Nagerkovil school bombing: Difference between revisions
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{{Sri Lankan Conflict}} |
{{Sri Lankan Conflict}} |
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[[Image:LocationSriLanka.png|right|thumb|Location of [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]]] |
[[Image:LocationSriLanka.png|right|thumb|Location of [[w:Sri Lanka|Sri Lanka]]]] |
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'''[http://www.fallingrain.com/world/CE/31/Nakarkoyil.html Nagerkovil] school bombing''' is the bombing of [[Nagarkovil (Sri Lanka)|Nagerkovil]] (also Nagarkovil) government central school in [[Jaffna]] <ref>{{cite web |url=http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/Sept2002/navy.html|title=Navy assault on fishermen|accessdate=2006-01-08 |format= |work=Sri Lanka monitor }}</ref>that lead to the death of over 50 [[minority]] [[Sri Lankan Tamil]] people and injuries to over 150. |
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Sri Lankan government accepts that its bombers did indeed bomb the location but disputes that those who died were civilians. <ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> |
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The '''Nagerkovil school bombing''' refers to a disputed incident in the [[Sri Lankan Civil War]]. Tamil sources claim that on September 22, 1995, the [[Sri Lankan Air Force]] bombed the Nagarkovil Maha Vidyalayam school in [[Jaffna]], resulting in the death of, by varying accounts, 34-71 [[minority]] [[Sri Lankan Tamil]] civilians, primarily schoolchildren, and the injury of many more. The Sri Lankan government denied bombing the school. <ref name="SLM">{{cite web |url=http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/Sept2002/navy.html|title=Navy assault on fishermen|accessdate=2006-01-08 |format= |work=Sri Lanka monitor }}</ref> Journalists and [[human rights]] organizations reported the imposition of [[censorship]] at the time of the alleged incidents. <ref name="HRW">{{cite web |url=http://www.hrw.org/reports/1996/WR96/Asia-08.htm|title=Human Rights Development - Sri Lanka|accessdate=2006-01-11 |format= |work=HRW }}</ref> |
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==Incident== |
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According to [[UTHR]] a [[human rights]] agency that reports regualarly about the [[Sri Lankan civil war]], on 22nd September [[1995]], there was intense aerial activity by the [[Sri Lankan Airforce]] around the Nagarkovil school area. Seeing bomber activity overhead the principal and staff of Nagarkovil school did not act decively to let the children go home early. In the prevailing state of anxiety with no clear instruction to children, when the junior school broke at 12 noon, the children began moving home and the senior boys remained. <ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> |
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== Accounts and reactions == |
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The report further stated that in the meantime a commemoration relay fast was taking place all over [[Jaffna]] for [[martyred]] rebel [[LTTE]] cadre [[Thileepan]]. There was also a decorative tent (known as a Pandal in the local [[Tamil language|Tamil]] language) near the school over which the bombers had been active. Several children who had come out of school had sheltered under a tree near the decorative tent waiting for the bombers to leave.<ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> |
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=== University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) === |
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According to the same report at about 12.45 pm a bomb fell among the people under the tree, instantly killing 24 children and 15 others. The decorative tent was said to have been slightly damaged. Several of the corpses were beyond recognition and were identified by their possessions. The injured continued to die on subsequent days bringing the total dead to well over 50.<ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> |
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According to University Teachers for Human Rights ([[UTHR]]), a Jaffna-based organization, the staff of Nagarkovil Government School noticed bomber activity by the [[Sri Lankan Airforce]] around the school the morning of Friday, September 22, 1995. Several children who had come out of school had sheltered under a tree near the decorative tent waiting for the bombers to leave. About 12:45 pm a bomb fell near the tree, instantly killing 39 and injuring others. The injured continued to die on subsequent days.<ref name="UTHR1/7/12"> |
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===Casualties=== |
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10 years later [[Tamilnet]] published a report of some of identified dead students as |
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*Tharmalingam Usanthini (13) |
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*Markandu Nagalogini (10) |
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*Thamotharam Sakunthala (12) |
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*R. Regina (11) |
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*Pologarajah Thushanthini (14) |
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*Ravindran Amirtha (10) |
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*Balachandran Rajitha (10) |
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*Navaratnasamy Umathevy (12) |
