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Touring the killing fields

A foreign delegation of military students pose with their families by a Sri Lankan military ‘victory’ monument in Puthukudiyiruppu, one of the heaviest shelled towns which saw thousands of Tamil deaths.

The Sri Lankan armed forces announced that it had taken a delegation of foreign military students and their families on a tour of the North-east, where they visited different army bases and were told by the military of how the region was recaptured.

The delegation of students visited Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, some of the sites of the massive final offensive launched by the Sri Lankan military. Tens of thousands of Tamils were killed during those final stages of the war, with hospitals repeatedly shelled, surrendering Tamils executed and reports of sexual violence committed by troops.

Not a single member of the Sri Lankan armed forces has been held accountable for the crimes committed, with Sri Lankan repeatedly stalling on moves for accountability.

Nevertheless, the military took the visitors “sight-seeing within the Jaffna Peninsula” and to a Sri Lankan “Victory” monument in Puthukudiyiruppu, the site of some of the most intense military shelling. Several such monuments have appeared across the North-East, with local Tamils complaining that such constructions serve to further Sinhala triumphalism.

The military also delivered a lecture to the delegation on the ‘Recapture of Kilinochchi & Reconciliation Process’.

The Sri Lankan military did not comment on which nations the student officers had come from, but confirmed that they were undertaking a course at the Sapugaskanda Defence Services Command and Staff College.

Despite almost 10 years passing since the end of the armed conflict, the deaths of tens of thousands of Tamils remain unaccounted for and the military continues to occupy large swathes of land across the North-East.

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