26 June 1998 is the International Day
against Torture - so declared by the General Assembly
of the United Nations. On 17 June 1998, Amnesty
International issued its annual report, covering events
in Sri Lanka during 1997. Amnesty
said:
"Torture and ill-treatment in
army and police custody were widespread...Methods
included near-suffocation with plastic bags filled
with petrol; beatings with wire and plastic pipes;
electric shocks; and suspension by the thumbs or
ankles... No prosecutions were initiated under the
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman
or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Act.."
However, Sri
Lanka's torture of Tamil prisoners in custody is not
something new. A quick tour of the record will
prove that during the past
twenty years and more, torture has been carried out in
a systematic, deliberate and sustained manner by the
Sri Lanka authorities. And, notwithstanding earnest
appeals by organisations such as Amnesty, 'business has
gone on, very much as usual'.
The systematic and planned use of
torture by Sri Lanka during these several years cannot
be explained away as the misdemeanours of a few 'bad
eggs' in the Sri Lanka security forces. Timothy J.
Moore from the International Commission of Jurists was
right
when he concluded in 1983 that in Sri Lanka,
it was 'the almost universal
practice of the military authorities to
physically assault and mistreat those persons who have
been in their custody'. And, over the ensuing
years, it is clear that practice has led to
perfection.
The proven record shows
that thousands of Tamil prisoners have been
tortured with burning cigarettes; by
insertion of chilli powder in the nostrils, mouth and
eyes and on the genitals; with red ants being
applied to sensitive parts of their bodies; by being
suspended upside down by the toes whilst their heads
were placed in a bag with suffocating fumes of burning
chillies; with prolonged beatings especially on
the soles of the feet while lying
stretched out on a bench or while hanging by the knees
from a pole; by having pins driven under
fingernails and toenails and in the heels; by
being deprived of food and sleep; by beatings on
the genitals and other parts of the body with sticks,
batons and sand-filled plastic pipes; by electric
shocks; by the insertion of iron rods in the anus; and
by mock or threatened executions.
The Amnesty File on Torture
in Sri Lanka in 1985 remains essential reading even
today, because the methods of torture identified
therein, continue to be used today, more than a decade
later. Amnesty
reported in 1992:
"Torture of detainees was common... .
Victims bodies were left in public places often in a
mutilated state. ..Detainees in the north-east were
systematically tortured. Victims were beaten,
stabbed, burned and scalded, partially buried or had
nails driven through the soles of their feet. Dozens
of people reportedly died as a result...."
Torture continued unabated in 1996 and
1997.
"Seevaratnam Rajanimala from Kilinochchi was
arrested in Colombo on 28 November 1996 and for two
days assaulted with a plastic pipe filled with
concrete.Two of her four children are detained with
her at the Welikada women prison. Her other two
children are held at a Salvation Army hostel in
Borella and her husband is detained at the Kalutara
prison. She has so far not been informed of the
reasons for her arrest... Jaffna student R
Pragalathan says in a fundamental rights application
that after his arrest at Bambalapitiya suburb on 7
January 1997 pins were inserted under his nails and
when he refused to sign a confession was brutally
assaulted... Another detainee Davis Aloysius arrested
in Trincomalee on 17 March 1997 says he was hung by
his legs and beaten with batons. His head was covered
with a plastic bag dipped in petrol..."(British
Refugee Council Publication, Sri Lanka Monitor, June,
July 1997)
Sri Lanka's 'culture of torture' has deep
roots. The resort to torture by the Sri Lanka security
forces is a logical extension of the methods used by
Sinhala political leaders (and their goon squads) to
stifle Tamil resistance from the Satyagraha days of non
violent resistance in 1956, 1958 and 1961.
In 1956, when Tamil Parliamentarians protested
against the enactment of the Sinhala Only law, they
were set upon in the precincts of Parliament
House, under the very nose of the Sinhala Prime
Minister of the country, and their ears bitten and
beaten up mercilessly.
"Thereafter on that day, 6 June, every Tamil man
was set upon and robbed. He was beaten up. His
fountain pen and wristlet were snatched away. He was
thrashed mercilessly, humiliated and sent home. ..
rowdies and hooligans were given a free hand to
assault, humiliate and rob any innocent Tamil walking
the roads on that day. That was the attitude taken up
by a Cabinet composed of Sinhalese Ministers...
