Former LTTE members have accused the Sri Lankan military of poisoning them during their captivity in detention centres at the end of the civil war in 2009.
Last month, a number of them testified to the state-appointed Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms (SCRM) inquiry, alleging that they were deceptively injected with unidentified substances. They said they were told they were receiving vaccines against viral infections including AIDS, though there is currently no AIDS vaccine.
They also alleged food poisoning, noting that the soldiers guarding them did not eat the same food. In the past years, 107 have died due to unspecified illnesses; some were diagnosed with cancer.
There is growing popular dismay over these allegations. Hundreds of thousands of people were interned in detention camps after the Eelam War ended. Ex-LTTE fighters were largely drawn from impoverished layers of farmers, fishermen and labourers.
The Sri Lankan government has rejected the allegations.
Former Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said, “How many have died? Is this allegation logical? Why should we poison 100 people or whatever they are alleging that we are doing to them? Is there any logic in this allegation?”
The TNA initially favoured an international inquiry into these allegations. But it has since rejected the demand. TNA second-in-command, Sumanthiran, said, “We couldn’t find any witnesses to confirm that former LTTE members received lethal injections. It was reported that more than 100 people lost their lives due to lethal injections, but we were not able to identify even five.”
On August 9, the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) passed a resolution calling for foreign doctors to examine the ex-LTTE fighters. The Sirisena regime rejected the resolution but advised the NPC to have Northern Province doctors carry out the tests.
Hospitals in the Northern Province organised special clinics for examinations. Only 96 of the 12,000 ex-LTTE fighters turned up in the first three weeks of last month, September.