Notwithstanding Denials Thousands Of Missing Persons Could Not Have Vanished Into Thin Air

By Veluppillai Thangavelu –November 25, 2015

Veluppillai Thangavelu

The former Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda has given a lengthy interview toThe Island newspaper (November 21, 2015) rebutting any claim that there had been a secret detention facility within the Trincomalee naval base during Eelam war IV. The statement that naval facilities within Trincomalee base were used as torture chambers was made by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) in Colombo at the end of a 10-day visit to Sri Lanka.

Karannagoda asserts “We didn’t operate torture chambers at the Trinco base or any other command. There was no requirement to do so. ”

He said that during the war renegade LTTE cadres had been accommodated at the Trinco facility which some interested parties now wanted to portray as a torture chamber. “We didn’t operate torture chambers at the Trinco base or any other command. There was no requirement to do so. A substantial number of LTTE dissidents had thrown their weight behind the combined military campaign directed at the LTTE, Karannagoda said, adding that the Navy had no option but to accommodate them in a previously unused building. We used British-time air raid shelters,” Karannagoda said, alleging that a despicable attempt was being made to bring the war winning military into disrepute.

Karannagoda further alleged the ridiculous allegation directed at the Navy was obviously part of their strategy to hold the country responsible for alleged atrocities committed during the war. The retired Admiral expressed disappointment that some had conveniently forgotten the sacrifices made by the military to bring the LTTE to its knees.

In other words Karannagoda says those who were housed in naval facilities were renegade LTTE cadres who owed allegiance to Karuna. If that is the case why they were kept in far away Trincomalee Naval base instead of army camps like Palaly or Panagoda?

Not hundreds, but in thousands are missing after they were arrested by the armed forces, especially the military intelligence. Parents of the missing persons have been visiting one camp after another, one prison after another for years. Despite many commissions set up to trace the whereabouts of the missing persons there was little success.                                                      Read More