The N K Udalagama Commission, which inquired into seven cases of grave violation of human rights at the beginning of Eelam War IV, has accused  the Special Task Force (STF) of the Sri Lankan police in the case relating to the killing of six Tamil students at the Trincomalee beach on January 2, 2006.

In the case relating to the killing of 16 Tamils and 1 Muslim staff member of the French NGO Action Centre La Faim (ACF) at Mutur in Trincomalee district on  Aug 4, 2006, it blamed the LTTE.  On the killing of the students, all between 20 and 21, it said: “There are strong grounds to surmise the involvement of uniformed personnel in the commission of the crime.” 

The report, which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, does not explicitly say that the STF had killed the students, but the narration of events clearly indicates the STF’s hand, possibly in collusion with the other armed forces personnel stationed in the highly guarded area.

Eyewitnesses said that some in camouflage uniform came in a three-wheeler and had an altercation with the boys. Suddenly there was an explosion followed by gun fire. The men in camouflages then went towards the Trincomalee Fort, past a number of military checkpoints without let or hindrance. Condemning the killing the panel said: “If the killings had been part of a strategy of weakening the LTTE, it is ill-judged and depraved, and those responsible should have the courage to admit that they have erred and tender an apology which could be a catharsis for reconciliation.”

On the “execution style” killing of the 17 aid workers of the ACF, the needle of suspicion pointed at the LTTE, rather than the Lankan army or navy. The panel found that at the time of the day on August 4, 2006 when the killings took place, it was the LTTE which was present in the area and not the army.

“There was indisputable evidence of the LTTE’s presence in the area,” the panel said, and added that the LTTE could have done the killings to blame the army. PM Ranil Wickremasinghe said that only “local extremists and LTTE sympathisers” are against the UNHRC resolution calling for a domestic judicial mechanism to try war crimes cases.

(The New Indian Express)