Colonel Nagulan killed while in military custody

Monday, 28 November 2011

Sinnathambi Kanapathipillai Shivamurhty alias Colonel Nagulan, who was taken into custody by the military intelligence units during the latter part of 2009 from Trincomalee, has been killed by the military in a secret camp in Minneriya where he was being held, reliable sources told Lanka News Web.

After the LTTE was militarily defeated on May 18, 2009, Colonel Nagulan became the leader of one of the two remaining groups of the organization. A resident of Jaffna, Colonel Nagulan was the Commanding Officer of the Charles Anthony brigade.

The official Defence Ministry website, defence.lk reported 8.6.2007 that Colonel Nagulan who was appointed as the leader of the Batticaloa area after the LTTE lost control of Batticaloa in 2007 was killed during a confrontation with the Sri Lanka Army. The new report stated that an identity card belonging to Colonel Nagulan had been found near the body of a slain LTTE cadre. The report could be read on http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070608.

The military intelligence units arrested Colonel Nagulan after tracking the signals of his satellite phone following information received by the other leader of the remaining LTTE group, Colonel Ram, who was arrested in 2009.

Colonel Nagulan’s arrest was kept quiet since any media publicity would have proven the Defence Ministry story of his death taking place in 2007 to be false.

The other reason to keep the arrest a secret was the close relationship Colonel Nagulan maintained with the Tamil Diaspora. Many attempts by the military intelligence units to gather information about the Tamil Diaspora from Colonel Nagulan had failed until his murder.

While Colonel Ram has become a puppet of the military, Colonel Nagulan had defied the military and had therefore been tortured for not revealing any information. The military intelligence units after realizing Colonel Nagulan was not going to serve any purpose had then killed him following orders received from a higher office.

Several other former LTTE leaders are held in the secret camp in Minneriya where Colonel Nagulan was held. Colonel Ram has been assigned the task of getting their support for the government. The intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka Army has therefore provided Colonel Ram with all the required facilities and had given him a mobile phone bearing number +94777140637 to keep in touch with the Tamil Diaspora.

All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) Statement on Tamil Remembrance Day

I join the thousands of British Tamils who are remembering the death of their loved ones today. Today, 27th of November, is an important day in the British Tamil calendar.

Remembrance events are taking place in various venues in London. I am very mindful of the long wait of the Tamil community's quest for justice - they cannot wait any longer. In the summer this year, our Foreign Minister said that all options remain open for the international community if the Government of Sri Lanka fails to address the accountability issues, cited in the UN special panel report, in a credible manner and in line with internationally acceptable standards... In the coming weeks I will be working with Labour and Liberal Democrat colleagues in Parliament to ensure our Government act on our Foreign Minister's words. Justice will prevail and everybody will be able to live freely in peace and harmony. My thoughts and prayers today are with all Tamils who are mourning the death of their loved ones. I will not rest until justice is done and the perpetrators of war crimes in Sri Lanka are held accountable for their actions.

 

THE ALL PARTY PARLIAMENTARY GROUP FOR TAMIL

Tamil prisoners on hunger strike

Tamil prisoners on hunger strike

Prisoners say they were stripped naked before taken out and assaulted At least 65 Tamil prisoners in Anuradhapura are on a hunger strike seeking proper protection. The prisoners have launched a protest after being assaulted by the prison officials on Sunday, former Jaffna district parliamentarian MK Sivajilingam told BBC Sandeshaya. Most of the prisoners subjected to assault were disabled during the war, he added. Mr Sivajilingam said jail guards have also destroyed a Hindu Temple built inside the prison with permission. Superintendant of Police (SP) Tusita Uduwara has held discussions with the prisoners but the prisoners demand a guarantee of their by higher authorities that such attacks would not occur in the future. Government response The authorities have prevented a team of lawyers and representatives of We Are Sri Lankans (WASL) organisation from entering the prison, they said. WASL's Udul Premaratne has told media that it was the first time the lawyers were prevented from visiting the prison to look into an incident. Prison Affairs Minister Chandrasiri Gajadheera said the incident has occurred as the authorities conducted a search after receiving information that there were plans to commemorate annual Heroes Day inside the premises. After the search, said the minister, 19 mobile telephones have been confiscated. He rejected the accusation that the prisoners were ordered to strip naked and taken out while it was raining for the search.

