He did add, though, that he hadn't actually seen it himself. In fact, in 2011, the day after Channel 4 broadcast our first film on this subject, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, he told parliament it was "an extremely powerful programme" that referred to some "very worrying events". I know he is broadly aware of what happened in those terrible weeks in Sri Lanka. I find that particularly distressing because it is clear these men think the event will mark their rehabilitation in the eyes of the world – and if Cameron is not careful, his actions will be interpreted as lending support to that view.Ī boy protects his little brother after the artillery fire in a scene from No Fire Zone. The next meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (Chogm) is to be held in Sri Lanka in November – and he has said he will go. And that is why I am so distressed that David Cameron has agreed to go and shake the hands of the men responsible for these crimes. I watch these two scenes and still find myself crying. Humanity survives in this awful situation.
He is 11 or 12 years old, and holding his younger brother protectively round the shoulders: "Not us." The younger child turns to look at the carnage around them but his brother gently guides his head back towards him and away from the terrible sights. The person filming them asks: "Are you injured too?" "No," says the older brother quietly. Their parents are almost certainly among the nearby dead and maimed. Two young brothers are sitting in a makeshift hospital. And that too, we must remember.Īnother incident in the film provides some relief from the carnage. But the vast majority of the civilians were killed by government forces. These crimes by the Tigers – and the failure of the international community – must not be forgotten. That was a crime, a betrayal of the trust of the civilians – and also a terrible miscalculation, because the international community did not intervene: it did not even impose meaningful diplomatic or economic sanctions against the Sri Lankan government. The Tigers saw the civilians as a bargaining counter that would force the international community to intervene, and so would not let them leave. Reading this on a mobile? Click here to viewĪ few of those who died were killed by Tamil Tigers, who are accused of shooting Tamil civilians attempting to escape the no fire zones' killing fields.
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