‘No info on death of LTTE chief’s son’

Sarath Fonseka, who led the Sri Lankan Army during Eelam War IV, has said his forces had “no information” on the death of 12-year-old Balachandran, the second son of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Fonseka, since sacked from the army, told Daily Mirror Online on Wednesday, that there was no information about the death of Prabhakaran’s wife Mathivathani and daughter Thuwarka either. Troops were able to recover the body of one  family member — Prabhakaran’s eldest son, Charles Anthony. 

“After the final battle, we only recovered Prabhakaran’s body together with the bodies of about 400 other terrorists, including that of Charles Anthony. These two bodies were personally identified by Karuna Amman, the LTTE’s military wing leader before he joined the government,” he said.

In the closing  stages of the war, Express had asked Brig Shavendra Silva, in charge of the Mullivaikkal area where Prabhakaran’s family was holed up and whether his troops had located the bodies of Prabhakaran’s family members. Brig Silva replied,  “We only look for bodies of LTTE military leaders like Theepan.”.

In Washington on Wednesday, State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the US was “deeply concerned” over allegations of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the UNHRC should authorise an independent, international probe into war crimes during the final months of the conflict. In a letter to the council  members on Wednesday, HRW said that since the council adopted a resolution on Sri Lanka at its March 2012 session calling for action, it had taken no significant steps to provide justice for victims and accountability for those responsible.