Government vindicated

The confession made by the doctors who were caught up in the No Fire Zone during the final stages of the war hopefully would put to rest all speculation about casualty figures that are being bandied around willy nilly by interested parties whose aim is to besmirch the image of the country and its Armed Forces.

According to our main story the five doctors admitted unequivocally that they were giving false figures about casualties under pressure of the LTTE who were at its most ferocious during the final battle for survival. Under such circumstance no sane person would dare go against the orders of such a bloodthirsty outfit as the LTTE. Had they done so they would not have been there to tell the tale.

Of course they are being subjected to the due process of the law and are currently in the custody of the CID who will no doubt ferret out all information pertaining to those decisive days that signalled the end of the three decades long war. The doctors however voiced their happiness at being made to experience the novelty of being subjected to the country's legal process as against the jungle law they had to endure whilst in the grip of the LTTE.

They said "Today we are under the custody of the CID, but they are not an armed group like the LTTE. The Court will give the verdict on us. Therefore we will tell the truth". Of course the truth is what the public would want to know to clear the air of all speculation that has been doing the rounds in the immediate aftermath of the final battle. More so due to a gory picture painted by the Western media citing the casualty figures given by these doctors under pain of death.

The doctors admitted that there were civilian casualties and deaths during the final stages of the battle "But not the exaggerated numbers of civilians deaths and casualties we were forced to give under pressure of the LTTE".

No right thinking person can doubt the claims of these doctors especially those who are conversant with the LTTE's methods. Many are the accounts of the brutal nature of the Tigers that have been related by those who escaped the Tiger lair to think otherwise. The doctors of course have been circumspect and revealed that there had indeed been some civilians casualties. Which war does not?

The confession of the five doctors no doubt is a vindication of the Government's position where it right along maintained that the war was only against the LTTE and not the Tamil people. In fact during the height of the battle President Mahinda Rajapaksa went to great lengths to ensure a ' zero casualty' policy.

It is difficult to imagine that Western Governments would retract its position on the last days of war just as easily as it accepted the falsehoods dished out by it's biased media. But the Government should take steps now to show up the lies and deception practised by these elements to put Sri Lanka in the doghouse for alleged human rights violations.

Hopefully critics of the Government on it's conduct of the last stages of the war would give ear to the accounts of the doctors and reverse their judgement on Sri Lanka's Armed Forces. Members of an elite profession as the medical profession are generally known not to compromise their integrity. Their accounts therefore ought to be credible.

They also vouch for the fact that many civilians perished at the hands of the LTTE while attempting to flee. They said "even at the last stages of the battle there were civilian deaths due to the explosion of shell loaded trucks of the LTTE and we saw the bodies of the civilians due to these explosions but not due to the shelling of the Security Forces".

There is no reason to doubt if these medicos are speaking the truth for the reasons already mentioned. Beside they were in the best position to observe the unfolding drama.