Gajalakshmi Paramasivam
SRI
LANKA’S CIVIL WAR
‘Comment is free, but
facts are sacred’ is
the mantra by media elder C P Scott, written in 1921. One is entitled to conclude
that Elder Scott believed that there is Divinity in ‘fact’. As Soul is to humans,
Truth is to Facts.
Some facts were shared with
me by a calm Tamil Diaspora leader, through the article headed ‘Israeli complicity in Sri Lanka war
crimes must be investigated’ by Eitay Mack who is presented as ‘an Israeli human rights lawyer working
to stop Israeli military aid to regimes that commit war crimes and crimes
against humanity’
Given that
the author is Israeli writing about Israel makes it to be insider ‘intelligence’
. This is valuable to Tamils of Sri Lanka, who rarely criticize Tamil militants
who actively produced war-outcomes in Sri Lanka. This is confirmed by Eitay
Mack as follows:
‘Over the years, the United Nations and human rights
organisations have diligently documented war crimes committed during the war.
Their focus has been mainly on atrocities carried out by government forces and
the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Mack continues
as follows:
‘But there has been almost no attention paid to
international backers of the Sri Lankan government who may have been complicit
in the war crimes it committed against civilians. Israel is one of them’
Why
would I keep breaches of law confidential or secret ? Confidential, if I believe that the person
concerned is my junior; secret, if I think without belief that the person is less than I. The
latter is the reason for anti-discrimination laws. The purpose of secrecy is
often selfishness. In times of regional or global wars, they lead to quid pro
quos or worse, takeovers.
Mack confirms the business intent as
follows: ‘ In the
2000s, Sri Lanka became one of Israel’s most important clients in Asia,
undertaking significant procurement of Israeli military technology. Israelis
also trained Sri Lankan troops involved in the war……
In
the mid-1970s, Israel bought primitive surveillance unmanned aerial
vehicles (UAVs) that the United States had used a decade earlier in the Vietnam
War and started developing them. In the 1980s, the Israeli army made
groundbreaking use of this uncrewed aircraft during the war in Lebanon and
later developed offensive prototypes, which were deployed in its assaults on
the Gaza Strip.
These UAVs – repeatedly
tested on civilians and military targets in the Middle East – have
become one of Israel’s most sought-after products around the world. They were
also among key military purchases the Sri Lankan government made from Israel
in the 1990s and 2000s as the war against LTTE was raging.
In
the Sri Lankan army’s own words the Israeli-made UAVs “played a critical role in the war“. Senior Sri Lankan government and security forces
officials have repeatedly said in interviews and statements that before
attacks, they would watch videos shot by UAVs to verify that no civilians were
found in the area, in accordance with their policy of “zero harm to civilians”.
But the UN has uncovered
evidence that there was, in fact, severe harm done to civilians. According
to its estimates, in the last months of the war alone, between 40,000 and
75,000 civilians were killed, most of them due to deliberate fire by
government security forces.’
The problem
with the Sri Lankan Tamil community is lack of ownership of LTTE’s contribution
to these ‘facts’. Mack is an Israeli investigating his own government. Due to
this lack of ownership, the war karma became an independent sin which becomes
an orphan within the Tamil community itself.
For
its part, Israeli power within the government of Sri Lanka was attacked by
Muslims in the form of Easter Sunday bombings followed by the elevation of Mr
Gotabaya Rajapaksa whose role in the war is presented as follows by the
government website:
‘Chief
of Defence Staff (CDS) retd. Air Chief Marshal Donald Perera General Sarath
Fonseka, Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda and Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetilike
joined President Mahinda Rajapaksa on a special dais to take the salute
following a 21-gun salute. A smiling Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa
whose contribution made Sri Lanka’s victory possible sat in the front row with
his wife enjoying the finest hour for Sri Lankan forces.
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