NfR – Net working for rights in Sri lanka
Exile network for media and human rights in Sri Lanka
Press release/ 24 February 2011
NfR, Network of exiled Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders, expresses its serious concern about the incident on the 22nd instant, of the ashes of a cremated mother in Jaffna being desecrated and the putting of the bodies of 3 dogs killed by shooting on the cremation spot. In accordance with the Hindu tradition, the ashes of a cremated body are collected the next day to be dissolved in a river or sea. According to media reports the ashes had been scattered by military vehicles running over the spot. NfR sources in Jaffna confirmed the truth of this incident and indicated that no one wants to speak about it openly because of fear.
The mother known as Parvathi Ammal, happened to be the mother of Velupillai Prabaharan , leader of the LTTE. It is clear this dastardly act was carried out just because of one of her siblings happened to be this Parbaharan. Mrs. Vallipuram Parvathi, who has been ill for some time passed away on last Sunday the 20th February 2011. Condemning this kind of inhuman brutality does not mean that one condones the actions of the LTTE or its leader Prabaharan.
NfR condemns this despicable act of desecrating her cremation site which goes against basic civilized norms and behaviors. Respect for dead is an age old human tradition. This uncivilized behaviour goes against the noble Buddhist precepts which the present leaders of the country are claiming to follow. The symbolic message this uncivilized behaviour will convey, especially to the people in Jaffna and Sri Lankan Tamils in general, and the people of the world outside in particular, is that the Tamils are subjugated people who are not even allowed to exercise their basic cultural right to respect their dead. Even the rules of war specify respect for the dead enemies. Indeed, no Sinhalese would accept such an act to happen on their dead and would protest vehemently against such incidents. However, in the current political climate in Sri Lanka, Tamil people cannot speak out because of the existing fear-psychosis. Nor can the right think citizens of the country do so without facing undesirable consequences. In highly militarized Jaffna, the general perception would be that it is the security forces that should be held accountable to this act. Several media outlets had reported that the military prevented people from participating freely at the funeral of the dead lady.
NfR views this incident as a continuation of military responses to Tamil peoples grievances and sending a signal of continued suppression of cultural rights of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
NfR demand that an immediate and impartial inquiry be held into this incident in order to find out the culprits responsible for this highhanded behavior. The findings of such inquiry should be made public and those responsible should be dealt with in a manner that would be a deterrent to similar incident in the future. Failing to initiate such an inquiry and bring the culprits to book would lead to the inevitable conclusion that this is an another atrocity committed by the security forces in collusion with the government of Sri Lanka.
Issued by Steering Committee, NfR Sri Lanka
Steering committee : Kshama Ranawana ( Canada) Lionel Bopage ( Australia), Nadarasa Sarawanan (Norway), Nadarajah Kuruparan(UK) Padmi Liyanage (Germany), Raveendran Pradeepan (France), Rudhramoorthy Cheran (Canada), Saman Wagaarachchi ( USA), Sunanda Deshapriya ( Switzerland)
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