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“Paramilitary groups operating within the fold of the Sri Lankan armed forces must be disarmed”

The full text of the release is as follows:

NESOHR strongly condemns the killings of LTTE personnel including the political head of Eastern Province Kousalayan and NESOHR’s Chandra Nehru, former member of parliament, Amparai District.

This attack took place at a Pilliyar Temple in the village of Namalgama in the Sri Lankan government controlled area between Punana and Valaichcenai roughly about 7.45 in the evening of 7th February 2005. The LTTE personnel and Chandra Nehru were traveling in a vehicle after having had discussions about counseling and relief work related to Tsunami in Killinochi.

I have known Chandra Nehru for a long time as an ardent advocate of human rights in the Northeast. NESOHR and I depended on him to oversee human rights violations in the East so that effective measures could be adopted to halt these violations. In fact, I had a lengthy discussion with Chandra Nehru yesterday on the state of human rights in the East and counseling measures to be adopted in providing humanitarian assistance to those affected by the Tsunami.

It is indeed a great tragedy for a person like Chandra Nehru to be gunned down in cold blood after having done so much for the promotion of human rights in the East as he was the representative for human rights in the Amparai district. In a broader sense, this tragedy is a big blow for NESOHR and for the international community that are committed to promote peace and human rights in Sri Lankan in general and in the Northeast in particular.

On behalf of NESOHR, we call upon the international community to exert maximum pressure on the Sri Lankan government to investigate the matter and bring to justice the perpetrators involved. Specifically, the international community should impress upon the Sri Lankan government that killing of innocent persons including human rights activists must be stopped. Paramilitary groups operating within the fold of the Sri Lankan armed forces must be disarmed so that killings of this nature would not continue. These killings do not augur well for peace and well-being of people in this country. Human rights organizations such as NESOHR cannot function in an environment that seems rather conducive for political murders. What is more, the killing of Chandra Nehru illustrates rather vividly that even human rights’ activists are not spared in these cold-blooded killings.

NESOHR and the people in the NorthEast take this opportunity to convey our condolence and sympathy for the families of those killed.

09 February 2005

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