Return to War - Human Rights Watch

The mother of an abducted boy from Batticaloa district holds a photograph of her son.
© 2006 Fred Abrahams/Human Rights Watch
Crackdown on dissent
The government has increasingly sought to silence those who question or criticize its
approach to the armed conflict or its human rights record. It has dismissed peaceful
critics as “traitors,” “terrorist sympathizers,” and “supporters of the LTTE.” And it
has used counterterror legislation to prosecute those whose views or versions of
events do not coincide with those of the government.
Humanitarian and human rights organizations, both Sri Lankan and international,
have come under sustained pressure. The government has dismissed their
allegations of human rights violations as “baseless” and influenced by propaganda
of the LTTE. “Any group or organization, falling prey to this malicious propaganda of
the LTTE, without prior inquiry, investigation or reliable verification, could as well be
accused of complicity in propagating and disseminating the message and motives of
the LTTE,” the government’s peace secretariat said in March 2007. 10
10 Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process (SCOPP), “Baseless Allegations of Abductions and Disappearances,” March
8, 2007.
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