The commander of the Sri Lankan Army’s 53 Division, which is accused of committing war crimes during the final stages of the armed conflict, denied all reports of human rights violations, in an interview with Daily FT.
Tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were massacred in the closing months of the fighting, as hospitals were shelled and the Sri Lankan government declared “No Fire Zone” was repeatedly attacked. Maj. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne though stated that he “strongly refute[s] these allegations”.
“No human rights abuses and no war crimes were committed by the SLA during the final battle. It was a war between the Army and the terrorists,” he said, insisting that his troops had carried out a humanitarian operation.
The major general said the use of drones – or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles – gave the Sri Lankan army the capability to specifically target locations to attack.
“We fully respected the meaning of this military operation and never fired at populated areas,” contrary to numerous reports that found civilian areas were repeatedly targeted.
He went on to state that troops under his command also did not execute LTTE leader Veluppillai Prabhakaran’s son, despite photographic evidence of the 12 year old boy in Sri Lankan military custody.
“I strongly deny this allegation and the Sri Lanka Army never captured him,” he insisted. “It’s a wrong allegation.”
Instead, the now retired major general sent a warning to the current Sri Lankan government on the latest developments in the Tamil North-East.
“We talk about reconciliation but listen to those who ask for land powers, devolution of powers, police and judicial powers and demand the removal of the Director of the Kilinochchi Hospital as he is a Sinhalese and to appoint a Tamil official,” he said.
“The Government should be alarmed by the latest developments, which disturb peace, taking place in the north.”
“If the situations are not handled properly, the LTTE can make a comeback,” he stated, before concluding, “I don’t think that the Tamil political leaders will be satisfied with judicial, land and police powers as the agenda of the Tamil National Alliance is Eelam and nothing else”.
See the full text of his interview here.