The forgotten genocide: how a nation-building project led to mass slaughter
In short: In the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war, tens of thousands of Tamil civilians perished in a tiny strip of land. While some describe it as a counterinsurgency, scholars and international investigators point to a systematic pattern of mass killings, enforced disappearances, and deliberate starvation.
The conflict, rooted in a majoritarian nation-building process driven by Sinhalese Buddhist nationalism, reached a violent climax in 2009 at Mullivaikkal. During the final stages of the war, the Sri Lankan military established 'No Fire Zones' (NFZs) to concentrate civilians, only to subject these areas to heavy shelling. Despite receiving intelligence from UAVs and the UN regarding the impact, government forces continued strikes that killed large numbers of non-combatants. The UN estimated 40,000 deaths, while the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) suggested the figure could be as high as 169,796.
The violence was characterized by more than just shelling. Investigations by the OHCHR and ICEP found that government forces targeted food distribution centers, killing civilians queuing for aid. In February 2009, Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa justified such actions by claiming hospitals outside NFZs were legitimate targets and that civilians were merely 'LTTE sympathizers.' Beyond the battlefield, the period was marked by widespread 'enforced disappearances.' Between 1996 and 1997, Sri Lanka reported the highest number of disappearances to the UN, a trend that recurred during the 2006–2009 resurgence of war.
The aftermath has been defined by allegations of a massive cover-up. Military whistleblowers and soldiers have testified to the use of bulldozers to bury bodies under sand to create artificial bunds, and the use of chemicals to dissolve skeletons. While the Sri Lankan government has rejected all charges of genocide, legal experts and human rights groups argue that the systematic nature of the killings, the denial of humanitarian aid, and the targeted destruction of the Tamil population in the Vanni meet the legal definition of genocide.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Tamil genocide
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