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*Suntharalingam Palani (15) |
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*Suntharalingam Tharsini (14) |
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*Kugasaravanamalai Tharsini (13) |
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*Rajeev Gandhi Venu (11) |
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*Krishnagopal Thavaseelan (13) |
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*Rajaratnam Kavitha (10) |
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*Nagamutthu Senthilvel (15) |
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*Alfonse Amalaviji(14) |
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*Mahalingam Sanmugavadivelan(16) |
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*R. Sumithra(10) |
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*K. Methini(14) |
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*Navamany Mithura(14) |
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*Sellam(15) |
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*Ragavan(16) |
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*Thangarasa Vasanthakumar(06) |
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*Mylvaganam Gananathan(14) |
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*Ranjithkumar Rajitha(11) |
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<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=12954|title=Nagarkovil bombing remembered|accessdate=2006-01-12 |format= |work=Tamilnet.com }}</ref> |
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==Reactions== |
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===[[Image:Msf_logo.gif|40px]]Medicines Sans Frontiers=== |
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The first international agency to report on the incident was [[Médecins Sans Frontières|MSF]]. <ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> According to MSF on [[September 23]] that of 117 injured Tamil civilians admitted to hospital during a government offensive in the rebel controlled [[Jaffna peninsula]] on Thursday and Friday more than half had died from their wounds. In a report it said ''In a new offensive against Tamil rebels, Sri Lankan warplanes have bombed civilian targets, killing at least 42 children''. Two surgeons from [[French]] medical agency Medecins Sans Frontierers worked through the night at [[Point Pedro]]'s Manthikai hospital carrying out 22 amputations, four cases of both legs. Ten of the amputees were under 12 |
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<ref name="TCo1/7/12">{{cite web |url=http://www.tamilnation.org/indictment/genocide95/gen95022.htm|title=Nagarkovil bombing|accessdate=2006-01-12 |format= |work=Tamilcanadian.com }}</ref> |
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===[[Image:Flag of Sri Lanka.svg|20px]]Sri Lankan government=== |
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Initially the government denied it ever bombed the school and no immediate investigations were reported. It said it was an LTTE propaganda to discredit its military actions.<ref name="UTHR1/7/12">{{cite web |url=http://www.uthr.org/Statements/Civilianst.htm|title=1995 UTHR report|accessdate=2006-01-11 |format= |work=UTHR }}</ref> |
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After the publication of Medicines Sans Frontiers report about the incident it lated admitted that its Airforce bombers may have bombed the institution<ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> but it was in reality a rebel [[LTTE]] camp and those who died were LTTE cadres not students of the school.<ref name="UTHR1/7/12"/> |
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Subsequantly the government clarified that that those who died were commemorating the death of LTTE member [[Thileepan]] and were LTTE members not students.<ref name="TCo1/7/12"/> |
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===[[Image:Flag of the United Nations.svg|20px]]United Nations=== |
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The Director-General of [[UNESCO]] [[Fredrico Mayor]] condemned the Nagerkoil bombing by low flying [[Argentinian]] built [[FMA_IA_58_Pucar%C3%A1|Pucara]] aircraft: |
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{{Cquote|I condemn in the strongest terms this attack on a school where innocent children were killed. Whatever the political situation in a country nothing justifies attacks on educational institutions.}}<ref name="TCo1/7/12"/> |
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===[[Image:Human_Rights_Watch_banner.gif|40px]]Human Rights Watch=== |
===[[Image:Human_Rights_Watch_banner.gif|40px]]Human Rights Watch=== |
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The 1996 [[Human Rights Watch|HRW]] annual country report decribed "a major offensive on the Jaffna peninsula" by the Sri Lankan government which began on September 22, and which included curbs on war-related reporting by both the domestic and international press. "Among the first stories to be subjected to these censorship requirements were reports that on September 21 and 22, heavy shelling and aerial attacks by government forces on the northern Jaffna region had killed some seventy civilians, including many school children." Human Rights Watch also cited a [[Reuters]] report from September 23 that the army had denied the incident and that the story had been "subjected to military censors, who deleted quotes from civilians on the reported deaths of twenty children." <ref name="HRW"/> |
