<p>A TV channel in Britain has released riveting pictures of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran, which indicates the boy was shot dead by the Sri Lankan Army in May 2009. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The disclosure by Channel 4 has triggered brouhaha over the alleged brutality, with many pro-Tamil groups condemning the killing. <br /><br />The pictures showed Balachandran in a military bunker. According to the channel, the snaps, taken “hours before the boy’s death during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war in May 2009,” will feature in a sequel to a 2012 documentary film that “showed Balachandran lying dead on the ground with five gunshot wounds on his chest.”<br /><br />The pictures, published on Tuesday in a national daily, portrays a definitive sense of innocence, hope and expectation in Balachandran, hours before he fell prey to the Lankan army. The article titled “Killing of a Young Boy” by Callum Macrae in “The Hindu” quoted the director of the documentary saying that “the three pictures of Prabahakaran’s son were taken by the same camera and indicate he was killed in custody.”<br /><br />If anything, the pictures seem to reinforce allegations of sudden disappearances, summary executions and killing of innocent civilians by the Sri Lankan Army during the final stages of the civil war, raising the spectre of “war crimes” against the Mahinda Rajapakse government.<br /><br />The Sri Lankan government strongly denied such killings and termed the expose as a ploy to “discredit” the army ahead of a UNHRC meeting in Geneva. The Rajapakse government had claimed that Prabhakaran’s family was killed during the fighting. Previous exposes by Channel 4 had also been rejected by Sri Lanka as “fake.” Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G L Peris recently said there was “no consistency whatsoever and commitment to principle on the part of the UN Human Rights Council” in adverting to the US resolution passed against Sri Lanka last year. <br /><br />Rajapakse’s recent visit to both Bodh Gaya in Bihar and the Sri Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati had triggered widespread protests by political parties in Tamil Nadu. “Why was he visiting a temple here when his government was razing temples in Tamil areas in Sri Lanka,” they had questioned.<br /><br />Almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu—DMK, MDMK, PMK and VCK— denounced the Rajapakse regime. <br /><br />“This is yet another proof that Rajapakse is guilty of war crimes and should be made to stand before the International Court of Law,” said DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan in a statement here.</p>
<p>A TV channel in Britain has released riveting pictures of slain LTTE chief Prabhakaran’s 12-year-old son Balachandran, which indicates the boy was shot dead by the Sri Lankan Army in May 2009. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The disclosure by Channel 4 has triggered brouhaha over the alleged brutality, with many pro-Tamil groups condemning the killing. <br /><br />The pictures showed Balachandran in a military bunker. According to the channel, the snaps, taken “hours before the boy’s death during the closing stages of the Sri Lankan civil war in May 2009,” will feature in a sequel to a 2012 documentary film that “showed Balachandran lying dead on the ground with five gunshot wounds on his chest.”<br /><br />The pictures, published on Tuesday in a national daily, portrays a definitive sense of innocence, hope and expectation in Balachandran, hours before he fell prey to the Lankan army. The article titled “Killing of a Young Boy” by Callum Macrae in “The Hindu” quoted the director of the documentary saying that “the three pictures of Prabahakaran’s son were taken by the same camera and indicate he was killed in custody.”<br /><br />If anything, the pictures seem to reinforce allegations of sudden disappearances, summary executions and killing of innocent civilians by the Sri Lankan Army during the final stages of the civil war, raising the spectre of “war crimes” against the Mahinda Rajapakse government.<br /><br />The Sri Lankan government strongly denied such killings and termed the expose as a ploy to “discredit” the army ahead of a UNHRC meeting in Geneva. The Rajapakse government had claimed that Prabhakaran’s family was killed during the fighting. Previous exposes by Channel 4 had also been rejected by Sri Lanka as “fake.” Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister G L Peris recently said there was “no consistency whatsoever and commitment to principle on the part of the UN Human Rights Council” in adverting to the US resolution passed against Sri Lanka last year. <br /><br />Rajapakse’s recent visit to both Bodh Gaya in Bihar and the Sri Venkateshwara temple in Tirupati had triggered widespread protests by political parties in Tamil Nadu. “Why was he visiting a temple here when his government was razing temples in Tamil areas in Sri Lanka,” they had questioned.<br /><br />Almost all political parties in Tamil Nadu—DMK, MDMK, PMK and VCK— denounced the Rajapakse regime. <br /><br />“This is yet another proof that Rajapakse is guilty of war crimes and should be made to stand before the International Court of Law,” said DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan in a statement here.</p>
