"It
would be pertinent to raise the question as to whether
pugnacious statements made by persons in high positions and the
expressed determination of the Government to continue with the
war, contributes towards the unleashing of brutality such as
rape and torture on unarmed Tamil civilians particularly Tamil
females. It would appear that some service personnel think that
if a Tamil is implicated even falsely with the LTTE any crime
can be committed against such Tamil person" said the Secretary
General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF),
Mr.Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, in a letter to President Chandrika
Bandaranaike Kumaratunge.
Mr.Sampanthan has sent this letter to the President regarding
the rape and torture of two Tamil females by Sri Lankan service
personnel at Uppukulam, Mannar.
The full text of the letter is given below:
"I wish to draw your attention to the facts contained in reports
that have appeared in Tamil newspapers pertaining to the rape
and torture of two Tamil females by the names of Mrs Sivamany
and Mrs. Vijikala Natunam arrested on 19th March at Uppukulam,
Mannar. It would appear that they were arrested by service
personnel and subsequently handed over to the Counter Subversive
Unit of the Police. The reports indicate that His Lordship
Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannar, met the two victims at the
Mannar Police Station, and that the victims have made a
disclosure of what happened to them to the Bishop.
"Briefly the relevant facts as stated in the said reports as
follows:
(1) Mrs Sivamany Archunan and Mrs Vijikala Natkunam were
arrested on the night of 19th March and were raped and tortured
by several service /police personnel from about 11 p.m. that
night till around 5 a.m. the next morning. They were stripped
naked and gang raped.
(2) Both were accused of being members of the LTTE. The reports
indicate that both females are married, and that the former was
the mother of three children. Even it they were members of the
LTTE which seems unlikely, there can be no justification
whatever, for their being raped and tortured.
(3) The conduct of the service/police personnel as it would
appear from the said reports can only be described as being
sadistic to the extreme, and utterly beastly.
(4) The victims were severely warned by the perpetrators of the
crimes, that they should not disclose what happened to them to
the Magistrate or any one else, and that they should not submit
themselves to any medical examination. They were warned of
serious consequences if the warning was not adhered. Later
reports indicate that have been medically examined subsequent to
the Bishop of Mannar meeting them. (5) The victims have
apparently confirmed to the Bishop of Mannar that they can
identify the persons who committed these crimes.
"It is imperative that an impartial investigation be conducted
and that the perpetrators of the crimes be brought before the
Law and adequately punished.
"The rape of Tamil females by service personnel has been a
continuing phenomenon, and in the past several months, there
have been several instances of rape by service personnel brought
to light both in the north and east. Investigations are seldom
conducted so as to collect the required evidence to launch a
prosecution against the offenders and secure a conviction. The
best illustration of this would be the "Sarathambal Rape Case
from Pungudutheivu, Jaffna, where despite the Criminal
Investigation Department being called in within 48 hours, proper
investigations were allowed to drift, until the offenders were
able to get away scot-free. Another common practice is to
falsely implicate persons against there is no evidence, to
facilitate the escape of the real offenders. This was sought to
be done in the "Bindunuwewa incident", and even senior members
of your Government had to raise their serious concern on behalf
of those so implicated.
"Yet another common practice is to transfer guilty personnel to
other distant areas, so that their identity with the crime gets
blurred and identification of the offender becomes more
difficult. It would appear that such a process is being set in
motion in respect of the crimes that constitute the subject
matter of my present complaint.
"It cannot be denied that even since 1994, the Krishanthy
Kumaraswamy case is the only instance related to a Tamil female
victim where service personnel who were such offenders have been
convicted.
"The fact that nothing has happened in several other such
instances emboldens service personnel to continue to commit such
crimes with a sense of impunity.
"It would also be pertinent to raise the question as to whether
pugnacious statements made by persons in high positions and the
expressed determination of the Government to continue with the
war, contributes towards the unleashing of such brutality on
unarmed Tamil civilians particularly Tamil females. It would
appear that some Service Personnel think that if a Tamil is
implicated even falsely with the LTTE any crime can be committed
against such Tamil person.
"This incident has not been reported by the mainstream English
media. I am almost certain that the Sinhala media would not have
reported the incident.
"Neither Your Excellency nor Your Foreign Minister have
acknowledged in the course of your recent visits to several
European countries, that serious human rights violation, such as
the instance, I have referred to above, continue even under your
Government. The fact that the position in respect of Human
Rights violations is somewhat better than under previous
Governments is of little solace to the Tamil people, as long as
serious Human rights violations continue.
"The fact that some Service Personnel behave better with the
Tamil people compared to earlier times, is of little relevance
as long as such serious violations continue by other service
personnel.
"The Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Emergency Regulations
are the instruments through which the Human Rights of unarmed
Tamil civilians is continuously subjected to gross abuse.
"The Tamil people surely entitled to ask that they be freed from
this agony without any further delay.
"I wish to keep Your Excellency informed, that I am circulating
copies of this letter to the important diplomatic missions in
Colombo"the letter concludes.
Mr.Sampanthan has sent copies of this letter to the Prime
Minister, Foreign Minister, Justice Minister, and Constitutional
Affairs Minister and over twenty diplomatic missions in Colombo.
