State terrorism by Sri Lanka

Allegations of State terrorism by Sri Lanka

Various non-governmental organizations and individuals have accused the Sri Lankan government of committing state terrorism. These allegations characterize much of the Sri Lankan government's handling of insurgent groups dating from 1956, including the civil war against Tamil militant groups and the state response to the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna insurrections, as state terrorism. Specific acts alleged include massacres of civilians, mass graves, torture, unlawful incarceration, forced disappearances and recruitment of child soldiers. The government denies the allegations.

1956-2000

According to the author of The National Question and the Tamil Liberation Struggle, published by Tamil Information Centre in 1983, State terrorism was let loose when Sri Lankan Army occupied minority Sri Lankan Tamil dominant Jaffna Peninsula leading to the formation of rebel movements such as the Tamil New Tigers. According to them, due to Sri Lankan army occupation of Jaffna and the state terrorism let loose on the people, hostility began to grow and the emotional division between majority Sinhalese and minority Sri Lankan Tamils became more acute. A group of highly organized young Tamil militants, first calling themselves the Tamil New Tigers and later the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, emerged in 1976 to confront the government terrorism by bearing arms. Since then according to James Lutz and Brenda Lutz, this conflict eventually led to the outbreak of violence between the communities, (see Sri Lankan riots of 1977) and this violence quickly generated terrorist actions in a variety of situations. Both government forces and Tamil dissidents became perpetrators.In 1961, the Sri Lankan government declared a state of emergency and for the first time dispatched military troops to occupy the Tamil areas Northeast of Sri Lanka. This was in the wake of a mass non-violent protest (Satyagraha) in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa causing the entire Northeast to shut down. These were in peaceful retaliation of the Sri Lankan state marginalization of the Tamils in jobs and education. Furthermore, state terrorism and the violence on Tamils were parcels of general onslaught on the democratic right and freedom of the people. This violence by the Government of Sri Lanka provoked the attacks on Sri Lankan Army by small group of Tamil youths.
In 1986 Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah, an American Tamil social anthropologist at Harvard University specializing in studies of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Tamils, as well as the anthropology of religion and politics, stated that the Sinhalese populace, the Tamil rebels and the Sri Lankan government armed forces were all engaged in "terrorism"; he describes the latter as practicing "deadly terrorism and intimidation". Though all parties in the conflict have resorted to the use of terror tactics, in the scale, duration, and sheer numbers of victims, it is the Sri Lankan state that is most guilty of the massive use of terror.

This was echoed by the Secretary of Movement for Development and Democratic Rights, a NGO, that terrorism was used in the north as a political tool and the resultant state terrorism restricted their operation in the north. It further claimed that the state viewed killing as an essential tool [for politics].[9] This according to Kumar Rupesinghe led to solidification of demand for separate state for minority Tamils called Tamil Eelam under conditions of state terrorism and genocidal situations.[10][5][11] The idea of an independent state for Tamils was originally articulated by S.J.V. Chelvanayagam in 1976.

The author of State, Nation, and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia states that as a result of ethnic assault of Tamils, the Sri Lankan social democracy was tainted by State Terrorism.
Dias Hewagama and Wiswa Warnapala claim that experience of State terrorism could not be erased from the mind of people from Jaffna and this is what prompted the UNP to attack Jaffna.

JVP insurrection

From 1985 to 1989, according to Gananath Obeyesekere, Sri Lanka practiced state terrorism against the Sinhalese majority as part of the counter insurgency measures against the uprising by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party. As part of pacifying the support base of JVP a wide range of acts of cruelty including the torture and mass murder of school children were carried out by the state.

Likewise, state terrorism came to peak among the Sinhala population during 1989-1990 [17]
Chandrika Kumaratunga, the President of Sri Lanka from 1994 to 2005, has also stated in an in interview with David Frost that at the time that her husband Vijaya Kumaranatunga was assassinated, "Sri Lanka had a killing fields, there was a lot of terror perpetrated by the government itself, state terrorism.This was supported by a report released by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong and associated with the United Nations, also claimed that there was widespread terrorism by the state organ during the same period.

Post 2000 events

Since the collapse of peace talks since 2006, human rights agencies such as the Asian Center of Human Rights (ACHR), the University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), and pro LTTE political parties such as the Tamil National Alliance, have claimed that government of Sri Lanka has unleashed state terrorism as part of its counter insurgency measures against the rebel LTTE movement.To which the government has claimed that such claims by the LTTE is an attempt at justifying terrorism of the LTTE. The ACHR has also reported that, "since the collapse of the Geneva talks of February 2006", the government of Sri Lanka has perpetrated a campaign of state terrorism by targeting alleged LTTE sympathizers and Tamil civilians.[24]As noted by Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch,

"The Sri Lankan government has apparently given its security forces a green light to use ‘dirty war’ tactics".

Many commentators have requested international intervention in Sri Lanka to protect the civilians from State terror.Subsequently the United States has stopped military supplies to Sri Lanka. Archbishop Desmond Tutu in May 2008 stated Sri Lanka at the time had no place on the UN Human Rights Council, adding that tactics the LTTE adopted in no way justified Sri Lanka's gross human rights abuses against Tamils.

Civilian deaths

The Padahuthurai bombing, in which 15 civilians died, was termed as state terrorism and a Crime against humanity by the Mannar Bishop Rayappu Joseph, who was accused as pro-LTTE by the Sri Lankan Government.When referring to the massacre of five school kids in Trincomalee , and the subsequent incidents of intimidation of the witnesses and the perceived lack of investigative vigor, the local human rights group UTHR termed it an act of state terror.

Forced disappearances

There have been numerous forced disappearances over the last few years, these acts according pro-LTTE[34] Tamil daily Uthayan, published from Jaffna, include the forced disappearances of number of individuals in the north and east of the country.

Recruitment of children

According to the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR), the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court identifies "conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities" as a war crime. The agency has accused that Sri Lankan government backed paramilitary forces of recruiting children, describing is a "state terror" and has appealed to the international community to refer Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for investigation into the violations of the Rome Statute.

Torture and Rape

The International Federation of Tamils, a pro-LTTE consortium of Tamil groups, alleged that the systematic use of torture and rape is instruments of state terrorism. David Jeyaraj a prominent Sri Lankan journalist from Canada has termed the act of torture, rape and murder of a family in the Vankalai massacre as an act of State terrorism. Human Rights groups have condemned this massacre and demanded an independent investigation. In Trauma of Terrorism author Yael Danieli states that the Sri Lankan state is the most guilty in the use of terror. It further claimed that state terrorism became institutionalized into very law of structure of society and mechanism of governance.

Media Freedom

Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has charged that the government of Sri Lanka has turned into a junta, "This junta has control over the economy, business activities and defense. They have unleashed corruption and terror on the country." He claimed that the attack on the Sunday Leader press facility, an independent English weekly could not have occurred without the knowledge of Sri Lankan Defense Ministry, since its located in a High Security Zone, neighboring military air force base, defense academy and a military camp .

Furthermore, UTHR, a local human rights organization claimed that the media has been repressed by State Terrorism.

Ethnic cleansing

On June 7, 2007 at least 376 Ethnic Tamils were expelled from Colombo by the Sri Lankan Police. Human rights groups, Local think tank and other observers have termed this act as "Ethnic Cleansing".