If a state has refused to grant the legitimate right of the people of North East to rule themselves for the past 60 years, what does it mean? That too a request made democratically, initially peacefully.

Surely, you exhibit your ignorance on human rights aspects. Do not learn your human rights from your “Buddhist monks”. “Buddhism” in Sri Lanka a killer anti Tamil cult. They are not a religion. Genocide originates there.

The whole Sinhala nation is a genocidal lot, needing severe punishment. Surely, you all will get that soon.

“why are you harping on the ballistics… that means nothing in sri lanka… did they collect the arms of all of the SL forces and compare them to the bullets in the 17?”

So you don’t want to consider ballistics because they sadly don’t prove your allegations. Very wise of you. The bullets removed from the 17 bodies were 5.56-mm NATO and 9-mm Parabellum rounds. Now, if you know even the most basics about small arms, you’ll know that it’s not necessary to examine 150,000 individual weapons. Let me ask you a question, Amazing — if a man is killed in say New York, and DNA left at the site indicates a Negro male, will you then insist that the NYPD examine the DNA of every black male in the city? Your intellect and reasoning is truly amazing, Amazing.

But let’s move on. 5.56-mm NATO rounds are fired (in SL) by the M16 family of weapons and the Minimi LMG. These weapons are used in Sri Lanka primarily by LTTE special ops units and the STF. They are also used in VERY limited numbers by certain SL military BG squads. There were no STF units or BG squads in Muttur because these type of troops are not used in frontline combat. There are also no eyewitness or circumstantial evidence of any such units being in the area. The only SL military special ops unit in the Muttur area at the time were Navy special forces — the SBS. The latter doesn’t use the M16 on regular missions, but in limited quantities for boarding ops at sea. However LTTE Siruththai commando units were in Muttur directly before its fall, aand the Siruththai use the M16 extensively.

9-mm Parabellum rounds are fired in SL by the Heckler & Koch MP5 family of SMGs and the Browning Hi-Power pistol. The former is used by special ops units of both sides, but since the few 9-mm rounds recovered were taken from the skulls of two or three of the dead and the wounds indicated close-up execution shots, it can be deduced that these were pistol rounds. The Browning Hi-Power pistol is widely used by both ssides in the conflict.

So ballistics evidence proves nothing. As I said before, Amazing, you are wise not to talk about ballistics.

“and whose timelines are you talking about? the ones published by the GOSL…?”

Well, whose are you talking about? The accusations based on unknown unnamed witnesses are that an SBS unit provided security for two home guards who did the killing, but even that does not coincide with the ballistics. More than two weapons were used in the shootings, and even if the home guards carried 9-mm pistols, they wouldn’t have had 5.56-mm M16s.

“also if the Trinco 5 had any LTTE connections don’t you think they would have splashed the news all over the place…”

Well, there’s no evidence is there? And unlike you, I prefer to back up my allegations with evidence, not rumour and innuendo. However, there is no disputing the fact that there was some sort of explosion amongst the students prior to the STF arriving and opening fire. The latter accuse the students of accidentally detonating a grenade or IED that they were carrying, while the students allege that persons in a mysterious trishaw (which has now disappeared without a sign) threw the grenade at them.

“you’re on weak ground here… why not just admit that the gosl killed ‘em all and that you don’t mind it because anything goes in the “war on terror””

I’m sure you’d prefer to accuse people without evidence and convict them in a kangaroo court; after all that is the LTTE and white van method, isn’t it?

The fact is that all the conspiracy theorists who make out that the Muttur killings were just a cover to kill the brother of the Trinco student, are the ones on weak ground without a shred of evidence. Don’t you think such an elaborate plan (worthy of a Hollywood script) would have then taken more care to cover their tracks. Why arrive in an area recently vacated by the LTTE and then shoot some INGO staffers and leave them to be discovered? It would’ve been very easy to have just made them disappear with no questions asked. Isn’t it far more likely that beaten and retreating LTTE terrorists killed the staffers and left them in plain site so that the GoSL would be accused of the crime?

Looking at a crime scene with a preconceived notion is always a bad way to arrive at a conclusion. Be more open-minded.

The Secretary General of the UN, the EU and Australian aid agency have rightly recognised the unfolding of a “humanitarian crisis” and are seriously concerned about the lives of civilians. But the racist Sri Lankan state has not yet identified the humanitarian crisis.

Tamils are treated as property less than human in SL. Therefore, GOSL can never see the humanitarian crisis prevailing at Kilinochchi.

At a time when civilians would need help, the government of Sri Lanka(GOSL) has asked the UN aid workers to leave Kilinochchi.

Mahinda Rajapakse knows how his soldiers are trained and what they are told to do. Rajapakse is well aware that his Sinhalese soldiers will not only kill Tamil civilians but also will murder those who help Tamils live. He knows too that it is what exactly happened to the 17 aid workers in Mutur about two years ago.

Also, Rajapakse has asked the UN workers to go out to keep his intended barbarous genocide of Tamils to be silenced and remain unknown to the world. He is wrong.

The UN could use satelite photography and other means available to it to gather more information about the humanitarian crisis at Kilinochchi.

