The Sri Lanka government has not come out with any categorical response to the latest news report on the use of cluster bombs in the final stages of the civil war.
Defence Secretary Karunasena Hettiarachchi says he does not wish to comment on the report while the Director General (Government Information) Ranga Kalansooriya says the report is being studied.
Minister for Regional Development Sarath Fonseka, who was the Commander of Sri Lanka Army during the relevant period of the war, and State Minister of Defence Ruwan Wijewardene were not available.
The news report published by The Guardian , U.K., has been based on certain materials including photographic evidence said to have been provided by those who were previously involved in demining in parts of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka.
Not a new dispute
The controversy over the alleged use of cluster bombs had erupted in the past too. Groundviews, a “citizen journalism” website, carried a couple of reports in 2010 and 2012. The report of the U.N. Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability of March 2011 refers to the allegations of the use of cluster munitions.
The Paranagama Commission, in its report of September 2015 on the facts and circumstances surrounding civilian loss of life during the war, called for further investigation into the matter and suggested a “comprehensive medical review” of recorded injuries.
From the beginning, the government has been denying suggestions of the use of cluster bombs.
‘No such weapon’
Ananda Chandrasiri, formerly Brigardier in the Sri Lanka Army and now, Director/Programme Manager of the Delvon Assistance for Social Harmony (DASH), a six-year-old non government organisation working in the area of demining in parts of of Killinochchi, Mullativu and Vavuniya districts, says his organisation has not encountered any such weapon.
However, Vidya Abhayagunawardena, Coordinator, Sri Lanka Campaign to Ban Landmines and Country Researcher for Sri Lanka- Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor, says this is the golden opportunity for his country to ratify and become state party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Ottawa Convention or the Mine Ban Treaty. Such a move would also support reconciliation measures, he adds.
