. All the check-points were manned by the STF and one saw many different types of military vehicles. The pervasive military presence in Batticaloa gave signals to the public that war may break out at any time.