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Final days in Vanni:
LTTE killed 600 Tamils like stray dogs - Ex TNA MP
K T Rajasingham
Former TNA member of Parliament S Kanagaratnam who was held as a
human shield by the LTTE during the hostility campaign said not a single
civilian was killed by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces.
His revelation exposes the revengeful mentality, vindictive nature of
the UN Secretary General and the flawed and distorted version of the
controversial Darusmon report with vested western interests.
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S
Kanagaratnam |
Part four of this article was published on April 26
Given below excerpts of the interview Asian
Tribune had with the former TNA Member of Parliament:
Asian Tribune: Can you tell us how many people who were fleeing were
shot and killed? We asked you this question earlier also.
S. Kanagaratnam: Unable to give an exact figure, but many hundreds
would have been killed.
Asian Tribune: Is it possible to give us a rough figure of civilians
shot and killed by the LTTE gunmen?
S. Kanagaratnam: Indeed many hundreds were killed, but at present I
am unable to give you an exact figure, as I have lost all my documents
when I left Mullivaikkal to the government controlled area. Innocent
Tamils were shot and killed indiscriminately by the LTTE gunmen from
Puthumatthalan up to Mullivailkkal. This kept on going for several
months.
Asian Tribune: Is it OK, if we say that nearly 250 to 300 Tamils were
killed by the gun wielding Tamil Tigers?
S. Kanagaratnam: It is more than that amount. It can be nearly 500 to
600.
Asian Tribune: So you mean to say that about six hundred civilians
have been shot and killed by the LTTE in the last days of the battle
with the Sri Lanka government?
S. Kanagaratnam: Yes, it can be little more. When civilians were
trying to escape and flee to the government controlled area, they were
spotted and mercilessly killed. I have visited the places where
civilians' dead bodies were littered around and initiated investigation
to find out whether those dead were killed by the Sri Lankan Army. But
to my disgust and regret, I was told that every time LTTE gunmen shot
and killed innocent civilians like stray dogs. The demented Tiger gunmen
simply sprayed bullets on civilians with their lethal weapons and the
civilians used to drop death for no fault of their own.
This was done on the orders of the LTTE leader to prevent civilians
from leaving to the government controlled areas.
I also often visited the Puthumaththalan hospital and most of those
civilians who were killed by the Tigers were brought to this hospital. I
used to meet the people who brought these dead bodies and inquired from
them. They have always told me that the dead ones were killed by the
LTTE gunmen.
Asian Tribune: Why no one has approached you for your statement of
the final days of the war with the LTTE? At that time you were an
elected MP? Am I right?
S. Kanagaratnam: Yes. I was an MP at that time. Later when I was
taken to the Fourth floor, the CID officers recorded my statement, but I
don't know what happened to that statement.
Asian Tribune: That means you made a statement, unfortunately the
Police intelligent officers who questioned you and recorded your
statement have failed to comprehend the importance of your statement?
S. Kanagaratnam: When I was at the Fourth Floor, they also had
doctors who worked in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu districts - T
Satyamurthy, V Shanmugarajah, T Vardharajah, Ilanchelian Vallavan and N
Ketheesh and they took up their statements as important and must have
thought to ignore my statement.
Asian Tribune: What about the LLRC? Did they contact you? Why you did
not contact them to narrate your version?
S. Kanagaratnam: They should have contacted me. They should have
known that I was the elected Member of Parliament who was with my people
till end of the bloody conflict. For reasons not known to me, they did
not invite me to hear my version. I too was not happy to be present
before them without being invited to give the miseries encountered by my
people - the tale of deaths, the tale of woe and the harrowing episode
of more than three hundred thousand people in the 'land of grave' in
Vanni under the control of Prabhakaran.
From Mullaitivu, I was taken to Omantai and there also I made a
statement and from there I was taken to the welfare centre - Zone 4,
Chettikulam.
At Chettikulam, Police CIDs came and arrested me and brought me to
the regional Police headquarters in Vavuniya. There they recorded my
statement and took me on the same day to Colombo to the 4th floor.
At the 4th floor I was questioned and my statement was recorded.
Three months after my detention in the 4th Floor, I came to know that my
eldest son Aathithan too has been arrested and kept in the 4th floor as
an LTTE suspect.
I have already said that after the mysterious death of my brother
Chellakili at the hands of Prabhakaran, we did not support the LTTE, but
in 1995 my eldest son was forcefully recruited.
I have appealed to Balarajh several times to free my son; he
adamantly refused to release him.
Asian Tribune: Tell us when you were released from the Police
custody?
S. Kanagaratnam: I was released on the night of January 13, 2010.
From Colombo I was taken by the Police to the Vavuniya Magistrate.
The Vavuniya Magistrate Alex Raja ordered my release. One of the
charges against me was,"refusing government's order to leave the LTTE
controlled areas and staying in the region during the height of the
war." I was not charged yet, but the Magistrate ordered me to surrender
my passport to the courts. And I was released on conditions.
Concluded
Courtesy: Asian Tribune
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