A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
A Brief Colonial History Of Ceylon(SriLanka)
Sri Lanka: One Island Two Nations
(Full Story)
Search This Blog
Back to 500BC.
==========================
Thiranjala Weerasinghe sj.- One Island Two Nations
?????????????????????????????????????????????????Thursday, February 28, 2013
FLASHBACK:
Sex Abuse and Murder in Sri Lanka- New Photos Emerge
Tim King Salem-News.com-Mar-08-2012
Tim King Salem-News.com-Mar-08-2012
Be forewarned, that the photos of war crime and sex abuse victims shown below, are
shocking and gruesome.Please hit the
Facebook 'share' button- Help Get This Story Out
There!
One of many Tamil female rape/murder
victims who died in mid-2009 at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army, in a
Genocide.
|
It has been a little more than a year since I wrote this shocking
story about the horrible acts against Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka that took
place during the end years of the country's nearly three-decade long civil war
between the separatist Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. Sri Lanka's
actions are back in front of the United Nations Human Rights Council and UN
Human Rights High Commissioner, Navi Pillay, says Sri Lanka has broken its
promise to improve human rights in the island nation.
Pillay has also issued a stern warning to the Sri Lankan Government
not to repeat last year’s intimidation and threats against human rights
defenders at next week’s UN Human Rights Council meeting to examine Sri Lanka’s
progress on human rights and post-war reconciliation with Tamils.
This article, in spite of being almost a year old, is one of our top
viewed and commented upon stories month after month consistently in 2013. As
hard as it is to take in, this fact means a great deal. Exposing atrocities
vividly online is one of the most powerful, underutilized options we Human
Rights journalists have at our disposal. We make sure that the memories of Sri
Lanka's war crimes follows their officials around like a bad smell.
Here is the article from March 2013:
I have written several articles examining the terrible crimes
against innocent women and girls that occurred during the Sri Lanka civil war
and the ensuing Genocide that enveloped the Tamil population in the island
country's northern region.
The conflict wiped out most of the resistance force, the LTTE
(Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - aka 'Tamil Tigers'), and tens of thousands
of innocent defenseless civilians who were directly targeted.
Along with the carnage came a barrage of sex crimes against Tamil
women and girls that defy real description.
Be forewarned, that the photos of war crime and sex abuse victims shown below, are
shocking and tragic moments captured in time, of female rape victims
who were viciously killed.
The shocking images are bloody and horrible and yet very important,
as Sri Lanka stands accused of war crimes and is the subject of a resolution
calling for several measures of atonement and clarity, not that anything could
ever ever be enough.
Humiliation,
torture, children murdered in obscene ways, military leaders with white flags
gunned down while they surrendered, white van disappearances that strike horror
into the heart Tamil people.
The images attest to
human cruelty that is simply beyond the imagination of western people whose
governments when united, most of all, have a chance of forcing change on nations
like this that by policy, practice deadly, mass murder against their own
citizens.
Sri Lanka's actions
against its own people stand as a textbook example of state terrorism. There was
nothing rational or reasonable or justifiable about directing people into safe
zones and then bombing them, or killing old men and old women, chasing families
down, one atrocity after another. They are all photos of war crimes that took
place in 2009, the photos have been authenticated, there are different versions
of the photos and video, the SLA did a good job documenting their deeds.
At the bottom of
this article is a quote from a man claiming to be a former Sri Lanka soldier;
that confirms in my opinion, our worst suspicions, that it was even worse than
we can imagine.
Plotting Genocide
Before making
strident moves to ethnically cleanse the civilian population, Sri Lanka wiped
out and silenced all journalists who were sympathetic to the Hindu and Christian
Tamils.
Then, the United
Nations observers were asked to leave by Sri Lanka's government; the UN ordered
them to clear out, and this left the Tamils at the hands of the Sinhalese
Buddhist regime of Sri Lanka President Majinda Rajapaksa, to die without
witness... but not completely.
As these terrible
photos testify, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers like to photograph their
handiwork. They rape and abuse women, murder them, and then abuse their corpses,
for the camera.
