Times Online:
More than 20,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final throes of the Sri Lankan civil war, most as a result of government shelling, an investigation by The Times has revealed.
"They think the children are poor peoples' sons and daughters," Sritharan said. "The ordinary soldier from the Sinhala south is also from a poor peasant family."
Massacre in the Sri Lanka 'safe zone' - Asia, World - The Independent
Evelyn Leopold: Sri Lanka: West Appalled by Bloodbath but Action ...
Obama Asks Tamil Tigers To Surrender, Sri Lanka To Mind Civilians
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I don't doubt that a large number of civilians have been killed, but it cannot be anywhere near 20000. Most of the people buried there are likely to be fighters. I don't agree with the government's assertion that not a single civilian has been killed by them, but I think the killings were collateral damage and certainly not deliberate.
The only thing this video proves conclusively was that the Tamil Tigers positioned their guns in the middle of the refugees to use them as a shield (or shrapnel sponges as some say) against retaliatory fire from government forces. The concerted campaign by the British media against their former colony (emphasis on former) was aptly described by a Sri Lankan minister as that of a "jilted old woman". The British have no moral high ground to dictate to Sri Lanka or to get involve in their domestic affairs considering what they have done to Iraq and Afghanistan for no justifiable reason, and how they are forcing the Pakistani army to kill its own civilians in the Swat valley.
Britain has hundreds of thousands of Tamils of Sri Lankan origin, and these people influence public and media policy in regards to Sri Lanka. The British media is angry at how Sri Lanka pays no respect to its former colonial master and does not allow it to have any say in the domestic affairs of the country.
The people of Sri Lanka have called their beautiful island the original "Garden of Eden" complete with an "Adam's Peak." For all we know, this enchanting place may well have been Eden, and its original inhabitants were Hindus.
When Ceylon became Sri Lanka, the Buddhists had grown to a majority of the population. That they had a fundamental disregard of the Tamil civilian populations welfare doesn't seem like a very "buddhist pacifistic" way to go about statescraft. But that deprivation of civil, educational and employment rights for Tamils is at the heart of the Tamil Tiger's revolt over the last 30 years. This massacre, therefore, does not come as a surprise.
I would have liked to see the Sinhalese (Buddhist) controlled government take more caution in their final battle with the insurgents rather than risk this kind of carnage. They have denied education, jobs, representation and full civic involvement to the tamil minority for many many years. Now they just slaughter them and be done with it.
Sri Lanka demonstrates the old story about young democracies: the majority takes advantage of the minority. The Sinhalese have felt endowed with inpunity to punish and even brutalize the minority population of Hindus (the Tamil speakers). Until that underlying problem is resolved, this latest battle in the Garden of Even will not have achieved any lasting peace.
Holly, the war in Sri Lanka is not religious, and this is acknowledged by both sides. While Buddhists and Hindus form the majority of the two ethnic groups respectively, Christians and Atheists are vociferous proponents of both causes. Reference to Tamils as Hindus and Sinhalese as Buddhists is misleading.
Sinhalese Buddhists (some of our ancestors are formerly Hindu Tamils, others from different parts of the world) have been the majority for thousands of years. They did not suddenly grow to be the majority during the British rule, particularly as they were subject to massacres and sustained harassment by the British imperialists with Tamil assistance, many of whom were brought over from Southern India. When the British left, they no longer had the privileged position as the favorite servant of the colonial masters. They could no longer control the civil service, universities, schools and the parliament. This is what they call discrimination, and their resistance to change naturally drew a bitter response from the ordinary Sinhalese who were subjugated by the Tamils during the British rule.
The disgusting Sri Lankan apologists are out in full force. There have been grave human rights violations and it's appalling they were let go without any anyalysis by the UN Human Rights group. I don't give a rats ass about The Tigers, let's have an investigation of abuses on both sides. There are hundereds of thousands civilians are kept in internment camps or AKA death camps, and most don't wink at these horrendeous conditions and cornered by barbed wires. There is hardly anybody commenting on issues relating to the Sri Lankan massacre, but when it Lebonan or anything else related to the Middle East, you can see hundreds of posts from supposed "progressives" whether they be black/white/hispanice/asian, and that is the most appaling of all. Whatever it OPEN UP Sri Lanka and let international observers in, and let's INVESTIGATE and come to an conclusion after that.
