The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice has released a series of witness stories from the final war zone in Sri Lanka during the past week, marking the run up to a vote on a resolution regarding Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council.

The stories have been released under the pseudonym "The Social Architects", who compose of a group of writers that have collected witness testimonies.

Extracts from the stories have been reproduced below. See all eight stories on their blog here.

Rasadurai’s story:

“They used phosphorous bombs in Udaiyarkaddu... It melted tarpaulins and the pieces fell onto the people below and burned them. It keeps burning once it gets on the skin. I saw one man badly burned by phosphorous lying on banana leaves.”

“They used a variety of types of cluster bombs. The main bomb explodes in the air and splits into many pieces. One kind of cluster bomb, used in Iranaipalai, produced colorful ribbons. Children were attracted and picked pieces up; as they handled the pieces they exploded.”

“The Army soldiers were throwing grenades into the bunkers and killing the people all night.”

“One soldier said in Sinhala, “The commander has given the order to kill everyone.” They ordered us to remove our upper clothes. Then we argued, “We are priests. These are children.”... They had black cloths tied around their faces and they were like animals ready to kill.”

“We walked on the road past burning vehicles with charred corpses under them. It was a scene like hell. The soldiers were laughing, saying, “We have killed Pirapakaran, Pottu Amman, and all the leaders, and now you are our slaves.””

“There were about fifty soldiers who had piled up about three hundred naked corpses. They had placed tube lights to show off all the bodies, and they were laughing and taking photos of them. It was like a celebration. “

“The first week of internment at Menik Farm we had no food or water and no toilet... We felt our lives were in danger there... They treated us like animals.”

Shamanthi's story:

“I don’t know if my husband was killed or if he is alive. This is why for two years I have refused to go to Canada where my father is living. Until I know more about my husband, I don’t want to go there. On Maveera Nal (Heroes Day), my daughter wished to light the lamp of her own accord. I didn’t stop her because she is used to this culture as a Tamil. She can follow our traditions. I should raise my children with good education, then they can decide for themselves. We will support the Tamil people.”

Kutty’s story:

“People put up shelters close to the hospital for safety because they believed the Army wouldn’t attack the hospital. “

"The Army announced that Matalan was a No Fire Zone... Then the Army started to shell the Matalan hospital and people who had constructed shelters around it. The Army used phosphorous bombs and cluster bombs. I was there when the bombs fell and I saw them. Phosphorous bombs produced smoke that would make breathing very difficult. Some bombs burned human bodies. We were surrounded by empty land so we could see what was happening around us. People were crying with the bodies of their relations because there was no place to take them. My uncle and his son died from this phosphorous. They were in a tent over a shallow bunker; the phosphorous split bodies into pieces.”

“On May 19, at around 3:00 in the morning, I could hear women’s voices a hundred meters away. The Army was in the place where there were injured LTTE women in tents. I heard the women screaming, “Leave me alone Sir! Let go of me Sir!” (“Vidungo Sir!”). Then I heard gunshots and after that I didn’t hear any sound coming from there.”

“The government fought with LTTE - that’s over – Kilinochchi belongs to Tamil people but the government is building Buddhist temples and settling Sinhalese people there. It is not fair. We have nothing to lose anymore. We have lost everything. “

“Now there is no freedom for Tamil people, and everything has become only loss.”

Read all the stories on the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice’s blog here.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced on Monday that India was ‘inclined’ to back the resolution on Sri Lanka being circulated at the UN Human Rights Council.

The Congress party came under strong pressure by parties and organisations from across India, especially from the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

“We are inclined to vote in favour of the resolution if the resolution will cover our objectives namely the achievement of a future for the Tamil community in Sri Lanka that is based on equality, dignity, justice and self respect," Singh said during a debate in Parliament.

armoured military vehicles, assault rifles, body armour, and “decoying countermeasure equipment and components", coming under the heading of "grenades, bombs, missiles countermeasures".

See the full data for arms exports licenses to Sri Lanka on CAAT online app here.


Kaye Stearman, spokesperson for Campaign Against Arms Trade, said,

“The Arab Spring has bought world attention to the repression practiced by governments against their own people.”

“"Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished" brings a similar focus on the brutality exercised by the government of Sri Lanka against opposing forces and thousands of helpless civilians trapped in the warzone. We need to ask why the UK government continues to licence arms for export to Sri Lanka, given their long and proven knowledge of the situation.”

“During the ceasefire, a wide variety of military equipment and weapons were exported to Sri Lanka, and, due to the extremely limited access of international observers to Sri Lanka, it is impossible to be certain how many of  those weapons were used subsequently against the civilian population when hostilities began to escalate again in 2006.”

"The army is disciplined, they did not abuse human rights during the war."

“I, as the Wanni Commander at that point of time, knew very well how we fought the war. Many of you witnessed it.”

“My personal view is that Western nations did not like us ending terrorism. The President did not cave in to pressures from the West to halt the war. He went ahead finishing it."

"Now, those elements are working collectively to bring disrepute to the Army and the country at large while being in Geneva. They make those allegations in order to overthrow this government because world powers and big countries never ever thought we, a tiny country like us, would be able to crush terrorism. "

"Those false allegations are levelled because most of them are not prepared to admit to defeating of terrorism from our soil."

