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Another Sri Lankan ‘Killing Fields’ video shows captive kid executed

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Another Sri Lankan ‘Killing Fields’ video shows captive kid executed

The boy lying dead in the photograph (edited to reduce the gore) above is the same as the boy shown (below) in group of Tamils earlier held captive by the Sri Lankan troops
The boy lying dead in the photograph (edited to reduce the gore) above is the same as the boy shown (below) in group of Tamils earlier held captive by the Sri Lankan troops
R. Bhagwan Singh 

Chennai: Deccan Chronicle carried in its edition of Wednesday the picture of a Tamil boy amid a group of older men, held captive with hands tied behind, looking worried.

The visual was provided by the London-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF), with its spokesperson Suren Surendiran insisting that the Sri Lankan troops killed in cold blood several captive Tamils during the end phase of the Eelam war, including children.
“Not just LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran, but many other children were killed in similar fashion in captivity. This video nails the Sri Lankan government for serious war crimes”, Surendiran told DC.
“These evidence were sourced from the Sri Lanka Military and part of this was received from a member of the Sri Lankan Military Intelligence. What this shows is that the Government of Sri Lanka has access to various evidences within its own military establishment.
However they still deny that there were grave breaches of international human rights and humanitarian laws if proven could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity”, he said. “Some of these summarily executed persons were children and disabled persons according to these latest photographic and video evidence.
And it is the same military that committed such despicable cruelty and crimes against humanity that is currently stationed in the north and east where predominantly Tamils live”, the GTF spokesman said.
Another ‘Killing Fields’ video shows captive kid executed
A boy about 10 years old was among a group of Tamils held captive and executed by government troops during the final phase of the Eelam war in north Sri Lanka in May 2009, a video clip released on Thursday by the Lon­don-based Global Tamil Forum showed. The visuals of the boy looking scared in a group of equally worried older men, all of them with their hands tied behind, and his subsequent execution with his brain smashed to smit­hereens by a bullet in the head, has drawn all-round consternation here.
Deccan Chronicle carried Thursday morning the picture of the boy in captivity. The visuals of his gruesome death reached DC later and are printed now on these pages. The London-based Global Ta­mil Forum (GTF), which made available the visuals, has stepped up its campaign at the ongoing UN­HRC session in Geneva for an “independent international investigation” into the war crimes in the isl­and.
This latest eviden­ce too was sourced from the Sri Lankan military, said GTF spokesman Sur­en Surendiran, adding, “So­me of these summarily ex­e­cuted were children and disabled persons as seen in these latest photo and video evidence”. He reiterated the demand that “at least now” India should strengthen the current UNHRC resolution “to inc­l­ude such investigation and to implement any inte­rnational mechanisms to immediately protect the Tamils from these undisciplined military”.
“Many, including the Global Tamil Forum, hum­bly request chief minister Madam Jayalalitha to offer Chennai as an alternative to Colombo to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), which is due to take place in November 2013. We also request all the political parties in Tamil Nadu to support such an offer so that the Indian government can formalise it within the Commonwealth”, Mr Sur­en­diran said, stressing that the Rajapaksa regime “should not be given an opportunity by the international community to whitewash its war crimes by hosting the CHOGM”.
Well-known forensic expert Dr P. Chandra Sekaran, former director of state forensic department, said he had closely examined the picture of the boy — who he estimated was aged nine to eleven — shown alive in captivity and the one shown shot dead in another picture, were one and the same. Both had the same facial features, such as the nose structure and the tragus of the ears. “There is no doubt it’s the same boy. He was shot in the head, from behind”, said the expert.
“These terrible visuals further strengthen the demand for independent international investigation. Unfortunately, this vital demand is missing in the resolution now before the UN human rights council”, said Henri Tiphagne of People’s Wat­ch, Madurai-based rights organisation. He expre­ss­ed the hope that such visuals proving the war crimes in the Lankan strife would be able to increase the international pressure.
“There are many other similar pictures that have been verified by experts, which suggest that the Sri Lankan military executed prisoners. This is in abso­l­u­te violation of the Gen­eva Conventions. In particular, the execution of children violates international law”, said Ms Meen­akshi Ganguly, South Asia Director, Human Rights Watch.
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