This news was buried in the U.S. I wonder why?
I have followed HP for nearly 2 years but by entrertaining the Times UK article you have got yourself into low life that you often accuses networks FOX and co of being guilty of.What exactly is your motivatve? to retaliate against the failed attempt (or humilation) at the UNHRC to bring a trumpted up war crime charges against the Sri Lankan govt? Look, this govt. not a clean one, then again the civil in which all communities in Sri Lanka lived through for nearly 3 decades was no ordinary one. Sri Lankan paid heavy price for its past 'misdeeds' and there is good chance with the defeat of LTTE , real relief and reconciliation that all communities can live by not based on cult and draconian cultural norms but on progressive values we all seems to embrace now. Yes, I think there has to be some review of the conduct by both the Govt. and LTTE. But this is not the way to go about it. Those of us who beleive wars doesn't provide answers but when it does you have to give its outcome a chance to reflect before making accusations of this magnitude. Atleast with right-wingers you knew what they stood for and there was consistency.
This is truly revolting and deeply saddening.
The U.S. should demand that the perpetrators of these human rights violations be held accountable under the Rule of Law.
Oh . . .
U.S. MILITARY DEATHS (IRAQ): 4,302
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED (IRAQ): 31,285
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS: 151,000
'EXCESS' IRAQI DEATHS: 655,000
U.S. TORTURE, RAPE, AND PRISONER ABUSE
(never mind).
Damn sad state of affairs.
Has our species evolved at all?
All accept for the religious of the species.
Don't fall for the Times' crap. It's just WMD all over again.
at the end of the day we are all just animals....
Before we get all worked up into a hate campaign against Sri Lanka let's review some of the pertinent facts behind who are the likely backers of the Tamil terrorists.
‘Tamil Eelam’ a Christian agenda?
http://www.sanghparivar.org/blog/rkm/is-tamil-eelam-a-christian-agenda
This is a pretty interesting article and thanks for the link Erdgeist. I’m not sure I agree with all the points laid out in the blog “Sangh Parivar,” but this I know as an undeniable fact ... quote "It is pertinent to note that Buddhists worship Hindu Gods and Goddesses and Hindus worship Buddha as an Avatar of Maha Vishnu, and both communities follow the same calendar and celebrate the same day as New Year." I.e. look up Katharagama - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kataragama .
In trying to explore a credible Christian-LTTE link, the involvement of American Missionaries in Jaffna (although not in any way conclusive) comes to mind - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Ceylon_Mission
And this gives Tamils the incentive to participate in Gov't. how?
I have never heard of this war until I saw MIA on Bill Maher. Even then it didn't register. Not until I saw the mass graves in the above pictures. I am stunned that our media never reported on this. And to name this group (Tamil Tigers) a terrorist organization is ridiculous. They are fighting for their independence in a small northern part of the country. Wow. Is that all it takes to be placed on that list?
Post lost I think
What exactly does this photo show? Two angled photos of low resolution. They show some mounds, which are of the same size anyway, so I don't know how he says some are mass graves! Also if there had been continual shelling for three weeks non-stop, as the British famously did to the Boers, Indians, Zulus etc. back in the days of Empire, where are the craters? I see a pristine beach.
There is actual UAV footage which shows the LTTE Tamil Terrorists shooting at civilians who were trying to flee them with TANKS, machine guns and mortars, but the Times doesn't care about that.
This is absolute rubbish by a terror supporting piece of junk newspaper whose sales are dropping faster and faster each day.
Interesting how they "reveal" this "evidence" AFTER Sri Lanka was victorious in fending off the western Tamil Terrorist backers at the UNHRC's "war crimes" calls.
Times has nothing better to do than spread outrageous lies about the government which destroyed the Tamil Terrorists, the inventors of the suicide bomb, simply because their organization has been infiltrated by Tamil Supremacists and because Times has taken money from the Tamil Terrorists.
