The opinion expressed by Ulf Henriccson, SLMM chief, that security forces are responsible for the killing of seventeen employees of an NGO in Muthur has caused a controversy. The government has criticized the opinion of the SLMM chief and dismissed it as baseless and called it mere imagination on the part of Mr.Henricsson.

We wish to address our mind to the denial made by government defence spokesman and by Minister Rambukwela. He has referred to the question of the time of the murder of seventeen employees and to the question of jurisdiction to give a verdict. He has stated that during the period between the morning of august 2nd and august 5th, Muthur was under the control of the LTTE and that the medical reports relating to the death of the employees indicate that the deaths could have been caused between the night of august 3rd and August 4th. He argued that the LTTE was responsible for the murders.

According the Sandhesia, BBC Sinhala service, the Minister had maintained in his interview on August 4th that Muthur was under the control of Sri Lankan security forces

In this way Sanhesia confronted the Minister with hard facts. Thereafter the Minister took up the position that the matter was before a Court of Law and that the SLMM has no jurisdiction on that issue. We would like to remind the Minister that on the basis of his own logic, it can be argued that SLMM will have no right to make observations on other issues including those of suicide attacks.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission functions in Sri Lanka under an agreement signed between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE and that the SLMM has been granted the right to give its verdict on any complaint.

The SLMM chief pointed out that since the government is in a way associated with the murders of 17 Tamil employees of an NGO, there was difficulty in placing any faith on any investigations by the government. He had called upon the government to grant permission for an International Commission of Inquiry.

Will the government oblige? If it did, truth could emerge!

An English translatiom of the Editorial in Uthayan, a Tamil daily, based in Jaffna.

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