Many Tamils recorded
the attacks they suffered, and a great deal of media was preserved somehow, even
though so many of the people who took the pictures and video died.
Where their images
of suffering and death end, the SLA soldier's videos and photos begin. There
have been officers of the Sri Lankan Army who have stepped forward to
corroborate some of the darkest claims. Sri Lanka denies journalists access to
the war zone, many disappeared people remain missing, stories of secret camps
are rife, torture is commonplace.
New Images of Isaippiriya
I have written at
length about the tragic loss of a young, highly talented journalist name Shoba,
who was more commonly known by the name Isaippiriya. The images on the right
show her in two vastly different settings; murdered in a Sri Lanka killing field
where soldiers stripped the dignity of women before terminating their lives, and
holding a small child (see:Two
of Sri Lanka's Foulest War Crimes).
She was a reporter
for TamilNet and other sources, and also worked as an actress, she sang
and she danced. She also had a young child who died in the war a short time
before she was molested and tortured and killed.
The group of women
represented here in death are, Sri Lanka wants you to believe...
terrorists.
Isaippiriya's story
is moving because she is an example of who the Tamil Tigers in so many cases are
and were; versus what they are portrayed to be by the Sri Lankan government and
media.
People do not choose
the place of their birth, they don't ask for their particular station in life,
or what family or economic setting they are born into; what we do know is that
all human beings have the same basic needs, and under the UN Declaration of
Human Rights, and by the simple basis of common sense, people need to have both
religious freedom, and a number of pre-established Human Rights.
A gentle soul by all
accounts of people who knew her, the SLA would later report that she was a high
ranking military officer in the LTTE, she was no such thing.
In fact Isaippiriya
had health-related issues that prevented her from even wearing a uniform for the
Tigers.
LTTE Still Active
In her honor, and
the members of the LTTE who fought the SLA in the Vanni and held out against
tremendous odds, it is important to say that the LTTE is not inactive, and we
have had recent contact from members of the military group and we are assured
they are in fact, not a 'defeated' organization in any respect.
Some of the people
who choose to leave comments on this story will charge that the LTTE was a
'terrorist' organization and the United States, which recently Murdered 1.5
million in Iraq, is who helped achieve this dubious designation for the Tamil
Tigers.
What that same of
group of people will not talk about, is how the LTTE had not only backed off on
its insistence for the independent state of Tamil Eelam in north Sri Lanka, but
also that a cease fire was in effect when Rajapaksa and his forces launched the
deadly war's final state, in 2005.
The EU and UN all
followed suit in adding the LTTE to the terrorist list; of course it wouldn't be
surprising to learn that those two groups recently killed more people in Libya
taking out Gaddafi and arming the new band of U.S. friendly rogue Muslim
extremists, than all of the LTTE victims combined.
And on the subject
of honor and the military and war crimes, the LTTE was formed to fight the SLA,
and in 1983, after a battle left 13 SLA soldiers dead, a radical Buddhist monk
led a band of Sinhalese Lankans into Tamil neighborhoods to murder hundreds and
hundreds in retribution for the 13 dead SLA soldiers.
The history, when
closely examined, almost always shoots down the excuses for this apartheid,
Genocidal government. It tells a tale that began with greedy British
colonization and a division of the native Sinhala and Tamil people.
Tamils were given
preference under British rule, and have paid the price for this ever since
Ceylon, as it was called then, finally gained independence from the British in
1948.
The racist policies
forced onto these people by the British is the formula for lingering hatred and
violence.
Tamils forced
Muslims out in the 1980's when tensions heightened, cruelty was dealt out by
both sides, but the LTTE would have never even formed if a population accounting
for 18% of a country is threatened.
While wishing for a
peaceful future, I strongly respect the Tamil minority culture, who first
labored for thirty years in peace to maintain and preserve their culture, and
then spent another thirty years as an armed resistance with the only goal really
being the autonomy of Tamil people and the preservation of their language and
culture.