These (hooligans) were instigated by some members of
Parliament... they were heading the gang of
hooligans. The Prime Minister made a remarkably
wonderful speech on that occasion. He came, he smiled
and he told the crowd, "Don't do that. Rain is coming
down. They will be cooled in no time." That was the
type of appeal he made. If Sinhalese men were being
thrashed by Tamils and their ears bitten, I wonder
whether the Prime Minister would have adopted the
same attitude." - Senator S.Nadesan Q.C., Sri
Lanka Senate Hansard 4 June 1958
That the Sinhala police have taken their cue
from the declared attitude of their own Prime Minister,
should not come as a matter for surprise. It would
have been surprising if they had not. Again, in 1961,
the Sri Lanka army, sent to Jaffna on the orders of
then Prime Minister, Mrs.Srimavo Bandaranaike, proceeded to beat up non
violent satyagrahis and thereafter vent their wrath
on the Tamil civilians of the Jaffna
peninsula:
" Why have the military on their own imposed a
curfew even in villages in respect a curfew had not
been declared? ...Why have the military been beating
and thrashing innocent passers by on the streets of
Jaffna? Why have some of them been helping themselves
to goods and articles in shops and asking the owners
to send the bills to the Federal Party leader? .. Why
have they set fire to fences and madams and put the
blame on the people? Are these acts of organised terrorism and lawlessness the
result of any orders given to the army to strike
terror into the inhabitants of Jaffna so that they
might give up their agitation for their language
rights? Today there is greater lawlessness in the
Northern and Eastern Provinces and particularly in
the Jaffna Peninsula than there has ever been at any
time in its recent history - lawlessness by the
guardians of the law..." - Senator.S. Nadesan
Q.C., Sri Lanka Senate Hansard, 2 May 1961
The Sri Lanka security forces were not engaged
in a frolic of their own. The harsh truth is that the
Sri Lanka security forces have at all times acted in
accordance with the perceived wishes of the Sinhala
dominated Sri Lanka government. Indeed, in 1981,
Sinhala Members of Parliament (belonging to the
ruling party) were unafraid to give open expression to
their views on torture:
"Since yesterday morning, we have heard in this
honourable House about the various types of
punishment that should be meted out to them (Tamil
Parliamentary leaders). The MP for Panadura (Dr
Neville Fernando) said there was a punishment during
the time of the Sinhalese kings, namely, two arecanut
posts are erected, the two posts are then drawn
toward each other with a rope, then tie each of the
feet of the offender to each post and then cut the
rope which result in the tearing apart the body.
These people also should be punished in the same
way.....some members suggested that they should be
put to death on the stake...; still other members
said that they should be stood at the Galle Face
Green and shot. The people of this country want and
the government is prepared to inflict these
punishments on these people." - Mr.
G.V.Punchinilame, Sinhala M.P. for Ratnapura in Sri
Lanka's Parliament, July 1981.
"Now, Sir... what should we do to this so called
leader of the Tamils? If I were given the power, I
would tie him to the nearest concrete post in this
building and horsewhip him till I raise him to his
wits. Thereafter let anybody do anything he likes -
throw him into the Beira (lake) or into the sea,
because he will be so mutilated that
I do not think there will be life in him.
That is war." -
Mr.D.M. Chandrapala, Sinhala M.P. for Kundasale
in Sri Lanka's Parliament, July 1981
To the ruling Sinhala party, torture was war.
And 14
years later, mutilated bodies of Tamils were found
floating not in the Beira lake, but in an another
lake near Colombo, the Bolgoda lake. Initially, the
international outcry forced the Government of Sri Lanka
to initiate prosecutions against its own elite
Special Task Force. But eventually, the court case was
allowed to collapse. The British
Refugee Council, Sri Lanka Monitor reported in March
1997:
"The case relating to the 1995 murder in custody
of 21 Tamils, whose (mutilated) bodies were found in
Bolgodaand
other lakes around Colombo, was struck off the court
roll by Colombo Chief Magistrate Munidasa Nanayakkara
on 13 March 1997 as neither the accused nor the
Attorney General's representative were present.
