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Killings and torture drive out Tamils: aid workers
Sydney Morning Herald - May 27, 2009
Dean Nelson, Trincomalee – The Sri Lankan Government has been accused of "ethnic cleansing" following its victory over the Tamil Tigers in the nation's 26-year civil war, as rivals clamber to fill the void left by the death of the Tamil Tiger chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
Aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim Tamils have been driven out of north-eastern areas by killings and kidnappings carried out by pro-Government militias.
They say the Government has also encouraged members of the Sinhalese majority in the south to relocate to the north.
One foreign charity worker said the number of Tamils disappearing around Trincomalee, 80 kilometres south of the final conflict zone in Mullaitivu, had increased in the last three months.
He claimed to have known 15 of those who disappeared, three of whom were found dead.
He said the bodies showed signs of torture, and two were found with their hands tied behind their back and single bullet wounds to the head.
Another aid worker said the killings were part of a strategy to drive out the Tamils and that many villagers had moved out after the army declared their land part of a "high security zone".
Many Tamils had sold their homes and land at below-market prices after members of their families had been killed or disappeared, he said.
Since declaring victory last week, Mahinda Rajapaksa's Government has been under pressure to "win the peace" with a generous devolution package for Tamils in the north.
Ministers said billions of dollars would be needed to rebuild the area's infrastructure. Community leaders and Tamil politicians fear this will mean a further influx of Sinhalese.
R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary leader of the Tamil National Alliance and an MP for Trincomalee, said he shared these fears. "It's ethnic cleansing and we're concerned that this is what they will also do in the north," he said.
Meanwhile, the death of Prabhakaran has left a void in the Tamil nationalist movement. All those vying to lead say the path to peace lies in the Government devolving authority to the provinces, which would give the Tamils more control over their own affairs in the north and east.
How much support these would-be leaders have among Tamils, and whether any of them would be seen as a legitimate negotiator with the Government, is difficult to judge. There has not been a legitimate election in Tamil areas for decades. (Telegraph, London; AP)
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