Sri Lankan govt, tigers accused of killings

Sri Lankan govt, tigers accused of killings

COLOMBO (Reuter): A Sri Lankan human rights group accused the government yesterday of covering up extra-judicial killings and abductions by the army in northern Jaffna, former stronghold of Tamil Tiger rebels.

The rights group, the University Teachers for Human Rights Jaffna, also accused Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels of carrying out assassinations of those promoting peace and rehabilitation in the peninsula.

"Though security forces showed a refreshing level of care in Jaffna, cases of human rights violations continue to be covered up and the government remains unaccountable for many of their actions," the group said in a report.

"Cases of unauthorized arrests, beatings, torture and killings by security forces continue and have become notably worse after Mullaitivu," said the report by the group.

It was referring to the army's worst debacle in its 13-year ethnic war with the rebels when the LTTE either killed or captured 1,400 soldiers in a remote camp in Mullaitivu in July.

A military spokesman declined to comment, saying: "We don't want to comment just because someone is making allegations."

The report came less than one week after the government approved a plan to allow Sri Lankans to appeal directly to a United Nations committee if they had any complaints of rights violations.

The cabinet approved a plan to ratify the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that would allow appeals to the United Nations's Human Rights Committee.

Predominantly Sinhalese government forces seized the Jaffna peninsula, 320 km (200 miles) north of Colombo, in April after a series of major offensives against the rebels.

The Tigers, who are fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east, had ruled Jaffna as a mini-state for almost a decade with their own administration, courts and police.

"(Since July) there has been an institutionalization of torture to a point where people see it as part of policy rather than as an isolated misdemeanor," the report said. "The ease with which people could go missing is alarming."

The rights group, which issues regular reports on human rights issues, also said the LTTE continues to use civilians as cover to attack government troops in Jaffna.

"The LTTE remains determined to block any attempt at peace or rebuilding, focusing their efforts on selective assassinations," it said.

The LTTE was not immediately available for comment.

The human rights group said the government should be more accountable, open and admit mistakes.

London-based human rights group Amnesty International last month accused the Sri Lankan government of turning a blind eye to widespread violations, including extra-judicial executions, disappearances and torture.

An Amnesty report said the government was trying to justify such violations in the context of the ethnic war in which Colombo says more than 50,000 people have been killed.

Colombo reacted angrily to the Amnesty charges, saying it was unhappy with "highly colored language" in the report.

The Indian Ocean nation has tried to improve its human rights image after a government crackdown on a left-wing insurgency in the late 1980s left more than 60,000 people dead or missing.