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==Attacks on civilians, pre-1983== ==Attacks on civilians, pre-1983==
There were number of well established attacks by the state on civilians prior to 1983 ] pogrom. The prominent ones are the fourth World Tamil Research Conference was held in the city of ] between January 3 and 9, ], during which due to ] it resulted in the loss of nine lives, the loss of civilian property and more than 50 civilians sustaining severe injuries. The police officers involved were subsequently promoted by the government.<ref>http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA26Df04.html</ref> There were number of well established attacks by the state on civilians prior to 1983 ] pogrom. The prominent ones are the fourth World Tamil Research Conference was held in the city of ] between January 3 and 9, ], during which due to ] it resulted in the loss of nine lives, the loss of civilian property and more than 50 civilians sustaining severe injuries. The police officers involved were subsequently promoted by the government.<ref>http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA26Df04.html</ref>

]
With the increase in political tensions the next watershed event was the ] due to the actions of a mob sponsored by government agents. The library lost over 97,000 volumes of rare manuscripts, books and journals, in the process four Tamils were also killed. Nancy Murray, a director with ] wrote in a journal article in ], that several high ranking security officers and two ]s were present in the town of ], when uniformed ] men and ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1166237.stm|title=Chronology of events in Sri lanka|accessdate=2006-03-14 |format= |work=BBC}}</ref> mob carried out organized acts of destruction and termed it an act of state terror.<ref> Nancy Murray (1984), ''Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State,'' Issue no. 1, Race & Class, vol. 26 (Summer 1984)</ref>
During this event the Jaffna was burned. <ref>http://www.wsws.org/articles/2001/may2001/sri-m30.shtml</ref>


==Response to the post 1983 civil conflict== ==Response to the post 1983 civil conflict==
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The ] happened on ], ] when the ] bombed what they claimed to be rebel ] naval base in Illuppaikadavai in Northern ]. ], the local ] bishop and the ] claimed fifteen (15) minority ]s including women and children died and 35 were injured due to the bombing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/01/02/sri_lankan_air_force_says_tamil_base_hit/ The ] happened on ], ] when the ] bombed what they claimed to be rebel ] naval base in Illuppaikadavai in Northern ]. ], the local ] bishop and the ] claimed fifteen (15) minority ]s including women and children died and 35 were injured due to the bombing.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/01/02/sri_lankan_air_force_says_tamil_base_hit/
|title=Rebel base hit, says government|accessdate=2006-01-07 |format= |work=Boston.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slmm.lk/press_releases/statement%20-%20air%20strike.pdf |title=Rebel base hit, says government|accessdate=2006-01-07 |format= |work=Boston.com }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slmm.lk/press_releases/statement%20-%20air%20strike.pdf
|title= Press release on 29 April 2006 SUBJECT: Air strikes violate the Ceasefire Agreement|accessdate=2007-03-02 |format= |work=SLMM }}</ref> The Bishop termed it an act of state terror, according to ].<ref>http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=20787</ref> |title= Press release on 29 April 2006 SUBJECT: Air strikes violate the Ceasefire Agreement|accessdate=2007-03-02 |format= |work=SLMM }}</ref> The Bishop termed it an act of state terror.{{fact}}


====Involuntary disappearances==== ====Involuntary disappearances====
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*The acceptability and legitimacy that it has provided for further proliferating the "traditions" of violence and domination. *The acceptability and legitimacy that it has provided for further proliferating the "traditions" of violence and domination.


The report concludes that acts of State terror have become instituitionalized throughout the country not just in the war torn North and East.<ref>http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2618</ref>Some countries have frozen their foreign aid to Sri Lanka to protest allegations of state terror in response to call by Human rights groups.<ref>http://www.ft.com/cms/s/54315d20-087b-11dc-b11e-000b5df10621.html.</ref> The report concludes that acts of State terror have become instituitionalized throughout the country not just in the war torn North and East.<ref>http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2618</ref>Some countries have frozen their foreign aid to Sri Lanka to protest allegations of state terror in response to call by Human rights groups.{{fact}}


==References== ==References==

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Template:Totally-disputed

Template:State terrorism Several groups have alleged that there have been instances of state terrorism in Sri Lanka. Instances of torture, kidnapping, and extrajudicial execution are said to be common practices of state terror in Sri Lanka, often used to terrorize domestic populations by the state.

Response to JVP uprisings

Most of the victims of state violence during JVP uprisings were civilians from the majority Sinhalese community. During the first JVP uprising, in 1971, over 15,000 civilians were killed by the armed forces. During the second JVP uprising, in 1987-89, an estimated 50,000 civilians disappeared or were killed.Many activists groups describe the events as state terror.

Attacks on civilians, pre-1983

There were number of well established attacks by the state on civilians prior to 1983 Black July pogrom. The prominent ones are the fourth World Tamil Research Conference was held in the city of Jaffna between January 3 and 9, 1974, during which due to police action it resulted in the loss of nine lives, the loss of civilian property and more than 50 civilians sustaining severe injuries. The police officers involved were subsequently promoted by the government.

