At the sametime, the Sri Lanka govemment has imposed a tight press censorship and has sought to keep the conditions of the war unreported internationally. It is impossible forjournalists to enter Jaffna without prior approval from the Government. The broad scope of the censorship went far beyond any legitimate interest in protecting national security or public order . Violence institutionalised in Sinhala body politic President Kumaratunga has coupled her genocidal war of aggression against the Tamil people with an attack on the human rights of her Sinhala opponents as well. The Sinhala opposition United National Party, which was itself guilty of horrendous crimes against the Tamil people during its period of power from 1977 to 1994, has now complained about the killings and murders of its supporters by President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party members and supporters.
Genocide is a crime which transcends national frontiers.
President Kumaratunga, and Deputy Defence Minister Anuraddha Ratwatte, and the Sri Lanka security forces under their command, are guilty of crimes against humanity and should be charged and punished according to law . Justice demands that Sri Lanka should submit itself to an international inquiry by an independent tribunal into these war crimes so that the perpetrators may be arraigned before the bar of world opinion and punished. Lanka's denial of the existence of an armed conflict in the island flies in the face of international law, the Geneva Conventions 1949 and the Additional Protocols. By its denial, Sri Lanka seeks to give a legitimising facade to its intensified genocidal onslaught on the Tamil people. The undeniable fact is that even Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga admits that she is waging war, albeit a 'war for peace' and Sri Lanka has mobilised a 150,000 Sinhala army backed by a sophisticated air force and naval gun boats to pursue this war.