February 22, 2013 | The Hindu
New photographs of a 12-year-old Balachandran
Prabakaran
in the apparent custody of Sri Lankan security personnel in the final days of
the war against the Tamil Tigers have caused widespread anguish and outrage,
and understandably so. Last year, when another photograph showing the body of
the LTTE chief Prabakaran’s son with visible bullet wounds on his chest
surfaced, Sri Lanka’s explanation that the boy died in crossfire seemed
plausible. But the photographs obtained by Channel 4 Television, in which Balachandran
is seen sitting inside a sandbagged military enclosure, suggest an entirely
different story of how the boy’s life ended, one that underscores other
allegations of war crimes against Sri Lanka. Colombo has dismissed the photographs as
“concocted lies, half-truths and speculations” intended to embarrass the
country at the forthcoming Human Rights Council session in Geneva. If that is
so, it is in Sri Lanka’s own interest to begin immediately an honest and
credible investigation to find out how Balachandran died, and make the findings
public. If the young boy was indeed in an army bunker, as the photographs
indicate, the chain of custody can easily be established and those responsible
for his eventual killing in cold blood must be identified and handed down
exemplary punishment. For its part, Channel 4 says that experts consulted by it
have established the three photographs were taken with the same camera. It has
also openly said that its reason for releasing the new evidence at this time,
and a documentary next month, is precisely to bring maximum international
pressure on Sri Lanka to make it accountable for civilian deaths in the final
weeks of the war in 2009.
It took three years for the Rajapaksa
government, which first spoke of “zero civilian casualties” to accept that some
civilians died, though how many and in what circumstances are still contentious
issues. It undertook to implement the recommendations, as advised by the 2012
HRC resolution, of its own Lessons
Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, but a “national action plan” towards this end
displayed on the government website gives no sign of progress. New Delhi, which
worked to tone down the language of last year’s resolution before casting its
vote for it, will need to chalk out a more well thought out response to the new
photographs than its initial reaction that their “authenticity” needs to be
established. Reactions from political parties in Tamil Nadu, and the State
government’s decision to cancel the July
Asian athletics meet
to avoid hosting Sri Lankan participants indicate that the issue is set to take
a toll on the traditionally good ties between people of both countries. Quickly
and confidently, before the situation deteriorates, India needs to chart a
course that can convince its own people and the international community that it
is on the side of what is right and just in this matter, while impressing on
Colombo that the issue will not fade away just by stout denial, as it seems to
hope.
