Releasing photos of LTTE leader Pirapaharan’s 12-year-old son Balachandran, who was captured by the occupying Sinhala military in the final hours of the genocidal onslaught on Vanni, the British Channel 4 television on Monday said that the photos, which had been taken before and after the brutal slaying of the boy, stemmed from the same camera within a period of two hours. Releasing the photos in a write up to The Independent, Callum Macrae, the director of “No Fire Zone: The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka,” said “this is proof, beyond reasonable doubt, of the execution of a child – not a battlefield death.” The news was titled “Handed a snack, and then executed: the last hours of the 12-year-old son of a Tamil Tiger”.
Apart from the documentary evidence released now by the Channel 4, a high ranking SL military commander, who escaped to West two years ago, had revealed already in the past that Balachandran was captured with five LTTE members and that he was killed together with them after being questioned on the whereabouts of LTTE leader.
Some excerpts from the legal deposition carried out in the USA with the ex SL commander follow:
Q: Do you have any suspicion as to whether Mr. Fonseka, or Mr. Rajapaksa, could have ordered the killings?
A: No, I don’t know.
Q: Do you know whether there was ever any investigation as to who the killer or killers were, with a look towards punishing them?
A: No.
Q: To your knowledge, has there been any investigation of who the perpetrators were?
A: No.
Q: Why do you think there has been no investigation?
A: I think this is because of this war situation, the Sri Lanka suffered a lot because of the LTTE.
What the government wanted was to completely kill terrorism from the country. Because of that they didn’t want to see any hardcore LTTE cadres, or anybody who has connections to Prabhakaran to be remaining.
Q: Do you know what was done with the bodies of the five bodyguards and Prabhakaran’s son?
A: Exactly, I don’t know, but normally they are burned.
Q: They are burned?
A: Exactly. I don’t know what happened, but normally the practice is that.
* * *
In the meantime, media reports also suggest that the photos and the documentary seek to increase pressure on the Indian government to support the US resolution on Sri Lanka in the Human Rights Council this March.
In 2009, the genocidal war on Vanni was conducted ‘without witnesses’ under the nose of satellites of the big powers who were monitoring the War Zone while their ministers were lying on the number of civilians in the so-called No Fire Zone.
The current interest being shown by the mainstream media in bringing out evidences of serious war crimes will not absolve them from the crime of silence committed by them during the war, diaspora Tamil circles said adding that the media run by corporates remained largely silent till the end of genocidal onslaught.
While leaking evidence one by one just to facilitate the machinations of the powers, the media continue to commit ‘criminal silence’ on the ongoing genocide that annihilates the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island, the diaspora circles further said.
External Links:
The Independent:
Handed a snack, and then executed: the last hours of the 12-year-old son of a Tamil Tiger
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