Sure, there were civilian casualties in the last days of the war, but that does not construe a war crime. Remember the Army did not chose to kill those civilians. It happened only because the LTTE deleberately herded them into the scene of the final battle. They knew the army was this time comitted to defeating the LTTE no matter what the cost in money, lives of soldiers, enemy or civilians. It has been a frequent choice made by many of the countries that are lecturing us today. In the World Wars, Vietnam and even today in Iraq and Afghanistan. The LTTE should have realised that and released the 300,000 people who were trapped in the NFZ if they ever cared for them. If the diaspora genuinely cared for the civilian lives they should have realised that it would be far more worthwhile demanding that the LTTE released them before the final battle. In the end what is clear is that no one really cared. The govt, LTTE or the Diaspora. They were just a tool for the LTTE and the diaspora. A tool that didnt do the job.

Are you sure that there were no civilian casulaties during the last stages of the conflict? Evidence was not possible because the Government restricted access to outsiders during the fighting. Only the army, the LTTE and the trapped civilians were there.
However, if you ask the civilians who escaped the fighting they may well tell you what they witnessed. Lack of evidence does not mean that there were no civilian casualties. The question is what are roughly the numbers of civilians who died in the fighting ? and were they deliberetly targeted.

There are intelligent people both Sinhala and Tamil in this country and overseas who do not believe what the Government says. They want to know the truth or something close to that with respect to what happened during the last stages of the war.

“The answer to your question should be evident from the fact that the EPRLF and NEPC Chief Minister Perumal received Premadasa and voted for him.”

And how did Premadasa repay Perumal for his vote of support?

Agnos, why don;t you do a bit of self reflection on your self. If you read what you just wrote, you essentially accused me of being a criminal for having my own views. Essentially you classified me as a criminal based on my right to freedom of expression. This is the same kind (you) would scream of suppression of freedom of expression by the government. But it’s nothing more than pushing an agenda.

If you can read English or Sinhala, go read the abundant publicly available information on the regime’s crimes; and since you are a supporter of this regime, your own complicity in the crimes. But one can hardly expect self-reflection from criminals like you and I don’t have time to waste.

Agnos cut the crap, who are you trying to kid? Blame the agressor! the LTTE! The diaspora.

Yours and my relatives died as a result of war. LTTE gave us the war. We responded! You surely did not think we were going to take the violence of the LTTE with a smiling face…

Propaganda? get real.. it’s the other side of the story you refuse to hear.

Just think for a second this was a war all the extremist Tamils wanted and cheered for during hay days. don’t cry now. you committed your self for the loses in the name of the cause. You your self are responsible for your dead relatives. It is you who gave them money to fight a war while living in your comfortable Western countries. The blood is on your hands not the Gov SL. Don’t ever forget that.

If you whole heartedly committed your self to a war then, accept the dead bodies that will return to you with grace. We did. We never cried when our brothers were fallen.

You can try again however, it is your right. But we reserve the right to respond and defend what is right!

This is the kind of argument you have been making in your role as a propagandist for the GoSL for so long that the stark illogic and silliness of it fails to hit you.

Do you think Kerry and Lugar know more about the conditions in the North-East than those of us who were born and raised there and have relatives who died by the actions of the GoSL? or more than the UTHR which has a long history of objective ground reporting at great personal risk?

By your (il)logic, why should there be religions other than Judaism because someone says Albert Einstein had the most brilliant mind of all?

I can understand that you cannot see the blood-stained hands of Rajapaksa because you have had your head stuck in his behind. But I didn’t know that your senses had been so dulled that you couldn’t even smell the stench coming out from that behind.

“…a debate in the pages of The island IS a ‘public debate'”

I distinctly recall that after repeated challenges by Chanaka in the Island, Kautilya himself wrote that he had agreed to a debate (i.e., ” live” debate). Not that I was taking any side.

By the way, a debate in the pages of The island IS a ‘public debate’. Given Mervyn’s masterful grasp of international politics (most especially of the Middle east region, including Iran) and propensity for savage satire, aren’t you glad, as I am, and all well wishers of Chanaka should have been, that a more public debate did not in fact take place?

That should read:

“Mervyn, who won the gold medal for oratory at Law College beating KN Choksy among others, and debated Lalith Athulathmudali in 1984; and whose diction made him a broadcaster for the BBC including its home service (on Yuvtushenko’s poetry, mind) and whose knowledge and use of the English language was second to none in Sri Lanka (to put it conservatively), had no reason to shirk a debate with young Chanaka except for reasons of charity, and one other fact: he was sole caregiver for my mother Lakshmi who had suffered a stroke. As far as I can recall the debate in print was on Chanaka’s support for the Shah of Iran.”