The New York Times ran an article drawing attention to the conflict in Sri Lanka and the adverse effect the current military strategy will have on the future of the country:
Ethnic Tamils who fled an earlier round of fighting three years ago, the refugees still live in uncertainty, surrounded by barbed wire, and their resentment against the majority-Sinhalese government has grown.
“If they won’t let us go back to our land, then cancel our citizenship and send us to another country,” said Chitharaval Somasundara, 55, who was once a farmer.
“For us Tamils, this is the way it is,” he said. “For Sinhalese this would not happen.”
Though it appears to be on the verge of crushing the insurgency on the battlefield, diplomats and other analysts say, the government’s military offensive may only be causing more resentment among the Tamils and sowing the seeds of future unrest.
Batticaloa, one of the first cities to be taken back from the rebels, is still in a state of instability with the armed forces still present and armed gangs carrying out intimidation and abductions.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay expressed her alarm in a statement on the 13th of March. She stated:
“Certain actions being undertaken by the Sri Lankan military and by the LTTE may constitute violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.” Pillay said. “We need to know more about what is going on, but we know enough to be sure that the situation is absolutely desperate. The world today is ever sensitive about such acts that could amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
OHCHR said a range of credible sources have indicated that more than 2,800 civilians may have been killed and more than 7,000 injured since 20 January, many of them inside the no-fire zones. The casualties are believed to include hundreds of children killed and more than a thousand injured.
A large number of civilians still remain trapped between the two groups in the Vanni region.
