Last July, when former President and incumbent Opposition Parliamentarian Maithripala Sirisena visited Jaffna, a journalist questioned him about the death of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and whether a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) genetic test had been conducted. In fact, Sirisena was the Acting Defence Minister for the last two weeks of the war in May 2009.
Sirisena responded to the question saying that he had not been informed, that no matter had been reported to him regarding the death of Prabhakaran, and that he was not aware of whether a DNA genetic test had ever been carried out.
It comes to mind that when Sirisena was threatened by the Rajapaksa family (a reference to former President and incumbent Government MP Mahinda Rajapaksa) during his presidency, he said on several occasions that he “will disclose secrets about some Opposition politicians”. Now, we can understand what these were.
During the end of the war in Mullivaikkal in May 2009, the so-called war heroes claimed that Prabhakaran was killed and that they had found the body. The truth was that Prabhakaran’s youngest son Balachandran (12) was detained, shot, and killed by soldiers.
However, right from the beginning, there was information that Prabhakaran and some of his family members were alive. I was astonished that members of Rajapaksa’s family – especially Mahinda Rajapaksa, former Defence Secretary and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa along with former Army Commander and incumbent Opposition MP Field Marshal Sarath Fonseka, Defence Secretary General Kamal Gunaratne, and the then-military spokesperson claimed that no one in Prabhakaran’s family had survived and that it was ridiculous for anyone to think that members of this family were still living. To the best of my knowledge, this was a purely political statement far from the truth.
It cannot be denied that Sri Lanka won the war against the LTTE with strong support from countries like China, India, Pakistan, Iran, North Korea, the United States of America, and a few others. On 17 May 2009, at the end of the war, the LTTE’s press release said that they had “decided to silence our guns”. Since then, until today, no press releases have been issued by the actual LTTE hierarchy, except that the LTTE letterhead was misused by some stooges and we knew who motivated them.
Being a human rights activist and defender for more than three decades, I cannot allow utter lies and deception to be spread to the public, claiming that no one in Prabhakaran’s family is alive. Human rights education does not teach anyone to claim living individuals/persons as dead. When the party concerned is living safe and sound, how can I say that they are dead and gone?
Regarding this matter, I have been interviewed by a few popular Tamil media with over 100,000 spectators. In those interviews, I have said that Prabhakaran’s family is alive. I also said that I am in touch with them.
Working with United Nations (UN) human rights forums and other forums for more than three decades, I have never heard of any human rights organisation or activists submitting a case to mandate holders of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) concerning Prabhakaran or members of his family. Of course, the case of his youngest son Balachandran, who was extra-judicially killed by Sri Lankan soldiers, was well reported and human rights institutions and organisations consider this act a war crime.
One of the subjects taught in human rights is that in a democratic society, even so-called terrorists or those suspected of terrorism have the right to human rights protection. If we take for granted that Prabhakaran is a terrorist, he and members of his group have a right to human rights protection enjoyed by others in Sri Lanka.
After the 17th Century, the terminology of “terrorism” and “terrorist” came into use only in the late 1970s. During the same period, “State terrorism” also came into use. The revolt by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), was a class struggle to capture the whole country in 1971. This was termed an insurgency, whereas Tamil militancy, which took up arms for their ethnic identity in the exercise of their right to self-determination, accepted under the UN covenants and conventions, was branded as terrorism. In warfare, there are not many differences between terrorism and insurgency.
The question is: during the so-called “Gotabaya Rajapaksa war”, did they respect international humanitarian law (IHL)? The two main components of war: “jus ad bellum”, – which refers to the conditions under which States may resort to war or to the use of armed force in general, and “jus in bello” – the justness of how the war is fought, regulating the conduct of the parties engaged in an armed conflict, are set out in the UN Charter of 1945.
Considering these factors, what happened to the fake body shown to the public as Prabhakaran? Is the authority answerable to this question? Once again, I would like to insist that even terrorists have the right to human rights protection. I pose the same question with regard to other LTTE cadres in the conflict, who were raped, killed, and their bodies dumped everywhere in the Vanni.
The general obligations imposed by IHL, as a result of both custom and treaty, have been summarised by the International Committee of the Red Cross. They include the following: parties to the conflict must endeavour to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased upon the request of the party to which they belong or upon the request of their next of kin and they must return their personal effects to them; the dead must be disposed of in a respectful manner and their graves respected and properly maintained; and with a view to the identification of the dead, each party to the conflict must record all available information prior to the disposal and mark the location of the graves.
Did Sri Lanka respect these fundamental obligations during Mullivaikkal in May 2009? Now, even ordinary citizens can see how the Rajapaksas behaved in Mullivaikkal. When all these international norms and standards were ignored, the acts are considered war crimes and ethnic cleansing.
I have met some top LTTE cadres whose photographs were displayed as dead in Sri Lanka in May 2009. None of those names were reported to the mandate holders of disappearances or arbitrary killings of the OHCHR. This shows how the Rajapaksas gained votes, by showing fake photos. This truth is well-known to many members of the military and other forces.
To be frank here, I am not talking about the many thousands of civilians who were killed and disappeared during the war or the end of the war in Mullivaikkal. Those are different cases which are dealt with by the UN mandate holders, human rights organisations, activists and the UN Human Rights Council.
This situation makes me challenge the Rajapaksa family – Mahinda Rajapaksa and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, along with Fonseka, Gunaratne, and the then-military spokesperson, that I can prove physically that Prabhakaran and some members of his family are alive as well as several LTTE commanders whom Sri Lanka claimed were dead.
I can take this challenge on four conditions. One, only those whom I have named here can come forward for the challenge. Secondly, this will be done in front of international observers, members of international human rights and humanitarian institutions, and in the presence of some of “the elders”. Thirdly, once it is proven that they are living, those who took up the challenge should be able to support the cause of those involved, whom they considered dead. Finally, whoever loses the challenge should bear the financial cost of this milestone. I am ready for the challenge at the earliest. The logistics can be discussed via international observers when one of the above-named or all can agree to these four conditions. I am anxiously waiting for their reply.
As far as terrorism is concerned, we have seen so-called terrorists eventually become Heads of State and receive the Nobel Prize as well. Two good examples are Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela of South Africa and Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian State.
One cannot deny that since the end of the war until today, regarding politics, not a single bullet has been fired in the North and the East other than by the security forces. But, the extremists, who target the vote bank in the South, beat the drum of terrorism, day and night.
The Tamil leaders and members of the Tamil Congress and Federal Party who fought non-violently for the right to self-determination or equal rights from 1948 until the early 1970s were lucky that they were not branded as terrorists. One reason was that during those periods, those with extremist views like MP Dr. Sarath Weerasekara, Opposition MPs Wimal Weerawansa and attorney Udaya Gammanpila, and a few others were not in politics. Otherwise, the Founder and Leader of the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi and the Tamil United Liberation Front, attorney S.J.V. Chelvanayagam and the Founder and Leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, attorney G.G. Ponnambalam would also have been branded as terrorists.
Those with extremist views cannot be blamed. They have no knowledge of civil and political rights and economic, social, and cultural rights. They are only worried about elections and the vote bank like some Tamil politicians.
I look forward to meeting the challenge spelt out in this invitation.
I hope the Southern politicians will consider all these factors and allow citizens to live in peace and with dignity rather than in continuous turmoil.
(The writer is the General Secretary of the Tamil Centre for Human Rights based in France)
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.