By Shailendree Wickrama Adittya and Sandun Jayawardana

With allegations of gross human rights violations committed against Tamil civilians in the North and East by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) starting to re-emerge, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has chosen to either stay silent or become evasive on whether the allegations need to be investigated.

When questioned about an investigation into alleged atrocities committed by the IPKF during its time of operations in Sri Lanka (1987-1990), TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran said he does not wish to talk about the matter. He added that, requests for an investigation into crimes committed by the IPKF were a ‘diversion of attention’ from the crimes committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces. He said, “The Government must first look into matters” regarding missing persons and war crimes.

Leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), V. Anandasangaree, who recently joined with the TNA to contest the Northern Provincial Council election, was also questioned by The Nation. However, he said he “can’t contribute to a matter that happened 20 years ago,” adding that “those people are dead and gone,” and any crimes committed by the IPKF happened too long ago to be investigated. When asked if this implies any crimes committed by the Sri Lankan Government 20 years ago could also be left uninvestigated, Anandasangaree said he did not wish to comment further.

TNA Parliamentarian E. Saravanapavan said calling for an investigation into alleged IPKF atrocities was a ‘policy decision’ that could only be arrived at after a meeting of the TNA’s Central Committee. “However, this issue has never cropped up at these (Central Committee) meetings,” he said.

When queried as to why that was, and whether those who were victims of alleged IPKF atrocities did not deserve the same level of justice as those who were allegedly killed by the Sri Lanka Army, Saravanapavan said the IPKF had arrived in Sri Lanka “purely to support the Sri Lankan Government of the day.”

“The IPKF tarnished its own image. It came in as a peacekeeping force and did something totally opposite. But there was no question that all this was done while supporting the Sri Lankan Government. As such, the Sri Lankan Government should be very careful about leveling allegations at the IPKF,” he added.

Saravanapavan said the focus right now should be on the final days of the war due to the “gross human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan security forces”. “Perhaps the attitude of the international community would have been different if the Sri Lankan Government had not made false statements to the world regarding how many people were trapped in the so-called no-fire-zone. They initially said only 70,000 but over 300,000 people ended up in the camps. The final phase was very brutal with thousands killed,” he opined.

Last week, the Presidential Commission to Investigate Complaints Regarding Missing Persons, revealed it had received a complaint against the IPKF while visiting country’s North. However, the solitary complaint relates to a period outside the panel’s purview, which is from June 10, 1990 to May 19, 2009. Chairman of the Commission Maxwell Parakrama Paranagama told The Nation last week the Government may widen the scope of the purview through a new gazette, so that it will be able to cover the IPKF period.

COURTESY:THE NATION