COLOMBO – For the first time Sri Lanka today admitted that civilian deaths did occur during the final phase of the country’s three decade-long civil war against Tamil rebels but said it was “impossible” to avoid deaths in a military campaign against a ruthless opponent.
The Lankan government’s acceptance that there may have been civilian causalities came in a latest report released here by the country’s powerful Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, after dismissing for months a UN report that there had been civilian deaths in the war.
“The government of Sri Lanka made every effort to protect civilians in the conflict zone through the creation of safe corridors and no-fire zones by adhering to a zero civilian casualty policy that had been conveyed to all troops through repeated training and operational orders,” said the report titled “Humanitarian Operation: Factual Analysis”.
“Despite the clear intent of the government of Sri Lanka and the numerous precautions taken, it was impossible in the battle of this magnitude, against a ruthless opponent actively endangering civilians, for civilian casualties to be avoided,” said the report.
The report, however, was mum on how many civilians may have been killed during the civil war that ended with the killing of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran in May 2009.
Releasing the report Gotabhaya said international accusations that as many as 40,000 civilians had been killed during the military operation was “a vague accusation based on even vaguer arithmetic”.
