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Details include names of those who have disappeared, as well as the dates and locations of the crimes. The reports were compiled by dedicated non-governmental organizations that have nothing to gain by denigrating the government of Sri Lanka.
The government, on the other hand, has stated on several occasions that these reports and the very crimes they describe are being perpetrated by people whose sole intention is to destroy the "good name" of Sri Lanka. The thought that hundreds of people have been killed or disappeared for the sole purpose of tarnishing the name of the country is as puerile as the so-called attempts by the Rajapakse government to put a halt to them.
Ever conscious of the fact that the entire world is watching Sri Lanka's ongoing human rights crisis, President Mahinda Rajapakse and his government are making comments and promises they do not appear to be either willing or capable of keeping.
In the first week of June this year, the bodies of two Red Cross workers were found in Kiriella, Ratnapura, one day after they had been abducted from Colombo's central railway station by people claiming to be plainclothes police officers. The two young men were returning home after attending a training course. Red Cross officials, suspicious of the two "police officers," immediately contacted the police and the inspector general of police. However, no action whatsoever was taken to locate these men.
It was, to all intents and purposes, just another abduction and killing. Unfortunately for the Rajapakse government, the international community had had enough of such senseless killings, and an international outcry was raised and is, in fact, still being heard. The Red Cross vociferously demanded action, and it was then that President Rajapakse spoke before considering the consequences of his words -- unfortunately, something he has been doing consistently.
In an article published in a local newspaper, Rajapakse assured representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who met with him at his official residence, that he was giving the Sri Lankan police seven days to find the perpetrators after which he would call in "foreign sleuths" to assist.
It has now been six months since the president was reported to have made that pledge, and no perpetrators have been arrested. Furthermore, there is no sign of the "foreign sleuths."
Another incident occurred in which the president spoke without due consideration for the facts. On June 7, not even a week after the murder of the two Red Cross workers, the inspector general of police, with elements of the military, forcibly evicted hundreds of Tamils from Colombo. The eviction itself has been well reported, and there is no need to go into the dreadful details here. Once again, however, there was an international outcry, and once again, Rajapakse thought to still the angry voices by announcing that those responsible for the eviction would be brought to justice.
It is now documented and public knowledge that the inspector general of police was acting on instructions from the secretary of defense, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the president's own brother. This revelation was made public, and yet no action has been taken, as promised, by President Rajapakse.
It is now time for the president to put his money where his mouth is. He must do this not only by bringing in "foreign sleuths" but by allowing an impartial and open investigation into the human rights abuses taking place in Sri Lanka.
Likewise, even at this late stage, as the president himself has promised, action must be taken against the secretary of defense for the debacle of the eviction of the Tamils, an action that has been repeated in the past week with the arrest and detention of Tamils in the South. And most important of all, he should take action to halt the ongoing extrajudicial killings and disappearances in the country.
It is sad that the name of Sri Lanka has been severely tarnished both nationally and internationally by the president's own action and inaction. The very idea that President Rajapakse or any member of his government might actually keep their word is something that is greeted with a smile, once again, locally and internationally.
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(Basil Fernando is director of the Asian Human Rights Commission based in Hong Kong. He is a Sri Lankan lawyer who has also been a senior U.N. human rights officer in Cambodia. He has published several books and written extensively on human rights issues in Asia.)