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The 1996 [[Human Rights Watch|HRW]] annual country report mentioned that on September 22, 1995 as the [[Sri Lankan Army]] launched a major offensive on the Jaffna peninsula, the government imposed censorship curbs on war-related reporting, citing national security concerns and fear that reporting would inflame communal tensions. |
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=== Australian Foreign Ministry === |
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Those restrictions were lifted for foreign media four days later, but curbs on the domestic media remained in force. Among the first stories to be subjected to these censorship requirements were reports that on September 21 and 22, heavy shelling and aerial attacks by government forces on the northern Jaffna region had killed some seventy civilians, including many school children. |
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In an letter of October 6, 1995, the Australian government expressed a concern about "tragic incidents where non combatant Tamil civilians have been killed in military exchanges," mentioning "the reported deaths of 44 school children when a school was allegedly bombed at the village of Nagarkovil on 22 September."<ref name="AUS"> |
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{{cite web |url=http://www.tamilnation.org/diaspora/australia/951006swiss.htm|title=Australian Foreign Ministry to the Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations|accessdate=2006-01-14 }}</ref> |
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A Reuter news story from September 23, which noted that the army had initially denied the incident, also indicated that the story had been "subjected to military censors, who deleted quotes from civilians on the reported deaths of twenty children |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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<references/></div> |
<references/></div> |
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==External links== |
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*[http://transcurrents.com/tamiliana/archives/date/2006/08/ Transcurrent report 2006] |
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*[http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=7391 Till the otherside cracks - feature article] |
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[[Category:Political repression]] |
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[[Category:History of Sri Lanka]] |
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[[Category:Politics of Sri Lanka]] |
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[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil history]] |
[[Category:Sri Lankan Tamil history]] |
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[[Category:Tamil Eelam]] |
[[Category:Tamil Eelam]] |
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Revision as of 06:32, 14 January 2007
The Nagerkovil school bombing refers to a disputed incident in the Sri Lankan Civil War. Tamil sources claim that on September 22, 1995, the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed the Nagarkovil Maha Vidyalayam school in Jaffna, resulting in the death of, by varying accounts, 34-71 minority Sri Lankan Tamil civilians, primarily schoolchildren, and the injury of many more. The Sri Lankan government denied bombing the school. [1] Journalists and human rights organizations reported the imposition of censorship at the time of the alleged incidents. [2]
Accounts and reactions
University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna)
According to University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), a Jaffna-based organization, the staff of Nagarkovil Government School noticed bomber activity by the Sri Lankan Airforce around the school the morning of Friday, September 22, 1995. Several children who had come out of school had sheltered under a tree near the decorative tent waiting for the bombers to leave. About 12:45 pm a bomb fell near the tree, instantly killing 39 and injuring others. The injured continued to die on subsequent days.[3]
File:Human Rights Watch banner.gifHuman Rights Watch
The 1996 HRW annual country report decribed "a major offensive on the Jaffna peninsula" by the Sri Lankan government which began on September 22, and which included curbs on war-related reporting by both the domestic and international press. "Among the first stories to be subjected to these censorship requirements were reports that on September 21 and 22, heavy shelling and aerial attacks by government forces on the northern Jaffna region had killed some seventy civilians, including many school children." Human Rights Watch also cited a Reuters report from September 23 that the army had denied the incident and that the story had been "subjected to military censors, who deleted quotes from civilians on the reported deaths of twenty children." [2]
Australian Foreign Ministry
In an letter of October 6, 1995, the Australian government expressed a concern about "tragic incidents where non combatant Tamil civilians have been killed in military exchanges," mentioning "the reported deaths of 44 school children when a school was allegedly bombed at the village of Nagarkovil on 22 September."[4]
See also
References
- ^ "Navy assault on fishermen". Sri Lanka monitor. Retrieved 2006-01-08.
- ^ a b "Human Rights Development - Sri Lanka". HRW. Retrieved 2006-01-11.
- ^ "1995 UTHR report". UTHR. Retrieved 2006-01-11.
- ^ "Australian Foreign Ministry to the Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations". Retrieved 2006-01-14.