Prison officers brutally attack LTTE prisoners while questioning "is n’t today your great Lokka’s (chief’s) commemoration day?’

(Lanka-e-News -28.Nov.2011,11.50P.M.) A group of 35 prison officers of the Anuradhapura prison had arrived at about 2.30 p.m. where the LTTE suspects are held in custody , and mercilessly assaulted the suspects with complete impunity . 

The assailants have suddenly stormed into the wards where the suspects are and attacked yelling out ‘ Is it not today your great Lokka’s (chief) commemoration day’. The victims have also been forced out to the open ground despite the heavy rains. The 65 suspects had then been stripped naked , made to kneel down and brutally assaulted.

After assaulting the suspects for about half an hour in the rain, they have been taken them back to the wards and locked up. These officers have also set fire to the clothes and belongings of the victims . A majority of the prison officers had been under the influence of liquor when they were behaving most barbarically and ruthlessly .
Officers of other prisons who were bitterly resentful against this unlawful and uncivilized conduct had passed the information to ‘We are Sri Lankans’ Organization . Udul Premaratne of ‘We are Sri Lankans’ organization stated that his Organization and a team of Lawyers are scheduled to visit Anuradhapura prison to meet the prisoners who suffered from the attack .

The much hyped Expressway ‘miracle’ claims its first victims

(Lanka-e-News -28.Nov.2011,11.50P.M.) The much hyped Expressway dubbed as ‘Miraculous Gateway’ which was inaugurated yesterday (27) , and called as the best express Highway ,claimed its first victims this morning at about 7.15 when two persons sustained injuries owing to an accident on the expressway. According to the police there is a bend at the inappropriate place on the expressway. A number of drivers using the expressway told Lanka e news , as there were no lights on the expressway , which coupled with the glare of the lights of the oncoming vehicles and the rains ,aggravated their difficulties manifold when driving at high speed.

This expressway was inaugurated by President Rajapakse yesterday (27) with immense pomp and fanfare . By 4.00 p.m. yesterday , 4000 vehicles had traveled down the expressway bringing in a revenue of Rs. 10 lakhs, the Highway development Authority revealed.

Road Signs Indicate Better Times

Nedunkerni village limps back to peace. 
Credit:Amantha Perera/IPS
Buy this picture

By Amantha Perera

NEDUNKERNI, Sri Lanka, Nov 28, 2011 (IPS) - The rough road is almost indistinguishable from the mud huts and dilapidated surroundings of this village - still pockmarked by the artillery duels of Sri Lanka’s fierce civil war that ended more than two years ago. 

Chinese engineers are now overseeing the repair of this 50 km stretch of gravel connecting Nedunkerni village with the A9 highway, the lifeline for Sri Lanka's former northern war zone, popularly known as the Vanni. 

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Rebellion, Repression and the Struggle for Justice in Sri Lanka: The Lionel Bopage story

*groundview journalism For citizens  28 Nov, 2011

This is a book that documents the life story of Lionel Bopage, who was one of the highest ranking leaders of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP- the Peoples’ Liberation Front) and a major figure in the JVP led youth insurrection of 1971 in Sri Lanka, drawing on a series of personal interviews with him. After migrating to Australia two decades ago, he has remained active not only in Sri Lanka related political activities but in the broader Australian political movements for social justice. The book tracks Lionel’s personal and political evolution over the subsequent four decades, placed in the wider socio-political context of this tumultuous period in Sri Lanka.    Continue reading »

Namal threatens hotel owner in Sinharaja

Monday, 28 November 2011

The President’s eldest son parliamentarian Namal Rajapaksa has threatened Sarathchandra Mudalali from Embilipitiya, who is the owner of a picturesque hotel at the corner of the Sinharaja forest.

MP Namal had asked the businessman on several occasions to give the hotel to him. Angered by the rejection, MP Namal has threatened to shut the hotel claiming it was a threat to the environment.

Sarathchandra Mudalali, who is now under pressure to hand over the hotel by MP Namal, has been a close friend of President Mahinda Rajapaksa for a long time. He had provided meals and helped Mahinda Rajapaksa when he used to travel to Embilipitiya as an ordinary lawyer.

