By Col. R. Hariharan
Sri Lanka Deputy Minister
Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, known as Karuna Amman in his earlier incarnation
as LTTE commander of Batticaloa, accused the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)
of rape and killings during its war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka between 1987
and 90.
Speaking in Parliament on November 4,
he said the IPKF had raped several Tamil women and also killed Tamils and
“there is evidence for that.”
Of course, as a parliament member
Karuna has every right to draw attention to human rights violations, though it
was made 26 years too late. In a democracy, human rights violations committed
by any person including the army, police or anyone including political parties
is totally unacceptable and cannot be condoned. They have to be inquired into.
Human rights watchdogs have been created for this purpose.
But I have a problem when Karuna
talks about human rights violations and killings. When he took over as
Special Commander of Batticaloa in 1990, LTTE cadres under his command
perpetrated some of the heinous killing of innocent civilians including women
and children. These included the massacre of 175 Muslims praying in Kattankudy
mosque and many other Muslims (some estimates say up to 300) including women
and children in Kattankudy and Eravur.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) report of
March 28, 2013 lists his other “achievements” in this period as LTTE leader:
“In June 1990, 400 to 600 police officers who had surrendered to LTTE forces,
many of whom may have been under Karuna’s control, were bound, gagged, and
beaten. The LTTE then executed the Sinhalese and Muslim police officers among
them. Karuna has admitted that the LTTE committed these killings in an
interview with the BBC, but claims he was not at the scene. Under the legal
principle of command responsibility, though, Karuna could still be criminally
liable for the massacre even if he was not physically present.
“In another case, in July 1990,
Karuna’s forces stopped a convoy of Muslims traveling in eastern Batticaloa
district and executed about 75 people, including women and children. In August
1990 Karuna’s forces killed more than 200 civilians in two incidents in
Batticaloa district,” it adds.
After Karuna broke off with the LTTE
in 2004, he worked in support of Sri Lanka Army. During this period, he and his
supporters have been accused of indulging in forced disappearances, recruitment
of children as cadres, intimidation, extortion and even killings.
In March 2013 when Karuna asked for
war crimes investigations for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA)’s alleged
links of with the LTTE, Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said
“his [Karuna’s] LTTE forces were implicated in some of Sri Lanka’s most
horrific abuses, so the government’s long-stalled war crimes investigations
might as well begin with him.”
President Rajapaksa had chosen to
ignore Karuna’s crimes for the support rendered by him and his cadres in aid of
the Sri Lanka forces during the Eelam War. So far Karuna has not even
apologized for his conduct during the LTTE days and thereafter, let alone
showing remorse for the crimes.
This is not the first time such
allegations against the IPKF have been aired. LTTE talked about them till its dying
days. During IPKF days even the then Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi had
spoken derisively of Indian People Killing Force; so did many other fringe
Tamil parties (of course AIADMK was an exception to this).
But the DMK leader never thought of
taking follow up action on the allegations during his nearly two decades of
association as a coalition partner with the Congress at the Centre. Even
Defence Secretary Gotabaya made a sly reference to IPKF’s alleged human rights
violations when India voted against Sri Lanka in UN Human Rights Commission
meeting. But he never went beyond this.
If Karuna had seriously wanted Sri
Lanka’s human rights record set right he should have cooperated in an inquiry
into the alleged killings and other crimes committed under his watch. Then his
call for inquiry into the IPKF’s alleged human rights violations would carry
conviction. But this has not happened. So why is Karuna raising this old issue
now? Is he contemplating some serious follow up on it?
No such thought seems to have crossed
Karuna’s mind. Karuna has been driven to political wilderness, marginalized by
Rajapaksa and ignored Tamils. With little or no influence either personally or
politically, his future looks bleak as he faces the parliamentary election next
year. He runs the risk of being totally sidelined in the run up to the
elections unless President Rajapaksa lends a helping hand.
So he is probably trying to
ingratiate himself with President Rajapaksa by raising “vote-catching”
issues in the coming elections. He probably wants to deflect the attention from
the UN inquiry into Sri Lanka’s alleged war crimes by raising the IPKF
atrocities issue. Similarly Karuna has used the issue of President Premadasa
(of the UNP) arming the LTTE to settle scores with the UNP which had sought
action against him for involvement in crimes during his LTTE days.
In his speech Karnua has also accused
Northeastern Province Chief Minister Wigneswaran of working against Sri Lanka
by supporting the UN probe into alleged Sri Lanka army war crimes in 2009. TNA
has become bête noire of Mahinda Rajapaksa and any attack on them by a Tamil
politician would be welcomed by him.
So Karuna’s parliamentary speech is
not merely about IPKF only. Allegations against the IPKF indirectly whip
ups the hardy perennial of Sri Lanka politics – India-baiting – which comes to
the fore during the run up to the elections. So Karuna’s purpose of the whole
exercise appears to be limited to shoring up his own dwindling political
fortunes and nothing more. It deserves to be ignored by Indian public
because Karuna has little say in the scheme of things of Rajapaksa or Tamils.
As regards Karuna’s allegations
against the IPKF one may say wars always lead to human rights violations,
though it does not lessen the seriousness of the allegations. But I feel,
neither India nor Sri Lanka paid the attention the issue deserved either
because human rights was not considered a big issue either politically or
militarily at that point of time.
Personally, I felt that at least in
two instances- Jaffna Teaching Hospital killings on October 27, 1987 (the day
our family friend Rajendra Doraisamy SLAS, former Secretary, Ministry of Local
Government, was also killed a few hundred yards from the hospital ) and the
Valvettiturai retaliatory operations on August 2, 3, and 4, 1989 – Indian army
should have done better than holding routine internal inquiries. But I am glad
Indian army is now serious about human rights violations and has a mechanism in
place to handle these issues.
[Col R Hariharan, retired
MI officer, served as the head of intelligence of the IPKF (1987-90). He is
associated with the Chennai Centre for China Studies and the South Asia
Analysis Group. E-mail: haridirect@gmail.com Blog: http://www.col.hariharan.info]
Courtesy:
South Asia Analysis Group Paper No 5819 dated November 10, 2014 http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/node/1651
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