Shed Extremist and Selfish Politics and Uphold International Law

The killing of 27 civilians and injuring of another 30 in a claymore mine attack on a passenger bus in Buttala in south east Sri Lanka is the latest in a series of attacks against civilians. The National Peace Council condemns this attack which is suspected to by the LTTE. The deliberate targeting of civilians by means of such remote-controlled explosives devices is a heinous crime. Such acts of terror will serve to further strengthen the forces of extremism and intolerance in society which needs to be guarded against. The National Peace Council expresses its deep sorrow at the loss of life and the disregard for humane values that such an attack demonstrates. We are aware that the current phase of conflict has led to atrocities against the civilian population of all communities and fear that similar incidents will take place unless a conscious decision is taken to steer the country in a different direction.

In this context we welcome the statement by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, who has said international law obliges all parties to protect civilians without discrimination and includes prohibitions against the arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary detention, forced displacement, enforced disappearances, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the deployment of children as soldiers. She has also pointed out that violators, and those in command, can be held accountable under international criminal law.

It is unfortunate that the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement by the government should have led to the dismantling of the field monitoring apparatus that was available to the Nordic monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.  As the government has been resisting a UN field monitoring presence, the National Peace Council calls on the government to ensure that another monitoring mechanism be put in place utilizing civil society organizations that have experience in monitoring, have a track record of standing for international human rights and have a capacity to maintain a field presence where required.

At this juncture when the country appears heading towards sharply escalating violence, the National Peace Council also urges the mainstream political parties to shed extremist and selfish politics, and instead to work together with others to devise a humane and just political strategy in keeping with international law to resolve the long festering ethnic conflict. We believe that the political parties that currently comprise the All Parties Representative Committee have an opportunity to send a positive signal to the Tamil people and to the LTTE when they put out their long awaited political proposal on January 23.