It is learnt that a Buddhist monk in an aranya near the hotel has commenced a protest calling from the closure of the hotel on MP Namal’s insistence.

MP Namal Rajapaksa has also asked Deputy Power and Energy Minister Premalal Jayasekera alias Choka Malli to provide an electricity supply to the aranya across the hotel under the Vidulamu Sri Lanka-Ratnapura programme.

However, Sarathchandra Mudalali has objected to the move to take electricity wires across the hotel premises. Angered by it, the deputy minister has ordered the project officer, Caldera to take the power wires across the hotel.

Dpeuty Minister Choka Malli had made the request when Caldera had accompanied him on a trip to Kala Wewa.

However, a government MP said that Sarathchandra Mudalali was likely to disappear due to his confrontation with MP Namal.

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Government broadcasting units taken over by President’s son’s CSN

Monday, 28 November 2011

Broadcasting units of the state owned Sri Lanka Rupavahini Corporation (SLRC), Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) and Independent Television Network (ITN) have discreetly been taken over by the Carlton Sports Network (CSN) owned by President’s son, Naval Officer Yoshitha Rajapaksa and his girl friend, it is learnt.

Equipment belonging to CSN have been placed at the ITN transmission station in the Sinharaja forest. The transmission is being carried out after placing the equipment in part of the workers’ boarding house. The lives of the workers have therefore been placed in danger due to the unsuitable rays emitted during broadcasting.

The CSN has also placed its equipment in the SLBC transmission tower in Haputhale and has not assigned any workers to it. A similar situation has been reported from the Nayabedda transmission station.

Therefore, the broadcasting rights of sports programmes, transmitting equipment and workers of the state owned entities are being used by the private TV channel belonging to the President’s sons.

Sri Lanka: Genocide of the Tamil minority

Tamil refugees who fled from Sri Lankan military operation in Vanni

By Brian Senewiratne

January 23, 2009 -- There is a humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, where the Tamil minority in the island’s north and east are facing annihilation at the hands of the Sinhalese-dominated government. 

This article will deal with the current crisis, with the more fundamental problem of the legacy left by colonial British rule (1796-1948) dealt with in later articles. These colonial administrative structures will need to be reversed of there is ever to be peace or prosperity in Sri Lanka.

I am a Sinhalese, from the majority community, not from the brutalised Tamil minority. I quit Sri Lanka in 1976.

Who runs that country is of no concern to me, as long as it is run without serious violations of human rights. Sri Lanka was tossed out of the UN Human Rights Council in May last year due to its human rights record, and the drift of a democracy to a fascist politico-military dictatorship, none of which have been publicised internationally.             Read more

Situation in Sri Lanka Today is the most serious Tamils have faced in 2500 years of Recorded History

10 November 2011, 11:34 pm

Dr. Brian Seneviratne

By Dr. Brian Senewiratne

The humanitarian situation in the Tamil-speaking area in the North and East, more than two years after the so called ‘end’ of the war, between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Tamil people, is the most serious the Tamils have faced in their 2,500 years of recorded history.

In the six decades that I have campaigned for the rights of the Tamils to live with equality, dignity, safety, and now to live at all, I cannot think of any period in which they have been in such a dreadful situation.
The Tamil areas are under the heel of one of the most ruthless and irresponsible Armed Forces anywhere in the world, and one the most brutal, racist, and oppressive regimes ever to run Sri Lanka. It is a regime which has no accountability, in Sri Lanka or abroad, and can do whatever it wants, to whoever it wants, anywhere in the country, not just in the Tamil areas.

