Sri Lankan officials in the firing line
By Munza Mushtaq
COLOMBO - As Sri Lanka's security forces make massive inroads against the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a top United States constitutional
lawyer may prove to be an impediment against the military's accomplishments if
he triumphs in getting indictments against two of the island's very
high-profile military officials, both US citizens who are spearheading the
offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
If constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein, a former associate deputy attorney
general, is successful in what could be termed as anything but a mundane task,
Sri Lanka's controversial Defense
Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and army commander Sarath Fonseka will be the
first US citizens to be tried for genocide.
Fein has over the past few weeks been preparing a 1,000-page model indictment
against both US citizens for allegedly violating Section 1091 of the United
States Criminal Code.
The model indictment is scheduled for publication within two weeks and will be
presented to the US Congress, the Department of Justice and the State
Department.
The lawyer represents Tamils Against Genocide, a non-profit organization based
in the United States, whose mission is to obtain US or international
indictments against the two US citizens or green card holders currently serving
in the government of Sri Lanka for alleged complicity in genocide, crimes
against humanity, or war crimes, including torture and extrajudicial killings,
against Sri Lanka's civilian Tamil population.
The US criminal code punishes genocide, torture, or war crimes perpetrated by
United States nationals and non-nationals. Extra-judicial killings may also be
sanctioned in US courts under the Torture Victims Protection Act.
The move comes at a time when the government is mulling an end to the
three-decade long ethnic conflict with the LTTE, which has been fighting for a
separate homeland in Sri Lanka, which has a population of approximately 20
million.
The government security forces on Sunday captured Mullaitivu town, in Northern
province, dubbed as the LTTE's final bastion following a month-long battle. The
capture of Mullaitivu comes just days after security forces consolidated and
overthrew the rebels from Kilinochchi, which is the LTTE's headquarters.
Fonseka, in a special address telecasted live on national television, announced
that the Tigers were now confined to a 20-by-15 kilometer area, indirectly
saying an end to the ethnic strife was very close.
However, while the military onslaught showed no signs of slowing, Fein,
delivering a public lecture in the US, stressed that the situation in Sri Lanka
was actually not a war against ethnic groups but was in reality a systematic
genocide against Tamils by the Lankan government. He said global attention
needed to be shifted from the war onto the innocent lives which have fallen to
the guns of the Sri Lankan army.
Fein claims he had evidence that points to the systematic deprivation and
isolation of Tamil civilians.
He also presented statistical data which claimed to show the Sri Lankan army
responsible for at least 3,000 extra-judicial killings and the disappearance of
civilians between November 2005 to December 2008. "That is nearly three murders
and three disappearances every day," he said.
For its part, the Sri Lankan government has appointed commissions of inquiry,
but they are bogus panels, he charged.
As many as 189 military camps have come up in Tamil areas and no one could
wriggle even a finger there without the permission of the Sri Lankan military.
He also disclosed that he had with him thousands of documented evidence, which
showed that at least 1 million people had suffered in the form of starvation,
deprivation of medicine and displacement due to the ongoing war in Sri Lanka.
He noted that the situation had led to a countless number of civilians
suffering from psycho-social trauma.
While stressing that garnering support from US politicians for his cause would
likely be difficult, he expressed hope that the US media would stand by him.
He also urged the Tamil diaspora to unite and look for cracks within the
Rajapaksa government, which will help the case in prosecuting government
officials who were responsible for the alleged genocide against the Tamil
community in Sri Lanka.
Fein accused the Sri Lankan government of labeling the genocide as
counter-terrorism and getting international approval for it. "The model
indictment is an effort to make the US and the international community takes
notice of the genocide," he reportedly said.
Despite Fein's consistent accusations against the two high-profile officials,
Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, who functions as the secretary general of the
government Peace Secretariat and who is also the human-rights secretary, has
challenged the charges and also announced his willingness to engage in public
debate with Fein over the issue.
Sri Lanka's former foreign minister Mangala Samaraweera has also found fault
with the United States government and maintains that the US owes an explanation
to Sri Lankans for the undemocratic conduct of American citizen Rajapaksa.
Samaraweera, in a strongly worded statement, emphasized that the US, which
preaches the importance of democracy, media freedom and the rule of law to the
world, should be ashamed of Rajapaksa and his repeated threats on journalists.
The former minister, who serves in the island's 225-member legislature, noted
that Rajapaksa, being an American, cannot be permitted to use resources
belonging to the Sri Lankan state, including national television, to spread
hate and destroy democracy.
However, a senior Tamil politician had a contrasting opinion when he claimed
that despite the charges, in reality the Tamils were not facing a genocide
situation in the country and in particular the war-torn North and East
provinces.
V Anandasangaree, the leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front, reportedly
told civilians in the Northern province of Jaffna that the government was not
committing any acts of genocide against Tamils and all such charges were
"rubbish and made for petty gains".
Munza Mushtaq
is a freelance journalist based in Sri
Lanka.
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