No one did it, but somehow it was done

Looking for recent news on Sri Lanka, one is presented with contradictory messages: according to Time magazine, “Sri Lanka Promises Not to Endanger Civilians;” however, according to the BBC, the government has found it necessary for “civilian attacks [to be] denied.” However, it is not the biases of the two authors that clash, but rather the material they have to work with. In the chaos and mayhem of the last stages of a 25-year-long civil war, both the government and LTTE are blaming each other for wildly varying numbers of civilian casualties, while prohibiting independent media from entering to verify the numbers or attribute blame either way.

In the Time article, written at the beginning of this month (February 6), Ravi Nessman reports that the Sri Lankan government assured the United Nations that the military would protect civilians in the northeastern conflict areas. After capturing some key bases of the LTTE, the government was evidently confident that, in the words of President Rajapaksa during a phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, offenses against the LTTE could be “would be carried out without harassment to the civilian population." In fact, the military had reported that citizens had begun fleeing from the conflict area to government-controlled territory. A military spokesman predicted that it was going to become “a mass movement now.” At the same time, the government has refused calls for a brief ceasefire to let civilians flee the area, preferring to let them figure it out on their own. Clearly, the few weeks since this article was written have shown that no “mass movement” followed the government’s capture of bases at Chalai, Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi, Trincomalee, and other areas. Somewhere around 250,000 civilians remain trapped in rebel-held territory, unable to leave and victimized regularly. For example, the UN reported that between the escalation of the war and the writing of this article (a space of about a month), around 300 civilians had been killed.

Furthermore, the government since September 2008 has barred all aid agencies and nonprofits from the country, as well as making it very difficult for foreign journalists to gain entry. In essence, they are closing themselves off so that no one knows what is really going on. Meanwhile, their own people are left to suffer and fend for themselves.

The weakness of the government’s claims was revealed only a few days after the Time article was published, when according to the BBC article, government bombs hit a makeshift hospital set up by the Red Cross in Putumattalan, killing 16 people. Although the government denied responsibility for these 16 deaths, the Tamil Tigers have also denied shooting down 19 people fleeing rebel territory- and yet these 30 people are somehow still dead. No one did it, but somehow it was done.

The Red Cross, the Sri Lankan government, and the LTTE have all commented on these incidents:

Paul Castella, head of the Red Cross: “We are shocked that patients are not
afforded the protection they are entitled to."

Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara, military spokesman: "We did not fire at this location on Monday and it is quite possible that the Tamil Tigers attacked them."

C. Ilamparithy, a rebel spokesman: “Sri Lankan military machinery, which has relentlessly killed and maimed thousands of civilians during the past four weeks, is now engaged in a propaganda drive to divert the mounting pressure on the Colombo government by the international community."

Castella’s comments reflect the general reaction of the international community, as far as I know. But Nanayakkara’s and Ilamparithy’s remarks are much more indicative of the political climate within Sri Lanka- again, as far as I understand the situation. Both are almost laughably caricatured examples of finger-pointing and unwillingness to take responsibility for action. Both the government and the LTTE are like drowning people who already hate each other, pushing each other under for the sake of victory in war as well as for the sake of public image. The situation in Sri Lanka is terrible, with abuses on both sides, and the only way that either side will survive relatively unscathed is to take advantage of the chaos in the region and blame the other.

Finally, Human Rights Watch (HRW) takes the obvious position, saying that both the government and the LTTE are “responsible for the dramatic increase in civilian casualties during the past month - approximately 2,000 killed and another 5,000 wounded, according to independent monitors on the ground.”

This article is a summary of the much longer report released recently by HRW, entitled “War on the Displaced: Sri Lankan Army and LTTE Abuses against Civilians in the Vanni.” In the report, various human rights abuses by both sides are enumerated. On the government side, these include not only shelling of civilians (even those in government-declared “safe zones”), refusal of humanitarian aid agencies to the areas that need them (and resulting inadequacy of medical care, food, water, and shelter), internment of civilians who escape from rebel territory in military-guarded refugee camps, and arbitrary detainment of suspected Tamil Tigers (including the disappearance of many). Lately, the government has declared that everyone in the rebel-held territory is a potential Tiger, so indiscriminate bombing is justified. This declaration “effectively sanction[s] unlawful attacks,” according to HRW.

On the other side, the LTTE is not only shooting civilians who try to escape to government-held territory, they are even forcibly recruiting them to help with military efforts for which these civilians have no training. As a result, most are killed quickly.

The report from HRW provides many personal stories from the front lines in Sri Lanka, but this one affected me the most:

"Some 150 people started out together, but when we tried to leave, at
Suthanthirapuruam, the LTTE tried to stop us. There was only a narrow path to
leave by. The LTTE caught us. There was fighting, arguments. They were shooting
at us. Many people were injured and killed. It was shocking to see. Only 65 were
in my group when we came out. One father was carrying his child on his back. As
they were running from the LTTE, he was holding him by the arms so hard - in
order not to lose him - that he broke both of the child's arms." – Anonymous
35-year-old Sri Lankan father of three

Essentially, although the Sri Lankan government promised to protect its citizens, it and its military have harmed the people at least as much as the LTTE has. Both sides show blatant disregard for the welfare of the people of Sri Lanka, but deny their roles in the violence vehemently. They don’t want anyone to know what’s going on within their borders. Spread the word.