Dr Winston Panchacharam (Nanuet, New York) in his incomparable book Genocide in Sri Lanka which has just been published sets out some of this. In his opening letter of appeal to “Global Leaders for the Protection of the Vulnerable and those Oppressed by Genocidal Acts”, he refers to the “Dying Race of Tamils in Sri Lanka”.     Full Story>>>

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An Appeal to the International Communit

BRIAN SENEWIRATNE                                                                  292 Pine Mt Rd
MA (Camb), MBBChir (Camb), MBBS Hons (Lond) ,                                             Mt Gravatt
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Consultant Physician              Tel       07 33496118
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                                                                  email  briansen@bigpond.net.au
9 June 2006
An Appeal to the International Community
A REALISTIC LOOK  AT THE SRI LANKAN PROBLEM
This is  a Submission to the  International Community (IC) setting out the problem in Sri
Lanka so that appropriate action can be taken to prevent the disintegration, not only of the
Tamil North and East, but the Sinhalese South, indeed the whole country.
Full Story>>>

Questions for Sri Lankan Ambassador of Australia: Dr. Senewiratne

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 11:21 GMT]
If the war is over and the Tamil people have been ‘liberated’ from the ‘terrorists’ and ‘rehabilitated’, then why does the Sri Lankan government still not allow access to international groups in Tamil areas, asks Brian Senewiratne in a hard-hitting series of questions to Sri Lankan High Comissioner to Australia. Dr. Senewiratne, a renowned physician and an Australia based Sinhala expatriate, produced posers to ex-Admiral Thissara Samarasinghe using evidence from the UN report, Channel 4 video and other sources. The ex-Admiral, incidentally, is also alleged of war crimes and there have been calls in Australia to investigate his role in the genocide of the Eelam Tamils. 

“Are you aware of the internationally accepted ‘Command Responsibility’, that all those all the way to the top, be they military leaders or civilians (such as your President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and his brother, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Secretary of Defence,. and some of these military men including yourself, could be held responsible?” asks Dr. Senewiratne to Samarasinghe. 

Commenting on the TNA’s Situation Report of October 2011, he says “What have you to say about this Report? Is it your position that the elected representatives of the Tamil people in the North and East of your country are lying? If so, why do you not allow Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group, free access to the Tamil areas so that they can confirm or refute what has been tabled in your parliament by your parliamentarians? Is it the fear that these groups will confirm, and even document a worse situation that what has been tabled?”

The paranoia of the Sri Lankan government to engage even with the UN report and ICG, that neither recognize genocide and structural genocide nor approve of the rights of the Tamil people to political self-determination, which proves the intention to continue the process of genocide into the future, has been brought out by Dr. Senewiratne.

“Your Government seems to be facing a range of crises – an unresolved ethnic crisis (yes, Ambassador, it is unresolved and even aggravated), a crisis of democracy and free speech, a crisis of law and order, a crisis of corruption now described as ‘mega-corruption’ going all the way to the top, a crisis in transparency, and above all, a crisis of deception and blatant dishonesty. While truth is the first casualty of war, it should not be in peacetime which your Government claims is the situation now in your country.”

The full text of his article is below:

Questions for the Sri Lanka Ambassador of your country
Brian Senewiratne
Brisbane, Australia

Full story >>

Anuradhapura Tamil prisoners receive attack as ‘Heroes Day present’

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 06:19 GMT]
A group of Sinhala prison officials who entered the Anuradhapura prison on Sunday asked Tamil political prisoners in remand, numbering around 65, to come out as they wanted to give ‘presents’ for them on the Heroes Day. Realising the sarcasm, when the prisoners refused to come out, they were forcibly brought out to an open ground where they were made naked and were severely beaten up by the prison guards. Five of them who were seriously injured are admitted in the Anuradhapura hospital. Even though there were many others too who got injured, they were not taken to hospital. The Tamil political prisoners were recently arrested from the Vanni districts and they are kept at Anuradhapura without any cases being filed. 

At the complaint of some of the prisoners, ‘Naam Ilangkaiyar’ (We Sri Lankans) outfit of the Sinhala nationalist JVP, has brought out the attack incident to the public, criticising the Colombo government that it is dividing the peoples of the island.

University student missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 November 2011, 09:23 GMT]
A student of the University of Jaffna, 27-year-old Vetharaniyam Latheesh, was missing after he left the gents hostel (Balasingham Hostel) of the University of Jaffna in Thirunelveali by 6:45 pm, Sunday evening. The student, studying at the Siddha Medicine department of the university located at Kaithadi, and used to stay in the hostel there, had come to the university hostel in Thirunelveali to meet a friend. University circles fear that the SL Army that was deployed in large numbers around the university campus on Sunday might have abducted him. A relative of Latheesh, who made a mobile call to him and got connected, heard his abductors talking in Sinhala and beating him, asking “kawuda” (who). The University Students Union has confirmed the abduction of Latheesh. 

