The former head Sri Lanka's army and accused war criminal Sarath Fonseka labelled 12-year-old Balachandran Prabhakaran, who was murdered in May 2009, a “terrorist”, in a debate in parliament last Tuesday.
Balachandran Prabhakaran, who was the third child of LTTE leader Prabhakaran, was executed by the Sri Lankan military during the final days of the Mullivaikkal massacre. Aged just 12 years old, he was one of thousands of children killed by the Sri Lankan military. Leaked trophy photographs taken by Sri Lankan soldiers, show the child in their custody sitting with a snack in his hand, sitting on a bench surrounded by sandbags, in what looks like a fortified army position.
Sarath Fonseka claimed that the whole of LTTE leader Prabhakaran’s family were “terrorists" in response to a statement made by the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) on Tuesday.
The comments were made in the Parliament Chamber on the 6th October during a debate on the Finance Amendment Act.
“Prabhakaran was a terrorist leader clad in uniform and issuing orders to his men,” claimed Fonseka. “His wife was heading the supplies division, his older son was a Colonel in the terror outfit, his daughter was a female Major in the terror outfit and even his youngest son was a commanding officer of the LTTE baby brigade. Do not think that there were any innocent members in his family.”
SJB parliamentarian Fonseka went on to deny all military responsibility for the execution of the Tamil child, claiming that the leaked photographs were false.
“There was a photograph showing Prabhakaran’s younger son sitting inside a bunker,” he continued. “He had a sarong which was normally worn by Tamil people around him. We saw that picture too. But if our army found him, we would not allow him to be covered in a sarong. We would dress him in a trouser and shirt. Also, a man in a camouflage kit similar to that worn by members of the Indian Army was shown standing near him in the picture. Only the LTTE terrorists wore such uniforms. Therefore, I request you not to make such false allegations against the Sri Lankan Army.”
Leaked photographs of Balachandran in apparent Sri Lankan military custody. Subsequent photographs show the boy lying dead on the ground, with bullet wounds through his chest.
His comments were in response to MP Selvarajah Kajendran of the TNPF, who made a statement during the debate suggesting that the Sri Lankan Army killed Prabhakaran’s son, Balachandran Prabhakaran. Balachandran, who was born on the 1st of October 1996, would be 24 years old this month.
To this SLPP MP Major Sudharshana Denipitiya raised a point of order and requested to have the statement expunged from the Hansard.
SLFP MP Angajan Ramanathan claimed the statement was merely Gajendran’s opinion but that would be looked into by the speaker.
See more on Balachandran's exeuction from the 2013 No Fire Zone documentary below.
Trigger warning - Graphic footage and distressing images
