Rajpakshe must repent for his cruelty done to EelamTamil before U.N.Council.

Rajpakshe must repent for his cruelty done to EelamTamil before U.N.Council.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s June 22 appointed of an expert panel to advise him on human rights violations in the final stage of the island’s civil war. Thousands of civilians were killed by the Sri Lankan military’s bombardments in the months leading up to the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May 2009.


The UN panel is headed by former Indonesian Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, who is a member of Golkar—the ruling party during the Suharto military dictatorship. The other members are Yasmin Sooka, a former member of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Steven Ratner, an American law professor. UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky underlined the limited scope of the move, noting the “advisory panel [is] limited to advising the secretary general… It is not a fact-finding or investigative body.”


Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse rejected that UN panel at a cabinet meeting the following day. On the same day that the UN panel was announced, the European Union (EU) issued an ultimatum to the Colombo government, declaring that it would not extend GSP+ tariff concessions to Sri Lanka after August 15 without a written assurance on protecting human rights. An EU statement proposed an extension for “a limited additional period, subject to a clear and written commitment” to undertake a number of human rights-related actions within a six-month period beginning in July. The withdrawal of EU concessions would affect Sri Lankan exports, particularly of garments, to Europe.


The UN has estimated that at least 7,000 civilians died in the final months of the war, between January 20 and May 14. An International Crisis Group report last month put the figure far higher, at between 30,000 and 75,000 deaths, and accused the Sri Lankan military of deliberately targeting hospitals and civilians inside LTTE-held territory. The US-based Human Rights Watch and Britain’s Channel Four have produced pictures showing the torture of Tamils, which experts have said are authentic. The Colombo government has repeatedly branded all such evidence as “fabricated” and claimed that the army killed no civilians.


Following the LTTE’s collapse, the army herded more than 250,000 civilians—men, women and children—into huge, military-run detention centers in blatant violation of their basic rights under the country’s constitution. Young people in particular were interrogated. Thousands accused of being “terrorist suspects” were dragged off to re-education centres in unknown locations. The country’s emergency laws, which remain in force a year after fighting ended, provide for indefinite detention without trial.


Rajapakse relied increasingly on Beijing for diplomatic, financial and military support. In return for its backing, China was granted significant economic concessions. India must note that Rajpaksha’s intimacy with China may turn as a weapon against India. All the people throughout the world expect that Rajpakshe must repent for his cruelty done to Eelam Tamil community before U.N.Council.