Mr. Latheesh, comes from the coastal village Aazhiyava’lai in Vadamaraadchi East in the Jaffna district that was formerly under the LTTE control.

Studying in Jaffna, he was arrested by the SL military during the war and was kept in detention at Poosa for a long time. He was released to continue his studies at the intervention of the university after the war.

As he had found his house at Aazhiyava’lai completely razed down, he was staying in the Kaithadi hostel and was being supported by his relatives.

‘Abductions’ have once again escalated in Jaffna, and the abduction of Lathesh creates much tension in the university community.

Sri Lanka builds army HQ on Tamil Tiger cemetery

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

B B C  NEWS SOUTH ASIA

7 March 2011 Last updated at 11:19 ET

By Charles Haviland BBC News, Colombo

Tamil nationalists have criticised the destruction of the graveyard

 

A new military headquarters in northern Sri Lanka has been built on the site of a Tamil Tiger graveyard earlier flattened by the army, it has emerged.

The construction has come in for sharp criticism.
The army says it was allocated the plot as government land and that it was unaware of "unhappiness" over the site.
The Tamil Tigers departed from Hindu traditions of cremation and built large graveyards which experts say was part of a cult of martyrdom.
In May 2009 government forces defeated Tamil Tiger rebels fighting for a separate homeland. More than 70,000 people are estimated to have died in Sri Lanka's civil war which lasted for 26 years.
The army website has a full illustrated account of Friday's opening of the new headquarters for the 51 Division near Jaffna.
The website said it was declared open "amidst religious rites and rituals".
But it did not mention that on the same spot there used to stand a cemetery built by Tamil Tiger militants but destroyed by the army last year.
Tamil nationalists have already criticised the destruction of other Tiger graveyards in past years.
A former MP, MK Shivajilingam, said he was shocked because there were about 2,000 bodies of Tiger fighters on the site and there had been twice that number of memorial stones.
"How can the government build national reconciliation like this?" he said.
But army chief Jagath Jayasuriya told the BBC that having vacated its temporary premises in a Jaffna hotel, the 51 Division had to move to government land.
He said the military had been allocated this site which was owned by the prisons department, and he was "not aware of people expressing unhappiness".
Last year the government demolished the ancestral house of the late Tamil Tiger leader, Prabhakaran.
It says its policy is to wipe out any trace of the Tigers and ensure that their violence is forgotten.
It has however built several memorials to fallen government soldiers.

51 Division New Headquarters In Cemetery

*JDS

Mr. President, you’re not worthy of the office you hold…

 LANKA Standard Vishnuguptha | Published on November 27, 2011

The occasion was the annual Budget Speech in Parliament. Unlike in the Westminster- system days, and

Chaos in the House

in terms of age-old traditions of parliamentary practices, the Finance Minister, in this instance His Excellency the President of Sri Lanka (as he could not trust to give this vital portfolio away to any other member of his sixty one-strong Cabinet) was in the process of presenting his Budget in an unusually halting manner, exposing his lack of familiarity with the gravity of the occasion and the seriousness of the contents of his presentation. In the well of the House, the Opposition MPs, mostly UNPers, held placards that read “Shame” etc. Some government MPs, including some Cabinet Members like Mervyn Silva started advancing towards the placard-holding UNP MPs and manhandling them in the assembly.

The misfortune was not the attack by the likes of Mervyn Silva, Rohitha Abeygoonawardene, Dilum Amunugama and Lohan Ratwatte etc from whom one simply cannot expect any decent conduct, The real tragedy was that both the Speaker, the elder brother of the President who was presiding over the

President Rajapakse delivering his budget speech

proceedings and the President, the younger brother who’s the Chief Executive of the nation, who was speaking chose not to avert a serious breach of Parliamentary proceedings. The right action would have been for the Speaker of the House, Honourable Chamal Rajapaksa to name those UNP MPs and instruct Sergeant-at-Arms to remove those MPs from the well of the House. It did not happen. The graver misconduct was in fact committed by the Speaker and the President by choosing to ignore the attacks by the government MPs. They were either condoning what was taking place or they were rendered into inaction by not knowing what course of action was open to them. Both choices are not acceptable to a decent society.

