Frances Harrison, BBC correspondent in Colombo reported on 28
October 2003:
An official inquiry team in Sri Lanka has
concluded that the police and armed forces are institutionally
racist towards Tamils. The team was asked to investigate nearly 300
disappearances in the northern town of Jaffna - most of them Tamils
who were taken into custody by the military.
Their report
is a damning indictment of Sri Lanka's human rights record during
the ethnic conflict.
The inquiry team was asked to
investigate the cases of roughly 250 Tamils who disappeared in
Jaffna, allegedly while in the custody of the Sri Lankan army. But
the team complained of indifference and a lack of co-operation from
the military authorities. They said they were effectively denied
access to many serving army officers, whose evidence would have been
critical.
A list of 37 suspects, including names, dates and
locations, was given to the military authorities - but they failed
to identify a single person. Only two serving army officers were
interviewed, but the team's report said these men remembered
virtually nothing, despite being directly implicated in many of the
complaints of disappearance.
Although the finger of blame
was pointed at the military, the report also said the police were
complicit in attempts to cover up the disappearances.
The
inquiry team said it appeared that thousands of innocent people
could be arrested, tortured, raped and killed and have their bodies
disposed of, without any record being kept.
Twenty-five
cases of Muslims who disappeared in Jaffna were also investigated.
The team said that the Tamil Tiger rebels were guilty of targeting
Muslim leaders and had failed to respond to their requests for
information.
Overall, the team said their work was painful
and depressing, and nothing could immunise them from sharing the
trauma of each new witness they heard.
