The Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL) attempts at discrediting those who have come forward and spoken out illustrate the desperation of a regime that has no other means of rebuttal.
The GoSL has also attacked non-Tamils in the wider community, including politicians, eminent persons and human rights activists, who have spoken in support of a genuine accountability process in Sri Lanka.
This is a regime that has categorically denied bombing hospitals, shelling safe-zones and the death and disappearnces of thousands of Tamils before, during and since the war despite overwhelming evidence. If the regime is capable of such lies, why are they not capable of fabricating other stories to discredit people strong enough to stand up against them?
From England to Australia, the GoSL's tactic to discredit Tamil eye witnesses is a racial argument which essentially asserts that those who speak up for war crimes accountability are liars and terrorists or terrorist sympathisers.
Even if one is sympathetic to the idea of a Tamil homeland, such sympathy does not mean that these individuals lack credibility as witnesses.
Furthermore, the evidence given by these eye-witnesses are not new allegations but rather claims backed by numerous reputable independent organisations including the United Nations Expert Panel, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, International Crisis Group and International Commission of Jurists.
Those who speak now are the few that survived the blood bath. Since the GoSL cannot murder or incarcerate these individuals as it would on the island, Sri Lanka chooses to attack their character since it knows it cannot refute their allegations of war crimes with exculpatory facts.
Dr. Sam Pari
National Spokesperson and Executive Officer - Public Relations
Australian Tamil Congress.