UNP Members of Parliament hold up placards during the President's Budget speechFull Story>>>

Govt. concerned about US meddling in domestic affairs

November 26, 2011

By Shamindra Ferdinando

The UPFA alleges the US embassy is increasingly interfering in domestic political issues, thereby undermine the government.

The SLFP-led coalition believes that the US is trying to cause a rift in the government over the imprisonment of defeated presidential candidate, former Army Chief, Gen. Sarath Fonseka. The party was responding to US Ambassador Patricia Butenis taking up the issue with SLFP General Secretary, Minister Maithripala Sirisena in the wake of the conclusion of the ‘White Flag’ case.

Government sources said that a diplomat handling political affairs had met Minister Sirisena on behalf of Ambassador, Butenis, who originally sought one-on-one with the Healthcare Minister.

Minister Sirisena was told that the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission would be moved against the country unless a presidential pardon was given to Gen. Fonseka, whom the US categorized a political prisoner.

During the discussion, the US representative said that his country couldn’t financially back post-war development here due to financial difficulties experienced by the current administration.

Sources said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had discussed the issue with ministers. 

Responding to a query by The Sunday Island, sources said that government was concerned about the US ambassador’s action. "But what we really like to know is whether Ambassador Butenis had obtained prior approval from Washington to press Lanka on this issue," sources said.

Sources recalled a previous attempt also by the US to lure a serving senior military official to back an international war crimes inquiry targeting Sri Lanka. The government raised the issue with the US embassy, though it did pursue the matter. Sources said that the abortive bid had exposed clandestine US operation.

Sources said that a section of the international community was going out of its way to make a case against Sri Lanka to appease the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which did nothing to save Tamil speaking people from the LTTE. In fact, the TNA gave the LTTE a licence to kill by declaring terrorists as the sole representatives of the Tamil speaking people.

JVP calls for war crimes probe

JVP leader admitted that Sri Lanka troops committed war crimes An opposition party in Sri Lanka that supported the government's war against the Tamil Tigers has called for an investigation into alleged war crimes. Somawansa Amerasinghe, the leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) says it supports the recent statement by the defence secretary that accountability will be addressed by the government if needed. "Every war is a dirty war. The war is the worst thing in the world," the JVP leader told BBC Sandeshaya. The JVP leader is visiting England to address several meetings commemorating party members killed by Sri Lanka's armed forces in the late eighties. Addressing a recent seminar in Colombo, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that the government has investigated alleged war crimes,"including those concerning major offences including murder, rape and sexual abuse." 'Investigations held' "Swift action was taken by the military to punish those individuals found guilty of such crimes. Action was also pursued in the civil courts. If, in future, any substantial evidence is provided on crimes committed by its personnel, the Sri Lankan military will not hesitate to take appropriate action," said the defence secretary. Mr Rajapaksa says the Govt has already investigated some alleged war crimes Investigations conducted as claimed by the defence secretary was proof that war crimes were committed by Sri Lanka troops, said the JVP leader. "War crimes happen in a war. Even the defence secretary has admitted that," he added. Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has said that the government also conducted a census on the civilians died in the last stage of the war. The Sri Lankan Military can bear any responsibility only for deaths 'that occurred due to military action'. People have died of natural causes and accidents as well as fighting for the LTTE, he said. Somawansa Amerasinghe, who said the party was told by the affected families of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka troops, added that the census was also a result of the pressure exerted by the JVP on the government. Census on the dead However, the JVP leader defended the party's decision to support Sri Lankan troops in its war against the Tamil Tigers.  Every war is a dirty war. The war is the worst thing in the world JVP leader Somawansa Amerasinghe Adding that the party has "no faith" in government-appointed commissions, he said. His party would not, however, join international human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch in their call for an international investigation on alleged war crimes. "If Sri Lanka government properly investigate these accusations, no international investigation is needed," said Mr Amerasinghe. However, due to what he called government's stupid actions, "the international community has succeeded in intervening in Sri Lankan affairs." While a UN advisory panel estimated that nearly 40,000 civilians died during the last stages, the government that initially maintained that not a single civilian was killed later said that about 5000 may have been killed.