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(Lanka-e-News-21.May.2014, 11.30PM) Even as Mahinda Rajapakse was celebrating the war victory , reports have once again emerged that during the war’s final phase , 'White flag organization' (http://white-flags.org ) had stripped naked some of the Tamil male and female youths who were taken into custody by the organization ( it was confirmed after their arrest they were LTTE cadres) , tied their hands behind and assaulted them .. Thereafter killed them . Many pictures of these scenes have been released confirming again that the Rajapakses did commit war crimes.Human rights lawyer Ms. Yasmin Sooka , and advisor to UN secretary general Ban K Moon , had declared in her statement that there is evidence of over 100 eye witnesses testifying to the fact that those who were arrested and surrendered on the day (May 18 th , 2009) prior to the conclusion of the war , were killed thereafter . In addition , there are at least 38 sworn affidavits also confirming this, she had added.
She goes on to point an accusing finger at Basil Rajapakse and Palitha Kohona in relation to these murders .
In the latest pictures published by the White flag team , there are photos of Isapriya , the LTTE television announcer and another girl after being arrested alive , and also photos of them depicting them killed later. Among them are also pictures of nude and semi nude Tamil youths who had been assaulted , and photos showing them subsequently killed.
Terrorism must be destroyed no doubt. At the same time the government too has a right to prove that it is clean. A legally elected government has no right to kill so called terrorists who are arrested or have surrendered. Those constitute war crimes. Until and unless legal punishment is meted out to those who committed war crimes , neither the country nor the forces will become entitled to the honor that follows a war victory. . Whether they acknowledge this or not , this truth cannot be expunged or camouflaged.
Former four star General Sarath Fonseka who was the commanding officer during the war categorically states , if war crimes were committed, punishment must be meted out and the honor and grace of the forces should be safeguarded.
Unfortunately the Rajapakse regime have preferred to avert punishment being meted out to the few criminals and compromise the dignity and reputation of the entire forces.
Soldiers act on the orders of the superiors. It is a pertinent question ,who gave the orders to kill those who surrendered and were arrested acting over and above the army commander ?
Be that as it may. Prabhakaran ,Pottu Amman and KP were considered as the three strongest pillars of the LTTE terrorist organization , yet KP who is the only surviving pillar today has till no been punished. It was KP who supplied all the necessary TNT explosive to the LTTE to bomb buses and kill the innocent civilians brutally. Karuna Amman another LTTE leader who killed over 700 police officers who surrendered , in cold blood , and also murdered Samanera monks at Aranthalawa ,has also not been meted out punishment under the law .
If Karuna Amman had later helped the government to defeat the LTTE , the heinous crimes he committed and the subsequent service he rendered ought to have been weighed , and either he should have been punished or pardoned by bringing him before the law firstly and duly, rather than dispense arbitrary justice based on the jungle laws of the uncivilized Rajapakses .
Based on what canons of fair play , can the appointment of Karuna Amman to the post of SLFP Vice President be justified as depriving Nimal Siripala De Silva who is rightly deserving that post ?
In the circumstances , it is well for the government in the best interests of the nation and the forces , to take due legal action against all the war crime suspects including the LTTE and punish them without further tarnishing the image of the country which is already moth eaten.
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