The GOSL is creating the “siege of Kilinochchi” exactly like the “siege of Sarajevo” to carry out the genocide of Tamils. The siege is a revengeful act on the Tamil civilians for demanding Tamil Eelam. The UN should view this matter seriously and remember that prevention is required now than analysis later.

Any genocide anywhere could be prevented only by proper spiritual input. More than 90 percent of the soldiers in SL call themselves “Buddhists”. Real Buddhism believes in non violence, non killing and respect for all human beings. But the Buddhist monks in SL mostly desire and preach violence against Tamils and killing them, “Buddhism” in SL is thus a killer cult that cannot be expected to do spiritual input to stop any Tamil humanitarian crisis or genocide.

It would be appropriate therefore for the UN to investigate Rajapakse and Sarath Fonseka for war crimes that are being committed now. Timely action should be taken to bring them to court in the Hague, as early as possible, to save Tamil civilian lives.

please explain how the ballistics exonerate the govt?
and whose timelines are you talking about? the ones published by the GOSL…?

also if the Trinco 5 had any LTTE connections don’t you think they would have splashed the news all over the place…

you’re on weak ground here… why not just admit that the gosl killed ’em all and that you don’t mind it because anything goes in the “war on terror”

i’d have a lot more intellectual respect for you if you did… but when you make these weak excuses it just makes you look like an apologist for the gosl…

Well, apparently the ballistics examiners think so too. As I said before, there is no evidence, circumstantial or eyewitness, nor is there any motive, nor was there any attempt by the SL military to cover up their alleged crime. Bit strange, no? Do you even know what the ballistic findings were, Nayad?

The Trinco students were obviously killed by the STF, and the latter have admitted to it. What is in doubt is whether the students were involved with the LTTE or not, and the circumstances that sparked the shooting.

and you’ll probably say that the Trinco 5, one of whose brother was one of the ACF 17, were killed by the LTTE on trinco beach to make the Govt look bad and be useful “propaganda”…

[Edited out]

Genocide is a crime against humanity and collective punishment is a war crime. It is not the number of dead in any military action that determines as to whether a crime is genocide or not. It is the intention to recklessly harm and exterminate a people.

The intention of genocide is often not expressed openly by any state for fear of consequences. The intent could only be inferred from “the trigger happiness” any state has against any ethnic group as it happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Mass exodus of civilians fearing death, fleeing from their homes, as seen in Kilinochchi now, is a sign of genocidal fear arising from past genocidal acts.

The Sinhalese in the South of Sri Lanka(SL) were actively engaged in discrimination and unequal treatment of Tamil citizens, at least for the past 50 Years. Tamil genocide carried out on a minor scale in 1983, has now graduated to a major scale, with full participation by the state and the Sinhalese owned media.

Richard Perle, a neo conservative, came up with the notion that “we must decontextualise terrorism”; that is we must stop trying to understand the reasons for terrorism, as it affects civilians and bring destruction.

If “decontextualisation of terrorism” and “war on terrorism” are justified then decontextualisation of genocide or collective punishment of civilians of any ethnic group should be foremost in any decontextualisation exercise. Therefore, “Global war against collective punishment or genocide should take precedence over “Global war on terrorism”, as both are terrible crimes, affecting civilians more than terrorism.

Whatever reason any government tries to give, either for collective punishment or genocide would therefore not be good enough to justify them.

If we apply this argument to the recent events in Georgia, Russia had used the principle of “decontextualisation of genocide”, when it went into Georgia to stop the genocide in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Admirably, Russia is the first country to have engaged in “Global war on genocide”, which is definitely more important to humanity than “war on terrorism”.

Soldiers in SL were engaged in a fusion of collective punishment and military terror termed “Collective Punishment Using Military Terror”(CPUMT), against Tamil civilians in the North East(NE), long before anybody had heard of Osama bin Laden.

In 1979, Sri Lankan soldiers pulled out more than 18 unarmed politically active Tamil youth from their peaceful homes at night, tortured them and killed before dawn. Their mutilated bodies were thrown on the streets of Jaffna.

After this first violent act of collective punishment for political belief in Tamil Eelam, many such CPUMT acts were carried out by the state, under a culture of impunity, for the past 29 years. The savageness of attacks by the army, with almost 100 percent Sinhalese soldiers, increased as years passed by.

After 9/11, the Government of Sri Lanka(GOSL), a wrong beneficiary, successfully distorted to the rest of the world that terrorism in SL had nothing to do with its CPUMT but had everything to do with LTTE. It rebranded the separatist struggle as terrorism to obtain political and military support from the USA, Britain, Israel, Pakistan, China and India. India is now accused of having more than 200 military personnel helping the Sri Lankan military in the war. Consequently, GOSL stepped up its crime of CPUMT on Tamils to reach a higher rung in its genocidal ladder. Those countries that supported have thus become “participants’ in this crime.

Speaking in the Russian parliament, in support of recognising the two newly independent countries, a government speaker said that Russia “saved the region from genocide”. As a responsible member of the UN Security Council, Russia should not only save its region from genocide, it does have a global resposibilty to prevent any genocide anywhere, including genocide in the NE of SL.

My “crossfire” comment wasn’t literal, however. I meant that the GoSL will not want INGO casualties used as an LTTE propaganda opportunity as was done in Muttur.