Isn't the LTTE committing Genocide?

Isn't the LTTE committing Genocide? by Dushy Ranetunge in LondonThe deliberate targeting of civilians has been used as a weapon of war throughout the history of mankind with various degrees of success.Hitler deliberately bombed London targeting civilians, but Churchill had stubbornly and famously declared "we shall fight on the seas and oceans, ?we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,? we shall fight on the beaches, ?we shall fight on the landing grounds, ?we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, ?we shall fight in the hills; ?we shall never surrender." 12 weeks before the surrender of the Nazi's, the British carpet bombed the German city of Dresden, resulting in an estimated 25,000 to 40,000 German civilian casualties.Hitlers targeting of British civilians and the British targeting of German civilians did not result in any significant military advantage to either party.However, it could be argued that the American targeting of Japanese civilians at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, brought that conflict to an end resulting in the surrender of the Japanese.After the war, the United Nations Charter, the Geneva Conventions and The Hague conventions, established and strengthened the laws of war and the targeting of civilians.This did not stop the targeting of civilians. In Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and more recently in Iraq and Afghanistan civilians have been targeted, sometimes deliberately but on most occasions as what is termed as collateral damage. The press has also been targeted. In 2001 the US airforce bombed the Al Jazeera office in Kabul. In 2004 U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld described Al Jazeera's coverage as "vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable." Al Jazeera was broadcasting live pictures of civilian casualties.In all the above instances, deliberate or otherwise, the targeting and civilian casualties did not belong to a particular ethnic group. In Iraq and Afghanistan Western military action did not seek out a particular tribe or ethnic grouping for specific targeting.However, the LTTE's recent target selection in Sri Lanka is increasingly indicating that the LTTE is deliberately targeting a particular ethnic community in Sri Lanka with the deliberate intention of causing harm to this ethnic community.The legal definition of genocide is found in the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Article 2, of this convention defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; [and] forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."In the Sri Lankan conflict civilians have been killed on both sides of the ethnic divide. But there is a distinction in conduct between the two sides.In the early phases of the conflict there was, one believes, deliberate targeting of civilians by both sides. In some instances, Government forces are suspected to have deliberately targeted Tamil civilians in the misguided belief that by putting pressure on Tamil civilians, they would pressure the LTTE to cease armed action. The writer is aware of one incident, before the IPKF intervention, when a senior officer of the air force ordered a pilot to release bombs over Nallur. The Pilot refused stating that he had friends living there and turned the aircraft back. During this period there are indications of a deliberate policy of targeting civilians, periodically.Since these early years the level of professionalism and training in the Sri Lankan armed forces have increased several fold.Even now, Air force action over the Vanni has resulted in civilian casualties. But there is no evidence to indicate that civilian casualties have arisen as a result of deliberate targeting of civilians. Unlike previously, today, the air force has far superior intelligence and disciplined intelligence led targeting. Tamilchelvan was a victim of this efficiency. One of the contributory factors of civilian casualties in the Vanni is the LTTE's deliberate policy of locating their bunkers close to schools and hospitals. There is for example a bunker under the government medical facility in Vakarai, built by the LTTE during their occupation of the area. A foreign national photographed this bunker and provided the evidence to this writer several years ago. The LTTE is also known to use ambulances and civilian transport to facilitate the movement of their leaders to evade military targeting. Some of these vehicles have been targeted over the years, but there is no evidence to indicate that these were deliberate targeting of civilians as policy by the state.If targeting Tamil civilians was the motive, there is no need for the army to risk the security of some of their best soldiers to carry out attacks deep in the Vanni against Tamil civilians, when it could be done far more easily in some other easily accessible places.The LRRP is deployed to seek out and destroy specific targets and targeting Tamil civilians not only compromises their entire operation, it also renders the entire operation quite useless. At a time when the strategy is to encourage alternative Tamil political formations in the East and now the North, the targeting of Tamil civilians is completely counter-productive and simply does not take place as a policy of the state.But there are indications that the LTTE is deliberately targeting the Sinhalese community. There is a general pattern that is emerging from the LTTE's targeting priorities.The LTTE retains the capacity to carry out bomb attacks in any part of Sri Lanka as the recent incident near the Sambodhi Viharaya in Fort demonstrates. The incident was in a high security zone. The Sri Lankan authorities had prior intelligence of a possible attack in the Fort area earlier that week and took the precaution of alerting traders in the Fort area to be on the lookout. The Fort area was saturated with intelligence personnel. Despite the prior intelligence and the precautions the LTTE succeeded in carrying out the attack utilising a motorcycle suicide bomber.There are indications that some pro-LTTE Tamils holding British and other foreign passports living in Colombo are increasingly being used to transport material and give instructions to LTTE operatives in the city. The pattern that is emerging is that the LTTE carries out specific targeting of Sinhalese civilians taking precautions to avoid other ethnic communities. The LTTE is deliberately targeting the Sinhalese Buddhist community that forms the support base of Mahinda Rajapaksa. The CMC today has a Tamil/Muslim majority. The targeting methods used in this area is more precise, targeting military personnel such as the army Commander Sarath Fonseca and the Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapakse or in the instance of the Sambodhi Viharaya, the attempt was on perhaps Pillaiyan or a Government minister. The Fort railway station is targeted as it is used predominantly by Sinhalese commuters.Outside the CMC area, the targeting is more general and the targeting is Sinhalese civilians in Sinhalese neighbourhoods: January 16th passenger bus in Buttala, February 2nd passenger bus in Dambulla, February 3rd Fort Railway Station, February 23rd passenger bus bomb in Mt. Lavinia, April 25th bus bomb in Piliyandala, May 26th Dehiwala passenger Bus Bomb, June 4th Wellawatta bus bomb, June 6th Moratuwa and Kandy bus bombs. Several other such passenger bus parcel bombs in Sinhalese neighbourhoods were detected and defused.All these incidences highlight the deliberate targeting of civilians of one particular ethnic community. This is not collateral damage as is found in Air Force action or LRRP targeting of LTTE leadership. This is planned deliberate action to target Sinhalese civilians and almost in all cases, the poorest and the most vulnerable sections of the Sinhalese community.In attacking what the LTTE perceives as being the Mahinda Rajapaksa's support base, the LTTE perhaps expects the government to stop its military operations.The LTTE is as usual shooting itself in the foot. With elections on the horizon the UNP is struggling to make cost of living the priority issue in the electorate. Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe participated in a tooting vehicle horns protest in Colombo trying to kick off a campaign of making the cost of living a priority to undermine the Rajapakse administration.The mode of this UNP campaign was a failure, as the photos published of UNP bigwigs tooting horns in their luxury vehicles are bound to make the Sri Lankan rural electorate hostile towards the UNP, rather than join hands with them. It would have caused more harm than good for the UNP. The photos of Mr Hakeem in a super luxury vehicle tooting the horn with Mr Wickremesinghe in the background will particularly send a negative message to the rural constituency. The behaviour of a senior Police officer during the protest highlighted that the Rajapaksa administration was concerned about the protest, but they should not have been, as the LTTE has come to the rescue of the government.By targeting Sinhalese civilians, the LTTE has negated the UNP's efforts to make cost of living a priority and given a fresh impetus to Rajapakse's anti-terrorism agenda.The bus bombs have enraged the Sinhalese constituency and more determined than ever to rally around the government's defence effort.http://www.island.lk/2008/06/09/features.html