From AFP (see full text here):

Sri Lanka's president Mahinda Rajapaksa began his second term vowing an economic miracle after decades of conflict, but the post-war boom is already fraying.

Sri Lankan economist and former central bank deputy governor W. A. Wijewardena believes the economy is in trouble despite an official 7.2 percent growth forecast for 2012.

He says the balance of payments problem will have a knock-on effect on Sri Lanka's ability to service its large commercially raised foreign debt, the value of the local currency and domestic prices.

The country needs to borrow heavily to finance the trade deficit and repay debt which could push the country into a vicious debt cycle, experts warn.

We've been pointing to the emergent crisis for some time. See our detailed analyses here:

Prices rise as Mahinda Economics unwinds (Feb 2012)

Mahinda Economics (Sep 2011)

Meanwhile, AFP's report adds:

The Centre for Policy Alternatives think-tank in Colombo says the government is likely to try to mask domestic economic problems with anti-Western rhetoric.

"The government has already organised anti-Western demonstrations to divert attention," said the think-tank's director Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu.

"But they won't be able to do it for long because people are feeling the pinch."

Sri Lanka will stop importing oil from Iran at the end of March, ahead of the US sanctions deadline of June 29, the island’s Sunday Times newspaper said.

Sri Lanka has depended almost entirely on Iran for its crude oil supplies, getting 93 percent from there.

Sri Lanka has started purchasing Saudi Arabian oil, and Iraq is offering to supply “substantial quantities” of fuel, the paper said.

The Times says Sri Lanka’s only refinery at Sapugaskanda is able to process only Iranian crude - though AFP says the refinery, built with Italian technology in 1968, can also handle Saudi light crude.

India has said it will continue to import oil from Iran, joining China in refusing to bow to intensifying US pressure not to do business with the Islamic republic.

What is India’s ambition in Sri Lanka?

According to the Sunday Times editorial today, “to carve out a powerful autonomous Northern Province which it can use as its base on Sri Lankan soil through its proxy - the Tamil National Alliance.”

Member states & Ban Ki Moon should endorse barring of Silva - HRW (23 Feb 2012)

Silva 'not appropriate' for UN body (23 Feb 2012)

Pressure piles on Ban over Silva appointment (19 Feb 2012)

Navi Pillay raises concerns over General Silva at UN (14 Feb 2012)

Human rights groups condemn Shavendra Silva's appointment to UN (28 Jan 2012)

"One village in Madhu area is infamous for prostitution because they have no male family members, no jobs and there is no other way of survival."

"The only way to feed their children is to sell their body."

"They say the reconciliation is a long process. It should go on. It should go on for these women to find out what exactly happen to their husbands, loved ones."

"Accountability is demonstrating to the world that we are human beings.”

"Once again, Channel 4 has brought to international attention important and disturbing evidence to support allegations of grave abuses in Sri Lanka."

“Since the end of the conflict, the international community has called for an independent, credible and thorough investigation into alleged war crimes on both sides of the conflict.  Channel 4’s documentaries reinforce the need for that investigation."
 
“I continue to believe that Sri Lanka, in accordance with its Government’s public statements, can achieve lasting peace and reconciliation.  But this requires a full and honest acknowledgement of the past and it requires processes, in which all parties take part, to ensure justice, reconciliation and political progress."
 
“That is why the UK will urge the UN Human Rights Council to pass a resolution next week which calls on Sri Lanka to take these steps and implement the recommendations of their own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.”

"It's a bit of a tricky one. All round us, we see atrocities taking place all over the world and in war a lot of unsavoury things happen on both sides. I personally think the political issues are best dealt with by the politicians and administrators."

"But that doesn't mean we should stick our heads in the sand. If the government feel there is cases to answer to a great enough extent that the England team shouldn't be touring somewhere then that is a call they need to make. Until that is the case, it would be wrong for us to focus on anything other than the cricket."

"You must be careful that if you are investigating anything, you investigate it very thoroughly because otherwise there's nothing worse than a little bit of knowledge.

“I think it’s something that you keep an eye out for when you see it in the news... But ultimately there are people that are paid to look into these things, and they’re mainly in the government. They need to do their job and we need to do ours. ”

"It is not enough for Sri Lanka's High Commissioner to Australia Admiral TSG Samarasinghe to claim Sri Lanka is conducting its own investigation into the later stage of the civil war.”

"It is becoming more widely recognised that claims claim that Sri Lanka makes about investigating its own war crimes are a farce.”

"It is time that the Gillard government backed calls from the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts, Amnesty International, the International Crisis Group and Human Rights Watch for war crimes to be properly addressed.”

"Australia should also support a resolution being put by the US to the UN Human Rights council this week calling for greater accountability. While the draft resolution falls short of calling for an independent war crimes investigation it represents a constructive step forward."

"The Australian Greens reiterate calls for Prime Minister Gillard to ask the Sri Lankan government to recall the Sri Lankan High Commissioner pending an independent international war crimes investigation for incidents detailed in a submission made by the International Commission of Jurists Australia to the government."

"If the Sri Lankan government is unwilling to do this, Admiral TSG Samarasinghe should be expelled."