TNA leader R.Sampanthan who moved in an adjournment motion with regard to the matter, told the House that around 300 innocent Tamil civilians had been killed in aerial bombardments, multi-barrel and rocket launcher firing during the military confrontations. Mr.Sampanthan was responding to Non-Cabinet Minister of Nation Building Susantha Punchinilame who said in a previous debate that no such civilian had been reported to have been killed in the fighting with the LTTE.

The TNA leader said that the proposed Independent Committee to look into this issue should comprise three retired judges representing the Sinhala, Tamil and the Muslim communities each.

He said that the truth should be ascertained and made known to people through impartial and independent inquiries. “The chairmanship of this committee should be given to someone representing Muslims because they are also a vital stakeholder of this problem,” he said.

The TNA also cited several incidents where a number of Tamils had died in air strikes, and tabled a document containing the names, ages and addresses of some persons so killed. Meanwhile, Minister Punchinilame reiterated that no complaint had been received that those civilians were killed due to multi- barrel and rocket launcher firing by the security forces.The Minister said that even the Batticaloa Government Agent had confirmed what he had said on the matter.

“In a war situation, the military and the LTTE fire each other using multi-barrel and artillery guns and rocket launchers. If there are people in between, they might get killed. How can we single out anyone as responsible for it?” he asked. He said that thousands of displaced persons had been resettled in the East, but the TNA did not utter a word about them.

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