A group calling itself the Mahason Battalion has sent threats to the registrars of Colombo courts and a number of human rights lawyers, saying anyone who represents ‘terrorists’ or ‘suspected terrorists’ in court will face death.

If someone in Sri Lanka says, “I will kill you," it should not be taken lightly. Many who have received such threats lie in their graves – and there are thousands. It is easy to make such threats, and it is also easy to carry them out.

Addressed “to those who represent the terrorists today,” the document delivered to the courts said, in part: “The innocent people of our motherland have been subject to the killing sprees of terrorists for over three decades … But there is no one today to speak for the human rights of these innocent people.

“However, we know that there are many traitors who voice their concerns for the human rights of the evil terrorists and those who assist them in carrying out these indiscriminate killings.”

It warned, “In the future, all those who represent the interests of the terrorists will be subject to the same fate that these terrorists mete out to our innocent people.”

“Mahasona” is a Sinhala word meaning “the ghost that brings death.” The majority of those charged under terrorism laws are Tamils suspected of belonging to or supporting the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

This type of threat was widely delivered, and carried out, in the 1980s, which became known as the “period of terror.”

Around 30,000 people disappeared during this time according to official estimates, most of them from the south.

At that time groups associated with the state acted under a variety of names to issue and execute death threats.

One well-known group at the time was the “Black Cats.”

Sri Lanka has experienced extremely sophisticated death-squad operations.

During the period of terror, a list of persons to be killed would be circulated to several groups operating in secrecy.

This meant that even if one group found a reason not to assassinate a person on the death list, another group operating independently would carry it out.

Once on the list, a person had little chance of escape.

The mushrooming of death squads meant there was little chance of identifying the assassins.

This virtually prevented investigations. “Unidentified persons” were always blamed for the killings.

Another sinister aspect of the situation was that, once a state agency got involved with death squads, criminal gangs imitated their methods, giving the appearance that their deeds were state-sponsored.

 Some carried out the instructions of those seeking personal revenge, some were used to abduct people for ransom, some simply injured or killed business competitors.

Another unique aspect of Sri Lanka’s experience with death squads and extrajudicial killings has been that large numbers of innocent persons have been killed in order to ensure that wanted persons did not escape.

For example, the usual estimate of members and associates belonging to the group called the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, or People's Liberation Front, in 1971 was around 2,000.

However, the number killed in a purge of this group is estimated at around 15,000 – 750 percent more than the estimated number of unwanted persons.

In the late 1980s this was exceeded when 30,000 people were forcibly “disappeared.” The deputy minister of defense who masterminded the operation later claimed that police officers acted excessively due to over enthusiasm.

A Dutch video journalist who reported on the killings in the late 1980s titled his presentation “Sri Lanka – MurderLand.”

There have been no estimates of the number of people killed in this manner in the north and the east in the last 30 years. But the south is now witnessing a return to the period of terror.

As for the north and east, it has always been a period of terror in which the forces of the state, the LTTE and others have made no secret of eliminating their opponents.

The following is an extract from the Final Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons in the Western, Southern and SabaragamuwaProvinces, made in September 2007.

It reminds us that Sri Lanka has done nothing to change its behavior regarding death squads.

“We are mindful that our recommendations should have relevance and be meaningful to citizens living in all parts of Sri Lanka. Priority must be given at all times to the avoidance of situations of disappearances arising.

“The security forces and the police are necessary adjuncts of a state. They are required for the protection of the state and the protection of the citizens of the state. The average citizen looks to them for protection.

“The tragedy of Sri Lanka lies in the distortion of relationships between the citizens and the security forces, including the police, which has resulted from the acts of both politicians and subversives.”

Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia.