An international journalist named ‘Francis Harrison’ has recently published

An international journalist named ‘Francis Harrison’ has recently published

An international journalist named ‘Francis Harrison’ has recently published a list of 1787 names of Eelam Tamils killed by the “Indian Peace Keeping Force-IPKF” from July 1987 to March 1990 as the atrocities of the Indian Peace Keeping Force and the evidence that has emerged as part of the history of the Tamil genocide.

He is the author of the book ‘Still counting the dead’ about the Eelam Tamils killed in the 2009-final war. He has been exposing Sri Lanka for the past 15 years.

These details that he published after almost 35 years have become a topic of discussion at the international level. Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was responsible for this genocide, is being praised today, saying that the Tamils will forget this genocide that took place so many years ago in the course of time. The massacres of Tamils that occurred due to his pro-Sri Lankan political decisions are forever etched in the memory of the Tamils. This historical tragedy began as an extension of the India-Sri Lanka Agreement. According to this agreement, signed on July 29, 1987 by the then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Sri Lankan President Jayewardene, the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the military force sent by India to restore peace in Sri Lanka.

The Indian Peace Keeping Force went to Sri Lanka with 10,000 soldiers. When the Indian Peace Keeping Force set foot on Eelam, the Eelam Tamils welcomed them. But within two months of their arrival in Sri Lanka, instead of calling it the Indian Peace Keeping Force, they began their attack on the Tamils and carried out the Tamil genocide on a par with the Sinhala army.

On August 4, 1987, regarding the Sri Lanka-India agreement, the national leader Prabhakaran gave a long speech to his people under the title “We Love India. We love the Indian people. We are not ready to raise arms against an Indian hero. I would like to state here that the Indian government should be responsible for the life and security of every Eelam Tamil…”

He spoke about the surrender of arms. The day after he said that we hope India will be favorable to us in front of its people. On August 5, the LTTE fighters led by Yogi, the top commander of the LTTE, handed over their weapons to the Peacekeeping Force General Gupender Singh. But the Indian RAW intelligence agency there secretly bought those weapons and gave them to other militant groups that they had nurtured. This has been documented by the IPKF commander-in-chief. These militant groups attacked the LTTE. This resulted in increased casualties on the LTTE side

The LTTE appealed to the Indian army commanders several times, but they did not pay any attention. Later, condemning this, on September 13, 1987, the LTTE presented a 5-point demand to the Union Government of India, including the withdrawal of the Indian army. Since the Indian government ignored this too, Maveeran Thileepan went on a hunger strike. People were very angry at the Indian Peace Keeping Force for not fulfilling the demands of the moral fighter Thileepan and letting him die.

Tamil Nadu Tamils also joined the protest. In this crisis, Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi urged the Sri Lankan Prime Minister to form an Interim Administrative Council, and negotiations began at a place called Palaly. While these negotiations were going on, on October 2, 1987, the Sinhalese army arrested 17 people, including senior LTTE commanders Kumarappa and Pulendran, at the port of Paruthithurai. The LTTE demanded their immediate release. But the Sri Lankan Defense Minister, ‘Lilith Atulath Mudali’, refused and tried to take the arrested people to Colombo. The LTTE insisted that they should be released as they would not be able to return alive if they went there.

The Sri Lankan army had kept all the 17 arrested people at the Palaly military base where the Indian Peace Keeping Force was stationed. Balasingham and Mathaiah met them twice on behalf of the LTTE. On the third occasion, a cyanide bottle was sent to prison through a food parcel. 12 freedom fighters died after biting into the cyanide bottle, and 5 militants were left with a life-threatening condition. The news of the death of these freedom fighters came to the public. This angered the Tamils. They attacked the Indian and Sinhalese military offices, calling it a conspiracy by India.

On learning this news, on October 7, 1987, Indian Defense Minister K.C. Bond and Army Chief Sundar went to Colombo and held urgent consultations with President Jayewardene. Then, as decided by the Rajiv government, they launched a war operation called “Operation Pawan”. The Indian Army announced that this ‘Operation Pawan’ war operation was being carried out to liberate Yarlpanam from the LTTE and to seize the weapons of the LTTE.

But they have taken a secret decision to seize all the weapons of the LTTE and destroy them completely. Accordingly, fighting began in Palaly, Kankesanthurai, Bandattharipu and Yarlpanam. On October 7, the Chief of Army Staff (Chief of Army Staff) formulated some important operational measures for the IPKF to carry out and issued orders to implement them. Their main action was to first blow up the media outlets that reported news.

They destroyed the Iramurasu and Murasoli newspapers and the LTTE´s Reality TV stations so that no news about their atrocities could be published. After completely crushing the media outlets that reported news to the people, the Indian Army embarked on a military campaign against the people. The Indian Peace Keeping Force targeted the Yarlpanam Hospital on October 26, 1987. The Indian Army captured the Yarlpanam Hospital on October 21, which was Diwali. On a holiday, 50 patients were shot dead. Their bodies were burned on the spot and thrown on the ground inside the hospital premises. On the following day, October 23, 83 patients and hospital staff were killed, and their bodies were also burned. The orders for this were issued by an Indian Army officer, Brigadier Brar.

Captain Bist supervised all these activities from the Yarlpanam Army Headquarters. Dr. Kanagarajah and Dr. Bansari were his assistants in carrying out these massacres. Both were officers of the Indian Peacekeeping Force. The Indian forces carried out atrocities in many places throughout the month of October, including the Yarlpanam Hospital, houses, etc. This month of October has been made a tainted month in the history of the Tamils of Eelam.

No investigation was conducted for this war crime by the Indian Peacekeeping Force, while international law states that attacking hospitals in any war is a “war crime”. The Indian Peacekeeping Force banned international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the International Committee of Jurists from entering the Tamil Eelam region.

On November 21, 1987, the Indian Army declared a 48-hour ceasefire, and at that time, the Indian Army shot 7 innocent Tamils in Thiriconamalai. In this, 2 people died. And a curfew was imposed for 35 days with the aim of capturing Yarlpanam.

All Tamil people who came out of their homes during these curfew days were shot dead by Indian forces. On August 2, 1989, Indian soldiers set out in a V-shaped formation from the Urikada and Polikandi army camps in Valvettithurai with the aim of destroying the LTTE. These soldiers were led by Major Sudarshan Singh, Captain Gopala Krishna Menon, and Captain Kapoor respectively. In the attack carried out by the LTTE against them, 9 Indian soldiers were killed. Enraged by this, the Indian peacekeeping force shot, hacked, and burned 71 civilians to death. Hundreds of houses, shops, schools, libraries, and fishing boats were burned

The Indian Peace Keeping Force became a force that came to hunt down the Tamils of Eelam. It killed more than 10,000 innocent Tamils. It killed more than 600 Tamil freedom fighters. It raped more than 800 Tamil women. It destroyed property worth crores of rupees of Tamils. The Sinhalese government of the day, Premadasa, carried out massacres with such ferocity that even the then Sinhalese government condemned it. The Indian army commanders themselves later blamed the wrong policies formulated by the Indian Rajiv Gandhi government and the foreign policy of the Indian Brahmin hierarchy.

“The Indian Brahmins do not want to keep Sri Lanka under their control, and a separate country for the Tamils. That is why the Indian Peace Keeping Force went to Sri Lanka,” an Indian commander had posted on the ‘X’ website. Sundarjee, who was the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Peace Keeping Force, had said. Hargirath Singh, the commander of the peacekeeping force, wrote in his book, “The LTTE was loyal and disciplined. The people loved Prabhakaran very much. I don’t know why India pushed us into this war.” Also, former Indian Foreign Secretary A.P. Venkateswaran, at a conference in London, noted that “many Indian soldiers returned to India unhappy and confused because they fought against their Tamil brothers for no reason or purpose.”

Only a few of the atrocities committed by the Indian military were documented. The undocumented incidents are countless. Of the thousands who died in the IPKF-led massacres during that period, Francis Harrison has now released the names and addresses of 1,787 people. He has published these sources with an honesty and integrity that is unmatched by the Hindu and Brahmin media here, which exonerate the perpetrators of the genocide and shift the blame to the fighters who protect the people. Rajiv Gandhi and the Indian Brahmin officials are responsible for this genocide committed against the Tamils by the Indian Peace Keeping Force. The Brahmins, who did not want a separate country for the Tamils, used their media power here to shift the blame to the LTTE to protect Rajiv from accusations.

There is not much difference between the Sinhala army that Rajapaksa sent to genocide the Tamils in 2009 and the Indian army that Rajiv sent in 1987. This list published by Francis Harrison is evidence that Rajiv Gandhi, like Rajapaksa, is guilty of genocide. It was the foreign policy designed by the Indian Brahminical bureaucracy that killed Tamils in 2009 and 1988.

The political levels of Tamil Nadu should talk about these Brahminical conspiracy groups. Tamils should take note of this politics. Tamils have been saying for a long time that the Tamil Nadu government should have the power to decide the foreign policy regarding its border areas. To remind us of that, there is the list of names of Tamils who were subjected to genocide published by Francis Harrison.

(Translated by Tamilpriya)