The 22 Special Task Force (STF) members
arrested in connection with the killings in September
1995 and released on bail three months later had
allegedly returned to active duty. ... Human
rights agencies say the manifest reluctance on the
part of the state's law enforcement authorities in
such an important case encourages impunity."
The 'manifest reluctance' of the Sri Lanka Attorney
General was clearly not unrelated to the wishes of the
Sri Lanka government and the views of the Sinhala
dominated legislature. The comments of Patricia Hyndman
in her Report to Lawasia Human Rights Committee in
1985, retain their validity 12 years later:
"Detainees often have been held in army camps,
incommunicado, without access to lawyers and
relatives, and in some cases have been tortured and
even killed whilst in custody...(In one case) it was
found, at a post mortem examination, that the
detainee had suffered twenty five external and ten
internal injuries which had been inflicted on him by
force. ...Government explanations that it is
impossible to find reliable evidence to identify
those responsible for such killings cannot be
accepted in the absence of a clear indication of a
serious public and impartial attempt to investigate
such events." - Patricia Hyndman -
Democracy in Peril, Report to Lawasia Human Rights
Committee, June 1985
On 24 May 1998, Amnesty
International urged Sri Lanka to use the
opportunity afforded by the UN General Assembly
declaration of 26 June as the International Day
against Torture, to officially recognise the suffering
of the thousands of victims of torture in Sri Lanka, by
issuing a clear condemnation, and announcing measures
to stop widespread torture and
ill-treatment.
Two inferences may be drawn by the refusal of
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her government to
condemn, without equivocation and unconditionally, the
criminal actions of the security forces under their
command and the refusal to diligently prosecute and
bring to justice the torturers.
One inference is that President Kumaratunga
fears that she will lose the support of her armed
forces if she condemns and brings to justice the
torturers, particularly since torture has become a 'way
of life' for the Sri Lanka security forces.
Another inference is that she and her
government, have themselves (implicitly or expressly)
authorised the actions of the Sri Lanka security forces
and can neither condemn nor punish that which they had
sanctioned.
On either view, President Kumaratunga's
refusal to clearly condemn and diligently prosecute,
exposes the complicity of her government - and sends a
message to the Sri Lanka security forces that they may
continue to torture Tamil prisoners with
impunity.
It is not surprising therefore that the Sri Lanka
security forces have continued to torture with impunity
whilst Amnesty International has continued to report.
It is not that Amnesty reports have not been helpful.
Information is necessary for the protection of human
rights. But information is not an end in itself. There
is a need for member states of the United Nations to
act as well.
Article 5 of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights declares:
"No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment"
Unlike some other human rights, the prohibition
against torture is absolute. It cannot be derogated
from - neither an emergency nor an armed conflict
sanctions the use of torture. Torture is an
instrument of terror directed to coerce a people to
the will of their ruler. And, a state
which resorts to torture on a systematic basis is a
terrorist state and should be categorised as
such.
Given the 20 year proven record of torture by
the Sri Lanka authorities,
the continued attempt by the US to paint Sri Lanka
as a 'multi party working democracy' appears more to
reflect US
strategic interests in the Indian region rather
than the harsh reality faced by the Tamil people under
alien Sinhala rule.
However, a 'principle centered' approach may
serve US strategic interests more effectively than any
attempt to deny freedom to the Tamil people and to
cover up the harsh brutality of Sinhala rule of the
Tamil homeland. After all, US support for the Shah
of Iran (directed, no doubt, to secure US strategic
interests in the Middle East) showed that, in the end,
it was not enough to simply pay lip service to human
rights.
The Shah of Iran tortured so that he may continue
his hold on power and perpetuate his oppressive rule of
the Iranian people. The Sri Lanka authorities torture
so that Sri Lanka may succeed in its efforts to conquer
the Tamil homeland and impose its alien rule on the
Tamil people - a Tamil people, who by their free vote
at the
General Elections in 1977 had given a clear mandate
for the establishment of an independent Tamil Eelam.
The short point that emerges from the 20 year
proven record of torture by the Sri Lanka
authorities is that Sri Lanka cannot impose its
rule on the Tamil homeland without recourse to terror.
If it could, it would have.