After the scores of thousands of civilians we have killed largely from a bombing campaign against a population we chose to attack, in a nation we chose to invade, we don't have much space to talk about what has occurred in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka had an enemy army in their land. They are doing 'whatever it takes' to destroy their enemy. Collateral damage is unfortunate. Tamil Tigers were hiding behind women and children, (their families), using them as human shields. We must appreciate the risks and potential risks they were facing. If there is even a one per cent risk, we must react with decisive force.
Thank you George and Dick.
I don't think our government, we ourselves, have a thing to say about this that anyone should consider beyond the irony.
The British government has been shown to be utterly corrupt, charging the taxpayer for porn movies, the economy is in big trouble with the worst downturn in the whole of the G20, and this is what the Times wants to talk about, in a delusional attempt to reverse history and resurrect the Tamil Terrorists, all to the rapturous applause of Tamil supremacists whose comments are given blanket coverage on their website while opposing comments such as the ones I attempt to put on there which expose their lies, are completely censored.
In the colonial period they came to Sri Lanka and other mineral rich countries and raped the people and plundered everything the island had, now they sit there frustrated at the loss of their power, fabricate lies about a sovereign democracy and its successful war on terror (foreign created btw) and steal money from their own people.
Sri Lankan government should sue these jokers for slander and libel.
What exactly does this photo show? Two angled photos of low resolution. They show some mounds, which are of the same size anyway, so I don't know how he says some are mass graves! Also if there had been continual shelling for three weeks non-stop, as the British famously did to the Boers, Indians, Zulus etc. back in the days of Empire, where are the craters? I see a pristine beach.
There is actual UAV footage which shows the LTTE Tamil Terrorists shooting at civilians who were trying to flee them with TANKS, machine guns and mortars, but the Times does't care about that.
This is absolute rubbish by a terror supporing piece of junk newspaper whose sales are dropping faster and faster each day.
Interesting how they "reveal" this "evidence" AFTER Sri Lanka was victorious in fending off the western Tamil Terrorist backers at the UNHRC's "war crimes" calls.
Times has nothing better to do than spread outrageous lies about the government which destroyed the Tamil Terrorists, the inventors of the suicide bomb, simply because their organization has been infiltrated by Tamil Supremacists and because Times has taken money from the Tamil Terrorists.
20,000 killed? what a conveniently round number. "an investigation by the times has revealed"... hmm... what was the methodology of this investigation? the article mentions "sources" & "experts". who are these sources? how are we to evaluate the credibility or motivations of these anonymous people who are described by no other term than "sources"? and these "experts"... experts in what field? what is their accreditation? and the alleged "mass graves"... hmmm... singularly dug "mass graves" for each individual body... always heard that mass graves is when they just dumped everybody in a trench. wouldnt the same satellite that took the pictures of the "mass graves" also have taken pictures of the graves being dug, & the bodies being placed in them? may we see them please? (i live 3 blocks from a cemetary; hundreds of bodies buried there; i guess that makes it a mass grave.) too many holes in this report for the analytical mind, but its likely good enough for the easily convinced.
It's "MORE" than 20,000, not 20,000 exactly. But you keep splitting hairs, parsing words and padding your hat with tinfoil. I'll bet you think "they" use a lot of "convenient round numbers" in reports about the "alleged" holocaust.
yeah absolute rubbish, where are the bodies. People say "oh looking at the photos its shocking OMG OMG OMG" but the photos show nothing!
They are clutching at one straw - useless photographs - to try and destroy Sri Lanka.
Still can't accept that the Tamil supremacists' Tamil Terrorist group has been destroyed.
It's over you Tamil chauvinists - you fought a dirty war and the Sri Lankan govt, the Sinhalese Buddhists, defeated you with minimal blood spilled. A lesson for the western powers that a "smart" bomb causes more damage than an oldfashioned one.
Good for you! Putting those pesky Tamil civilians in their place for trying to "destroy Sri Lanka" by getting in the way of those nice missiles.
Keep writing Mahamaharaja. You are definitely winning over everyone to your cause. Sort of like Cheney.
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First Posted: 05-28-09 10:40 PM | Updated: 06-28-09 05:12 AM