Human Rights Watch in its News release on April 9th, urge UN Security Council's action to Avert Humanitarian Catastrophe in Northern Sri Lanka.It calls the Sri Lankan government to stop firing heavy artillery into the no-fire zone.
Sri Lanka’s so-called ‘no-fire zone’ is now one of the most dangerous places in the world. The Security Council has quibbled over protocol when it should be acting to bring an end to this ghastly loss of life, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
The Sri Lankan government should stop firing heavy artillery into the "no-fire zone" in the northern Vanni area where some 100,000 civilians are trapped by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, causing skyrocketing casualties, Human Rights Watch said yesterday, April 9th.
Human Rights Watch called upon the United Nations Security Council to take urgent measures, including by sending a special envoy to Sri Lanka, to bring an end to violations of international humanitarian law by government forces and the LTTE.
In its news release it claims that people in the government-declared no-fire zone told Human Rights Watch that several areas have been subjected to heavy shelling since April 7, 2009, resulting in numerous civilian casualties. According to a doctor at the make-shift hospital in Putumattalan, on April 7 the hospital received 133 wounded civilians and 20 dead bodies. He said that all were the victims of a shelling in Pokkanai, a seaside area within the no-fire zone that is crowded with displaced persons.
Two other shelling attacks hit the same area on the morning of April 8. The doctor has said the hospital received 296 wounded and 46 bodies on April 8, and 300 wounded and 62 bodies on April 9. The doctor has told Human Rights Watch that he and other medical staff who have been providing information from inside the no-fire zone have been threatened by the authorities and ordered not to speak to the media.
"We decided that we are beyond the point where we can just complain to the authorities," the doctor has said. "Because we told them a hundred times and they have failed to take any proper steps to stop the attack on civilians and did not send in the necessary amount of medications.We have been reporting every day, every day providing reports to relevant authorities and to the international community, and still there are no real steps taken to save these innocent civilians," he has said.
Because of a lack of access to the conflict area, Human Rights Watch is unable to confirm these figures independently. On April 9 the International Committee of the Red Cross evacuated 230 injured civilians plus their relatives by ferry from Putumattalan.
The Tamil National Reporter previously confirmed the death toll in the last 3 days to exceed 511 and more than 700 injured in one of worst carnage he has seen in this war.
According to HRW, witness to the first attack on April 8 has said that it took place at 7:30 a.m. near Pokkanai primary health center. Hundreds of civilians were waiting in line near a food distribution center when four or five artillery shells hit the area, killing at least 13 civilians immediately and wounding over 50 others. The doctor, who examined the site two hours after the attack, said that the shells were 120mm rounds and appeared to have been fired from Sri Lankan army positions to the south.
A 35-year-old man has told Human Rights Watch that he was waiting in the food distribution line with his wife and 2-year-old child when the shelling started:
"There had been no distribution of milk powder for three months, and so when they announced that there would be distribution today (April 8), hundreds of people lined in queue. It was early in the morning. I heard the first shell, and hit the ground. Then several more landed nearby, after three or four minutes. I survived by miracle, but my 45-year-old uncle died on the spot - he lost both legs.
"I tried to get him to the hospital by bike - there are no cars, and no ambulances, and there were so many people - women, and children - injured in that attack. Now I am staying in the hospital with my wife and child, because we have nowhere else to go and the hospital may be the safest place. But there is also no place to stay here - there are so many injured people, and the new injured are being brought here all the time as we speak." The doctor said the new patients continued to arrive by the minute.
Human Rights Watch called on the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE to urgently facilitate the safe evacuation of civilians from the conflict area.