Elephant On The Table: The Vast Majority Of the Sinhala Nation
Anandaraj L. Ponnambalam
Truth, Accountability, and Justice: The Need of the Hour to End Impunity
In this article, the fourth[i] on this subject, I wish to assert that if the right thinking people of the Sinhala Nation join in the world-wide effort currently underway for an international independent investigation of the Mullivaikkal massacre, it will not only be achieved sooner rather than later, it will also end the culture of impunity that is prevalent to this day. A culture of impunity that is only too evident in the recent assaults on the Muslim people and theWeliweriya killings.
We should ask ourselves why it is that only the May 2009 massacre rather than the many pogroms and massacres that occurred since independence in 1948 that there is this groundswell of agitation for an international independent investigation. The reason is actually quite simple. It is not entirely due to the immensity and monstrosity of the crime (40,000 civilian deaths by international estimates to over 140,000 by ground estimates). It is also due to the only period in time (present) compared to all those other periods, when the world order has embraced the concept of collective Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Coupled to R2P is the fact that it is possible now than ever before for the technologies of instant communication (Internet), surveillance (GPS, Cell Phone cameras, WikiLeaks, etc.), and forensics (DNA evidence) to record and preserve evidence of atrocities and their perpetration, despite all efforts at muzzling and destroying that information.
The “Truth” that that is sought are answers to the following and related questions, namely, during days leading to the end of the war and its immediate aftermath, were the “People of the Vanni”,
- used as human shields and shot at, to prevent them from escaping into safe areas?
- concentrated in so-called “no fire zones” and targeted by heavy artillery fire on those very zones?
- bombed in the hospitals they were being treated?
- deprived of essential medicines and food?
- tortured, raped, abducted, and disappeared while interned in the camps after the war ended?
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