THE Sri Lankan government is attempting to portray the continually escalating incidents of civilian murders, disappearances and robberies as the result of individual enmities and family squabbles among the local population, TamilNet reported at the weekend.
The Jaffna district Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Neville Padmadeva, advanced this view at a press conference last Friday, according to the NGOs, journalists and civilians present.
Colombo is keen to divert the attention of the media and the international community away from the Sri Lanka Security forces saturation of Jaffna district, and Colombo’s tacit sanction to Jaffna-deployed Sri Lanka soldiers and collaborating paramilitaries to create fear among the public to suppress dissent, civil sources in Jaffna said.
Referring to the abject lawlessness gripping the Jaffna district, Padmadeva told the audience that investigations by the police have revealed that family, community related disagreements and grievances are the reason behind the murders, abductions and robberies.
However, the SSP failed to explain why police have neither apprehended the criminals responsible, nor have released information on the suspects after such investigations.
SL military commander in Jaffna, Major General Hathurusinghe, during a recent interview to an international news organisation, had claimed an entirely different reason for the crimes in Jaffna, attributing the murders, abductions and robberies to the migrating labour force from the South to Jaffna.
However, police chief Padmadeva in his Jaffna press conference tried to assuage the public by saying that they should demand to see the Identity Cards of anyone who visits any individual’s house for investigations.
The SSP further said that the public has the power to arrest anyone who attacks the residents or commits a robbery inside a house, and that soon after apprehending the attacker, the public should inform the police.
The SSP chief added that many of these ills are also due to the lack of personnel and resources in the Police Department, and therefore, humanitarian organisations and others, where security is paramount, should employ private security personnel for added security.
Meanwhile, detailing the recent killings, abductions and other atrocities in the SL military-occupied North, the Journalists For Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), an exiled organisation of journalists, has condemned the silence of Sinhala and English media in Colombo over the terror campaign.
Instead, these media highlight only the explanations from the SL government’s side, the report said.
The JDS statement exposed the latest twists in the portrayal of the situation by SL media minister and government spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella, who wanted to pass the blame on ‘elements seeking to tarnish the image of Colombo government internationally’.
The JDS statement, with added details of earlier unreported crimes, noted that human rights violations not being exposed is high in Vanni because journalists and aid workers are barred from entering Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts.
The full text of the statement by the JDS is as follows:
‘The resurgence of widespread extra-judicial killings, abductions and burglaries in the northern Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts during the past two months, despite a heavy military presence, have created a panic wave among the people in the area.
‘Reports from Jaffna, the cultural nerve-centre of the Sri Lankan Tamils, reveal that at least five people, including a Hindu priest and an education officer, have been killed, while over a dozen have been abducted by masked men, arriving in vehicles without number plates, within the past few weeks.
‘The latest victim of the current series of killings was a 27-year old youth Kandasamy Iruthayan, who was recently released from the government’s internally displaced (IDP) camp and was residing in Thirunelveli, near Jaffna town.
‘A group of five masked men entered his house around 10.0pm on Wednesday (Jan 5th, 2011) and stabbed him several times to death before fleeing the area.
‘This was followed by the dreadful killings of 56-year old Nithyananda Sharma, chief priest of Chankanai Murugan temple, 52-year-old Markandu Sivalingam, deputy director of Education, Valikamam Zone, 29-year old Mahendran Thiruvarudchelvan, a vehicle trader in Thenmaradchchi (his decapitated body was found nine days after his abduction) and 31-year old Ketheeswaran Thevarajah, a postal worker and environmentalist in Vadamaradchchi.
‘According to latest reports, the deputy director of Education for Valikaamam Zone was shot dead at close-range by a masked man with a pistol at his home in Urumpirai around 10.30pm on December 26, in the very presence of his 13-year old daughter.
‘In an another related incident, police recovered the dead body of 19-year old Ariyanayagam Thulasi, who was missing for two weeks from her home in Puloly, Point-Pedro.
‘The post-mortem report has revealed that she had been sexually abused before her death.
‘These killings are in addition to the abductions and burglaries.
‘The recent abductions in the Jaffna peninsula include a 30-year old Shanmuganathan Vignesvaran, a teacher from Urumpirai, 35-year old Mahalingam Amirtharajah, a worker from Yogapuram in Urumpirai, a 48-year old widow from Alvai and Sobinathan Gopinath, a 27-year-old driver of an auto trishaw, who disappeared from Urumpirai, to name a few.
‘Worst among them was the abduction of 30 school boys by an armed group from the Kilinochchi district, which was formerly the politico-military headquarters of the LTTE.
‘Of the 30 boys abducted, 28 boys were later dropped at the Omanthai military checkpoint. The fate of the other two is not known. The story has now been twisted as a trip to Vavuniya at their own will.
‘Danger of such human rights violations not being exposed is higher in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts than in the Jaffna peninsula, as journalists and aid workers are barred from entering the former rebel heartland.
‘Even the opposition parliamentarians have no access to these areas. The former rebel-held districts virtually remain as military garrisons with the military now building permanent military structures and infrastructure facilities.
‘The modus-operandi of some of the killings has similarities in nature. The perpetrators have carried out the killing while pretending to be burglars.
‘Such violence was a daily event when the government troops were locked in fierce war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but the re-emergence of the dark era, even after the military defeat of the LTTE, has raised a million dollar question on the motive of such organised crime.
‘Whatever be the motives, the latest trend of violence has deeply instilled fear and shock among the people.
‘ “We are terrified by the incidents. We get back home early and literally remain indoors, leaving our safety in the hands of the almighty,” a Jaffna resident told JDS.
‘ “These criminal activities have either been carried out by government troops or the groups that have got the unreserved backing of the government and its military. The situation is likely to go on unabatedly with the local government elections scheduled to be held in March,” another resident said, on condition of anonymity.
‘The police have not made any effort to arrest the situation, and no one has been arrested in this regard to date. Instead, a senior police official for the north has blamed the media and the local politicians for playing up the “not so serious incidents” to gain political mileage.
‘Jaffna peninsula is heavily guarded by over 40,000 armed military and police personnel even after the defeat of the LTTE.
‘Although there is a civil government agent for the north (chief administrating officer) to look after the administration of the former war-zone, it is the military that is running the daily administration there with a recently retired military general serving as the Governor of North.
The Tamil parliamentarians representing the people in the north on Thursday brought the issue to the notice of parliament.
‘Submitting a list of 15 such incidents that occurred in the northern peninsula, the Tamil lawmakers called for explanations from the government as to how such incidents could take place at ease despite a heavy military presence.
‘Unable to provide satisfactory explanations, the government’s parliamentary group leader, Minister Nimal Sripala de Silva wanted an extra day to respond. This clearly sheds some light as to who could be the perpetrators.
‘Commenting on the incidents, government spokesman and media minister Keheliya Rambukwella has told a news conference in Colombo on Thursday that “the elements that are seeking to tarnish the image of the Colombo government internationally were behind such extra-judicial killings and abductions”.
‘Refusing to name such evil elements, Minister Rambukwella has said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ordered a quick and impartial inquiry into the incidents.
‘Meanwhile, media sources in Colombo have pointed out that none of the English and Sinhala language national newspapers have reported any of these incidents nor the debate in parliament.
They, however, were spontaneous enough to publish the denials of the military in this regard.
‘With the military now being ordered by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who is also the defence minister and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, to purchase vegetables from the farmers in the north and to sell them at a concessionary rate in Colombo, the perpetrators are likely go scot-free.’
