Friday, April 10, 2009
Intellectuals concerned over use of thermobaric bombs by Lankan army
Chennai , Apr 10 A group of intellectuals has petitioned the UN and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, expressing apprehensions about use of banned thermobaric bombs by Sri Lankan army against Tamil civilians in the island nation.
In the petition addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Singh and other heads of South Asian countries, a copy of which was circulated to the media, the intellectuals under the banner of Concerned South Asian Citizens demanded an independent verification of the use of such bombs. The petition said a thermobaric bomb uses a fuel-air explosive capable of creating overpressures equal to an atomic bomb, adding it was being"used"in the present offensive.
"It is very important that the truth about these bombs be independently verified,"the petition said while demanding commissioning of war crimes provisions against the Sri Lankan authorities as well as the"source country"that supplied the bombs.
Independent observers such as UN agencies and Red Cross were banned from operating in the war zone, worsening the humanitarian crisis, it said. Besides the UN and the international community, all South Asian countries must"intervene forcefully"to stop the war which was threatening the peace of the region, it said.
Reporters Without Borders reminds the Sri Lankan government of its international undertakings as the media continue to be prevented from moving about freely in the north of the country, especially in the area where tens of thousands of Tamils are surrounded by the army. The death of at least two journalists in the so-called "no-fire" area tends to support allegations that the Sri Lankan security forces are responsible for war crimes against civilians. It also shows the government is violating UN Security Council resolution 1738 (adopted in December 2006) about protecting journalists in war zones.
IMO: It is not in India's interest to continue to ignore the apparently illegal, inhumane and probably genocidal behaviour of the Sinhalese Sri Lankan Govt. It will not look good at present and future Lok Sabbha elections. It will not look good for the useful and educated Manmohan Singh and plenty of people think the well-meaning and hardworking Gandhi family have enough to live down already. The Bofors scandal and all the rest are still not forgotten, and whilst I think it is unfair to the Gandhis to say "you can't teach an old dog new tricks", at the same time, if the new tricks have indeed been learnt, many Tamils would think that this is a time for their demonstration. I touched on the matter of the alleged thermobaric bombs in a reference included in an earlier posting.
# posted by uv : 7:01 PM
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