Response to the post 1983 civil conflict

As part of the military actions against the rebel LTTE group many massacres of civilians and series of prison massacres, assassinations of political opponents have taken place.

Civilian massacres

The unfolding 2006 Mannar massacres have allegedly been attributed to the Sri Lankan military forces. On June 8, 2006 a family of four including two children were massacred in the village of Vankalai by the Sri Lankan Army.(See pic here)A prominent Sri Lanka dissident who is majority Sinhalese himself termed the masscre an act of state terror

The Padahuthurai bombing happened on January 02, 2007 when the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed what they claimed to be rebel LTTE naval base in Illuppaikadavai in Northern Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the local Roman Catholic bishop and the LTTE claimed fifteen (15) minority Sri Lankan Tamils including women and children died and 35 were injured due to the bombing. The Bishop termed it an act of state terror.

Involuntary disappearances

Human Rights organization such AHRC and Amnesty International have complained that in 2006 up to 400 people have been disappeared, 245 of who were detained by the army, with another further 25 by the LTTE.

The Amnesty international has said that there is a disturbing pattern of incomplete or ineffective investigations by the government, with the result that perpetrators of such violence generally operate with impunity.. The Tamil daily Uthayan published from Jaffna termed it state terror

In 2007, a press release apparently from University of Jaffna students appealing to the rest of the world to protect them from acts of state terror associted with abductions and murders was released.

Backing of paramilitary group

The Karuna fraction knows as TMVP has been abducted and forcibly recruited hundreds of children in eastern Sri Lanka With the complicity or willful blindness of the Sri Lankan government.

Child rights advocate at Human Rights Watch was quoted saying

"After years of condemning child recruitment by the Tamil Tigers, the government is now complicit in the same crimes,"

and

"The government’s collusion on child abductions by the Karuna group highlights its hypocrisy"

. He further added

"Not only do government forces fail to stop the abductions, but they allow the Karuna group to transport kidnapped children through checkpoints on the way to their camps"

The police is complicit in their unwillingness to seriously investigate complaints filed by the parents of abducted members of the family. The poilce also reportedly refused to register parents’ complaints. In some cases, the police registered the complaint but failed to undertake proper investigation. The police has not secured the child’s release in any of these cases..The Sri Lankan government has denied these allegationsSome Human Rights agencies have termed the alleged recruitment of children by government backed forces as state terror

According to Human Rights group AHRC, the Rome Statute of International Criminal Court identifies

"conscripting or enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces or groups or using them to participate actively in hostilities" as a war crime.

The agency has appealed to the international community to refer Sri Lanka to the ICC for investigation into the violations of the Rome Statute.

Reactions

Many acts associated with the Sri Lankan civil war have been termed as acts of state terror by Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora groups but the Asian Human Rights Commission(AHRC) has noted that it seems that the war's major contributions to the prevalence of torture and state terror in "peaceful" areas have been:

  • The permeation of its horrific levels of violence and terrorism into social institutions and
  • The acceptability and legitimacy that it has provided for further proliferating the "traditions" of violence and domination.

The report concludes that acts of State terror have become instituitionalized throughout the country not just in the war torn North and East.Some countries have frozen their foreign aid to Sri Lanka to protest allegations of state terror in response to call by Human rights groups.

References

  1. Piyadasa, L. (1986). Sri Lanka: the Holocaust and After. Zed Books. ISBN 0-906334-03-9.
  2. Tambiah, Stanley (1984). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-78952-7. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  3. Gunaratna, Rohan (1995). SRI LANKA - A LOST REVOLUTION? The Inside Story of the JVP. Institute of Fundamental Studies, Sri Lanka. ISBN 9-55-26-004-9.
  4. http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/DA26Df04.html
  5. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0610/S00455.htm
  6. "Rebel base hit, says government". Boston.com. Retrieved 2006-01-07.
  7. "Press release on 29 April 2006 SUBJECT: Air strikes violate the Ceasefire Agreement" (PDF). SLMM. Retrieved 2007-03-02.
  8. http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2006statements/729/
  9. http://web.amnesty.org/report2004/lka-summary-eng
  10. http://hrw.org/englishwr2k7/docs/2007/01/11/slanka14837.htm
  11. http://www.ahrchk.net/ahrc-in-news/mainfile.php/2006ahrcinnews/866/
  12. http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/01/24/slanka15141.htm
  13. http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070127_03
  14. ^ http://www.achrweb.org/Review/2006/141-06.htm
  15. http://www.ctconline.ca/bro.pdf
  16. http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=2618

Further reading

  • Myrdal, Gunnar (1968). Asian Drama: an Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations. Pantheon. ASIN B000E80DGO.
  • Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam (1989). The Break up of Sri Lanka: the Sinhalese-Tamil conflict. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1211-5.
  • Yael Danieli, Danny Brom, Joe SillsThe Trauma Of Terrorism: Sharing Knowledge and Shared Care, an International Handbook (See here)
  • A.J.WilsonSri Lankan Tamil nationalism (see here)

External links

Non affiliated sites

Pro Sri Lankan government sites

Pro LTTE sites

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