Tamil View
In an article
titled: New War crimes Pictures emerge!, Fight4tamils compares the
actions of Sri Lanka's soldiers in the last days of the war and Genocide, to a
bunch of animals who staged one of the ugliest crime against humanity.
- The
president Mahinda and his brother defence Secretary Gottabaya have instructed
the military to show all their cruelity on the female Tamil Tiger cadres and
Tamil girls. Military staged the horror which could be seen on these pictures
and still the United Nations and ICC do not act on the criminals of Sri
Lanka.
- It
is shame that the major military commander Shavendra De Silva, who staged this
crime is a Sri Lankan envoy to UN and UN secretary Ban Ki Moon keeping him in UN
even after knowing the truth.
- Do
you want to fight for the justice for these women and men? Please send this page
to your local MP or any organisations and tell them to support the call for war
crimes inquiry.
- Support
the two major Tamil organisations who continue to fight for the justice,
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam via tgte.org
Global Tamil Forum via globaltamilforum.org
I wish I could tell
you the name of each of these young women, or even if they are definitely LTTE,
I can't tell you about their families, talents and educations, much of the
information died when they did.
There is one victim
thankfully, Shoba, who we are very familiar with, perhaps at some point more
information on the identity of the other victims will be gained.
I was moved by the
following comments that have been posted online in regard to these photos:
“ |
Even the barbarians
never did this type of crimes against a woman. Only the Sinhalese extremist can
do this. The perpetrators must be brought to the international criminal
court.Our women are not deserved to these crimes. - Kana
|
” |
“ |
We have thousands of
people rallying and campaigning to protect nature and trees, and yet the crimes
again the tamils in SL are ignored…..what kind of world do we live in?? If we
dont punish the people that did this, then these kind of attrocities will
continue both in SL and worldwide!! - JFK
|
” |
“ |
That rapist regime
must answer to all women of the world and the men appreciate the sacredness of
women. - Mike
|
” |
A comment previously
listed as originating from Colombo Telegraph, was listed out of context.
The person that was attributed to, contacted Salem-News.com, advising
that we had only included part of a comment he had left on
aTranscurrent article. The comment was not made in regard to these images
or this article, this was a mistake on our part, we sincerely apologize for the
error.
It is never our
intention to misconstrue a comment in this way; context is extremely important.
We have retracted the comment and owe the individual a strong apology for this
oversight, stating for the record that the mistake was ours and we regret the
fact that it occurred.
Story from 08 March
2012 concludes.
The ethnic cleansing
that culminated in May 2009 took place under the watch of Major General
Shavendra Silva, who headed the 58th Division, the same group that shot dead the
Tigers surrendering with white flags. Navi Pillay, we know you want to do the
right thing, use all your power and do everything you can to make
this government accountable for its war crimes, bring our Tamil brothers and
sisters their long-deserved justice, please.
Please hit the
Facebook share button above, the Google Plus button is to the right of that, and
the Twitter button is below. Also, feel free to leave your thoughts in a comment
below.
As I continued
researching the story of Isaippiriya, or 'Shoba', more information continued to
emerge and I take her story personally because she was a journalist and because
she lost a child before being abused and killed by the SLA. She like other
Tamils, LTTE or not, lived in peace until the Rajapaksa regime decided to
blatantly and illegally violate a standing, successful peace treaty. That is
when the crimes against the Tamil people accelerated and escalated into a
full-scale Genocide.
The photos above
clearly demonstrate that Isaippriyia's hands were tied behind her back. She
plainly appears to be both a sex abuse and/or rape and murder victim, who was
executed after being captured. This is obvious. I was greatly surprised in June
of last year when I received a video clip from London, recorded by the SLA
itself, that showed her body with her hands untied being counted among
dead Tamil Tiger militants. This clip of video is rock solid conclusive proof
that Isaippriya's murdered corpse was staged by the Sri Lankan government under
the direction of for a body count of 'enemy dead'. I owe great thanks to Donald Gnanakone and Vasuki Muruhathas
for getting that videotape to our newsroom.
Read Full Article
Read Full Article