Army took precautions to avoid civilian casualties - Report

The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa had made some observations pertaining to the Army and allegations made by Channel 4. Thereafter in terms of Regulation 4 of the Courts of Inquiry Regulations 1952, the Commander of the Army convened a Court of Inquiry (C of I) investigate and submit a report on the said observations made by the LLRC.

The Court of Inquiry comprised Major General A.W.J.C. de Silva (President), General A.K.S. Perera (Member), Brigadier J.R. Kulatunga (Member), Brigadier W.R.P. de Silva (Member), Brigadier A.S. Wijewickrama (Member) and Lieutenant Colonel H.M.L.D. Herath (Secretary).

The Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya handed over the first part of the Court of Inquiry Report to the Secretary, Ministry of Defence, Gotabaya Rajapaksa at the Ministry of Defence recently.

The Court examined senior field commanders and infantry, armour, artillery, intelligence, civil affairs and medical officers who had participated in the Humanitarian Operation. From the evidence presented, the Court of Inquiry concluded that LTTE terrorists had violated international law with impunity by committing various unlawful acts inter alia, using civilians as human shields, placing artillery and other heavy weapons amidst civilian concentrations and illegal conscription of civilians, including children and old people, for combat purposes thus exposing them to danger.

Evidence before the Court has conclusively established that the Humanitarian Operation was conducted strictly in accordance with the 'Zero Civilian Casualty' directive made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and commanders at all times obeyed the said directive and even when the LTTE terrorists had fired from No Fire Zones (NFZs), commanders refrained from firing at such NFZs.

It has also been revealed that as an additional measure of safety, artillery commanders had added 500 metres more to the boundaries of NFZs given by Army headquarters.

During the Court of Inquiry it transpired that LTTE terrorists had placed artillery and other heavy weapons amidst civilian concentrations and from such locations they repeatedly fired at Sri Lankan Army positions. However despite heavy bombardments by LTTE terrorists, Sri Lankan Army troops had refrained from firing heavy weapons and this self-imposed moratorium had caused heavy casualties to troops. Evidence revealed that at all stages of the Humanitarian Operation, the Sri Lanka Army behaved as a well-disciplined military force observing International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and the law of war and they took all precautions to avoid civilian casualties and all those who came under the control of the Sri Lanka Army, including surrendered and captured LTTE cadres, were treated humanely observing the IHL to the letter.

On the contrary, shocking details of war crimes committed by LTTE terrorists such as using of civilians as human shields, summary executions of civilians who attempted to escape to army lines, forced conscription of children for combat purposes, were revealed at the inquiry. The Court noted that the international community had failed in their duty to stop the war crimes committed by the LTTE terrorists.

From the testimony presented, the C of I concluded that the instances of shelling referred to in the LLRC Report were not caused by the Sri Lanka Army and civilian casualties. They may have occurred due to unlawful acts by LTTE. These acts include firing at civilians fleeing to the safety of Army-held areas, falling of artillery shells fired by untrained LTTE gunners on to civilian concentrations, deployment of sub-standard artillery shells obtained from illegal sources by the LTTE, forced conscription of civilians including children and old people by the LTTE for combat purposes, thus exposing them to danger.

In his concluding remarks the Commander of the Army had stated that in any war, even those fought by western powers using State-of-the-art hi-tech equipment, civilian casualties are inevitable due to the vagaries of war and although the evidence presented before the Court of Inquiry does not attach blame to any Sri Lankan Army member, if new evidence is presented by any person giving precise information on civilian casualties, such instances will be investigated further by giving such persons the opportunity to present their evidence.

The C of I will now proceed to investigate the second part of their mandate, the Channel 4 allegation on summary executions of captured LTTE terrorists.

(Courtesy: Army Media Unit)