Aren’t there mass graves in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Libya?

Let the government, literally and metaphorically get to the bottom of the mass graves found in the North and elsewhere, if any. People of this country, in their sense of gratitude, owe it to the armed forces who saved their country, to see that their image is cleared of all blemish. And if there are any war criminals among them, punish them after conviction. Sri Lanka is not Israel.

- N.A.de S. Amaratunga

This brief note, therefore, does not attempt to pass judgement on the origin of the mass graves in Mannar, Chemmani and other places. It only attempts to analyse the available evidence against the background of what may have prevailed during the war situation involving a ruthless foe. Anyway, my letter is a mere whisper compared to the enormous quantity of disinformation that is being churned out by the western controlled media to tarnish the image of our war winning armed forces and portray them as war criminals who massacred thousands of Tamil civilians.

The mass grave at Chemmani has become a matter of great concern for several players with vested interests and is being promulgated as conclusive evidence of genocide of Tamils. Canadian political leaders have gone so far as to condemn Sri Lanka for committing genocide against the Tamil nation, even though the investigations have not been completed and there is no evidence as yet to substantiate such accusations.

Let us look at the International Law that pertains to genocide. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalises genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition.