Published on November 6:
By G Saravanan
CHENNAI: With a view to giving a comprehensive insight in to the alleged massacres committed by the Sri Lankan government against the ethnic Tamil population on the island nation since 1956, Chennaibased human rights trust Manitham will soon publish the details compiled by a local NGO in a book and release it in six languages.
Speaking to Express, Agni Subramaniam, executive director of Manitham said, “North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) painstakingly compiled all the details with credible field verifications and gave the permission to publish the details in a book in six languages – Tamil, English, French, German, Sinhala and Hindi.” Famous human rights activist from the United States, Dr Ellyn Shander will write the foreword for the book, while Nanda Kandasamy, a Lankan national living in Canada has been entrusted with the designing.
NESoHR, which operated from Kilinochi with due permission from the Lankan government, complied all the harrowing details in two reports, Lest We Forget (Part 1 and II). However, the agency could not record any details of deaths or destruction during the final days of the recent Lankan war due to security concerns.
The book will not be released commercially. However, the money generated by publishing the book would be remitted back to the welfare of Lankan Tamil children affected by the ethnic war, Subramaniam said.
The book sheds light on the atrocities that the Lankan Tamils were subjected to in a so-called ethnic cleansing drive by the Sri Lankan state, long before even a single shot was fired by a Tamil militant, says Subramaniam.
Lest We Forget comprehensively recounts gory massacres like the Veeramunai Massacre (1990), Saththrukkondan Massacre (1990), Vantharumoolai Massacre (Eastern University camp) (1990), Chemmani Massgraves (1996), Krishanthi-Rape and Murder (1996) and Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre Carnage (2000), in which 28 inmates, mostly children, were killed and 14 injured, even though 60 (Sinhalese) police officers were stationed there that night to ‘protect’ the inmates.
The book is set to be published on December 10, which is celebrated around the world as Human Rights Day.
Speaking to Express, Agni Subramaniam, executive director of Manitham said, “North East Secretariat on Human Rights (NESoHR) painstakingly compiled all the details with credible field verifications and gave the permission to publish the details in a book in six languages – Tamil, English, French, German, Sinhala and Hindi.” Famous human rights activist from the United States, Dr Ellyn Shander will write the foreword for the book, while Nanda Kandasamy, a Lankan national living in Canada has been entrusted with the designing.
NESoHR, which operated from Kilinochi with due permission from the Lankan government, complied all the harrowing details in two reports, Lest We Forget (Part 1 and II). However, the agency could not record any details of deaths or destruction during the final days of the recent Lankan war due to security concerns.
The book will not be released commercially. However, the money generated by publishing the book would be remitted back to the welfare of Lankan Tamil children affected by the ethnic war, Subramaniam said.
The book sheds light on the atrocities that the Lankan Tamils were subjected to in a so-called ethnic cleansing drive by the Sri Lankan state, long before even a single shot was fired by a Tamil militant, says Subramaniam.
Lest We Forget comprehensively recounts gory massacres like the Veeramunai Massacre (1990), Saththrukkondan Massacre (1990), Vantharumoolai Massacre (Eastern University camp) (1990), Chemmani Massgraves (1996), Krishanthi-Rape and Murder (1996) and Bindunuwewa Rehabilitation Centre Carnage (2000), in which 28 inmates, mostly children, were killed and 14 injured, even though 60 (Sinhalese) police officers were stationed there that night to ‘protect’ the inmates.
The book is set to be published on December 10, which is celebrated around the world as Human Rights Day.
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