Veluppillai Thangavelu
Recently
organizations representing the mothers and relatives of those who
involuntarily (forced) disappeared, after the war, marked the thousandth
day of their demonstration, rallies, road-side campaign etc. During
this long period, the mothers have demanded the government to produce
their sons and daughters handed over to the army at Omanthai military
camp during rounding up of suspected militants as well as those who
surrendered on May 18, 2009. They sought answers to the nagging
questions “What happened to our loved ones, in most cases, we ourselves
handed them to the armed forces” from the government, UNHRC and foreign diplomats.
Amnesty International defines Victims of enforced disappearance are
people who have literally disappeared; from their loved ones and their
community. They go missing when state officials (or someone acting with
state consent) grab them from the street or from their homes and then
deny it, or refuse to say where they are. Sometimes disappearances may
be committed by armed non-state actors, like armed opposition groups.
And it is always a crime under international law.
Enforced disappearance is frequently used as a strategy to spread terror
among people. The feeling of insecurity and fear it generates is not
limited to the close relatives of the disappeared but also affects
communities as a whole.
The affected persons strongly believe, perhaps naively, that their
beloved ones are still alive and they are kept in clandestine military
detention cells/centres/camps.
When ex-Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was
confronted by angry parents who wanted to know the whereabouts of their
loved ones, he was truthful about the disappeared. In his answer, Ranil
said that the government had made every effort to trace the missing
detainees in army custody but found none.
He
then said the missing persons must be presumed dead. This answer only
helped to worsen the already highly charged emotive atmosphere.
Today, Gotabaya Rajapaksa who
was the Defence Secretary during the war had won the presidential race
on the SLPP platform with an impressive majority. This has raked up
those awful and nightmarish memories about the enforced missing persons.
For years since 2009 May, the relatives of the missing persons are
pointing fingers at Gotabaya Rajapaksa as the person responsible for
execution-style murders of LTTE leaders/cadres/civilians who surrendered
to the army some with white flags. The White flag surrender
was facilitated by President Mahinda and Basil Rajapaksa. Those who
surrendered with white flags were advised to hold the flags high so that
the soldiers can see them at a distance.
So far, despite the promise by the previous Government, no one has been
held accountable for extrajudicial killings during the war. But the
mothers and relatives of the missing persons hold Gotabaya Rajapaksa
accountable in his capacity as the Defence Secretary. Those he is only
the Defence Secretary, he was virtually the Defence Minister as well. He
alone took decisions regarding the overall war strategy against the
LTTE. Mahinda Rajapaksa was Defence Minister in name only.
As Defence Secretary Gotabaya directed all military operations and gave
orders to the Commanders in the field bypassing the Army Commander.
This was disclosed by Sarath Fonseka many
times. As the person who directed the entire war machinery, Gotabaya
Rajapaksa is accused of ordering torture, rape and abductions and
murders of thousands of Tamils.
When Rajapaksas (Gotabaya, Mahinda and Namal) went to the North for
election campaign relatives of involuntarily disappeared persons held a
protest rally before the Nallur Murugan temple. They have also been
protesting against the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for not doing
anything about the missing persons. They are displaying US and EU flags
in the hope of drawing enlisting support of those countries.
During his election campaign, Gotabaya Rajapaksa has studiously avoided
giving interviews to the press knowing well that many upsetting
questions will be fired at him about missing persons, extra-judicial
killings and LTTE surrendees who went missing after the surrender.
At the first press conference held at Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on 16
October 2019, a grinning Gotabaya Rajapaksa dodged questions about
enforced disappearances and missing surrendees. He struggled to answer
tough questions thrown by journalists and forced to acknowledge the
military leadership of Sarath Fonseka. He denied Paranagama Commission
findings of ‘missing’ persons.
Challenged repeatedly about those LTTE cadres who went missing after
surrender to the 58 Division, President Gotabaya who had previously
claimed credit for the military victory denied any role in the
management of the victory and its outcome and tried to pass the blame on
to the Army Commanding officers in the field!
When
pressed further about a large number of detainees and missing persons,
Gotabaya Rajapaksa claimed credit for the rehabilitation of all of them.
His manifesto launched on 25 October 2019, inter-alia, said “Even though
we took steps to pardon, rehabilitate and release 13,784 Tiger members
who surrendered with arms, such steps were not taken in relation to
soldiers who faced different accusations related to the wartime. It
further said steps were taken to “systematically rehabilitate and
reintegrate” into society not only soldiers but also members of the
Tamil Tigers who are facing different accusations related to the war.
But the affected families say they saw their relatives taken away in
buses by soldiers but never seen again.
Sri Lanka’s government ordered Tamil rebels and any civilians with
remote relations to the rebel group to surrender after they were boxed
inside a narrow strip of land in the final days of the war on May 18.
2009.
While Gotabaya Rajapaksa claims the government released 13,784 LTTE
surrendees, his manifesto does not talk about the missing. He told
reporters that no one had disappeared other than those who participated
in active combat, and that included thousands of soldiers. He urged
people to forget the past and move on.
Here is how the questions and answers went during the press meet according to the Daily News dated October 16, 2019 –
Q: What happened to the people who surrendered to the security forces
since you were leading the military at that time? Could you please tell
us what happened to the people who surrendered? Where are they?
A: You are mistaken I think, I was not leading the Army.
Q: Your brother was?
A: No! No! The Army was led by the Army commander
Q: You were the defence secretary, what will you tell the people who ask that question?
A: About 13,784 surrendered and they were rehabilitated and reintegrated
into society. They were given employment in the Civil Security Force
and some of them were recruited in the military as well. We had one of
the most successful rehabilitation programmes. Even foreign observers
commended our programmes.
Q: Does that mean that there are no missing persons?
A: Even in the military, over 4,000 officers and soldiers went missing
during the war in the battlefield. Once, I went to Jaffna Fort and even
we couldn’t recover the bodies of the military personnel. People are
missing. Similarly, a number of soldiers are missing.
Q: Some say those who surrendered did not return? So are they lying?
A: No! Somebody can say that but that is an allegation. We had a commission on this. There were no cases like that.
Q: Even the Paranagama Commission of your time said there were such cases
A: I don’t think so.
Q: It was said that various census and statistical surveys were
conducted which came out with numbers. What was the process that you had
in mind to carry this forward?
A: You are talking all the time about the past. Ask about the future. If you concentrate on the future, it is better I think.
Q: But can you move on without addressing the past?
A: Yeah sure, can move on.
Questioned
about the UN Human Rights Council resolutions, especially 30/1 of
2015, Gotabaya Rajapaksa repeatedly described the UNHCR resolutions as
“illegal”, but said that if elected to power he would work with the UN
and human rights organisations in resolving contentious issues.
