Wickramasinghe protects unpunished war criminals of SL Military Intelligence

SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has secretly launched a plan to erase the records of military intelligence officers and operatives of the Military Intelligence who have been named with command responsibility by the affected victims and their families, particularly the kith and kin of Eezham Tamils subjected to enforced disappearances at the hands of occupying Sri Lankan military after MI operatives carried out arrests, detentions and abductions during the presidency of Chandrika Kumaratunga and Mahinda Rajapaksa. In an effort to get rid of the details of those named by the victims, the military intelligence officers and operatives are being transferred to separate divisions or offered early retirement, informed EPDP paramilitary sources told TamilNet on Saturday.

The victims who appeared in front of the so-called LLRC and other presidential commissions in the past have identified or at least provided credible details on the officers who were in charge of the areas or operations under which their kith and kin were abducted.

The rank and file of the SL military intelligence officers, ranging from Lance Corporal to Colonels and Brigadiers, are being offered identity protection and some of them have already been transferred to their hometowns in South.

Mahinda Rajapaksa was providing diplomatic immunity to higher-ranking commanders involved in genocidal crimes by posting such commanders as ambassadors, deputy ambassadors and as diplomatic officials with UN postings in the past.

Names of several Military Intelligence operatives, earlier collected by the LTTE intelligence and the records from former LTTE intelligence operatives who had infiltrated paramilitary groups such as the EPDP, have been identified as war criminals. All such personalities are now given identity protection by the so-called ‘national security’ related intelligence operatives who are associated with Ranil Wickramasinge.

A document prepared by LTTE Intelligence under the leadership of Poddu Amman was handed over to Norwegian mediators through LTTE's Peace Secretariat during the ceasefire in February 2006 when the SL military was engaged in a shadow war. None of these personalities are now traceable, the informed sources told TamilNet. The document, which named at least four Major ranks MI officers and 10 Captain rank officers with several lower rank officers and paramilitary operatives, was handed over to SL Government during the talks.