INDICTMENT AGAINST SRI LANKA

Black July 1983: the Charge is Genocide

Who were the planners who were in a position
to direct and influence the police and the army
which functioned directly under President Jayawardene?...

Who, then were the planners who were in a position to direct and influence the police and the army which functioned directly under President Jayawardene: a police and an army which were led by officers hand picked by President Jayawardene during the six year period of his presidency which commenced in 1977?

It was a police force which was encouraged to violate human rights by a government, which on more than one occasion, promoted police officers and commended their conduct within hours of the Supreme Court finding that such officers had acted in breach of the fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

"..The President freely conceded that he had personally ordered the promotion of the two police officers (in June 1983), and the payment out of public funds of the damages and costs. This he said had been necessary to maintain police morale...at a time when he found the Supreme Court a hindrance to some of his policies. The conclusion is inescapable that he was deliberately seeking to teach the Judges a lesson in order to make them more pliable to the Executive's wishes..." (Paul Sieghart: Sri Lanka - A Mounting Tragedy of Errors - Report of a Mission to Sri Lanka in January 1984 on behalf of the International Commission of Jurists and its British Section, Justice, March 1984)

''The government when presented with evidence that the army or the police have committed atrocities against defenceless Tamils has usually reacted with a shrug of the shoulders. Sometimes, indeed, police misconduct has actually been rewarded. In two separate cases recently, the Supreme Court found that police officers had acted illegally. In both cases the officers concerned were both promoted after the judgment. The security forces have interpreted this as a license to do as they please with impunity, and President Jayawardene has not seemed eager to disabuse them. Early last month he introduced legislation to cremate or bury dead bodies if they think it necessary without any inquest or post mortem taking place.'' (London Times, 30 July 1983)

The planners were persons whose instructions would be obeyed by the police and army, and whose instructions, 'to look the other way', would not be countermanded by any one else. Because, if the instructions were countermanded, then the plan would fail. And, it was a contingent plan that depended heavily on the army and the police looking the other way.

...continued...