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Lankan bloodbath

FIRST EDIT
Last Updated 11 May 2009, 19:17 IST

The situation of Tamil civilians in the combat zone in Sri Lanka is going from bad to worse. Over the weekend some 350 civilians were killed and around a 1,000 injured in relentless shelling by the Sri Lankan armed forces. Around a hundred children were among the victims. And these are conservative estimates. The pro-LTTE website, Tamilnet, has put the number of dead at 3,200. What makes the latest incident all the more condemnable is that the Sri Lankan government had promised the international community only a fortnight ago to refrain from carrying out air strikes or using heavy weaponry in civilian-populated areas. Colombo has, of course, deLnied having shelled civilians. But government officials and doctors working in hospitals in the area have confirmed the shelling and the spiralling death toll. The Sri Lankan government may be anxious to flush out the LTTE’s top leaders believed to be hiding among civilians, but its utter disregard for civilian lives, even as it presses into the small sliver of territory still in Tiger control, is simply unacceptable. It has the Tigers surrounded. It has to adopt a policy of advancing cautiously instead of racing in all guns blazing and taking a huge toll of innocent people.

The UN has described the situation of civilians in northern Sri Lanka as catastrophic and human rights groups are calling for the trial of military commanders for war crimes. If civilians in the combat zone are dying in droves, the fate of those who have managed to escape to government controlled areas is no better. There is a severe shortage of food, medicines and water in the resettlement camps. Besides, those who enter these camps cannot come out. Activists are saying these are in effect internment camps.

The Sri Lankan government seems to be of the view that it cannot slow the pace of the military operations at this juncture. Hence, it has turned down demands for a ceasefire from foreign governments. It must realise that if governments and aid groups are pushing for a ceasefire, this is because of mounting concern over the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the island. Simply defeating the LTTE militarily is not going to end the conflict. A political settlement is essential for the decades-long conflict to end. Besides, the government will have to reach out to the alienated Tamil community. That task is already gigantic. It will be rendered impossible if the bloodbaths such as the one over the weekend continue.

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(Published 11 May 2009, 18:25 IST)

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