Government ;1980s On April 19, 1986, Ramanujam Manikkalingam, an MIT physics graduate, was arrested by government security forces in his native country of Sri Lanka under the provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Family and friends said that he was arrested while walking home from the local post office and that he was tortured in custody. ;1990s The Eastern Province of Sri Lanka was taken over by Sri Lankan forces after heavy fighting in 1990. Even after government forces moved in the early 1990 large number of disappearances and
extrajudicial execution continued. By October 1990, 3,000 people were estimated to have been killed or "disappeared" in the
Ampara district. Further, many of the disappeared people were believed to have been killed in
extrajudicial execution. Likewise in
Batticaloa another 1,500 people were reported to have disappeared. However, the true perpetrators of the disappearances are yet to be determined, with the Sri Lankan government and the rebels both accusing each other. ;2000s The European Union also condemned Sri Lankan security forces in the year 2000 concerning human rights, after fighting displaced 12,000 civilians. The
US State Department stated that "The civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, although some members of the security forces committed serious human right abuses". During
President Mahinda Rajapaksa's reign, white vans started to be associated with abductions and disappearances both during and after the war. Most disappearances of various critics, journalist and others who had disputes with members of the Rajapaksa government as well as kidnapping for ransom has been associated with the "white vans" which were believed to be operated by military personnel.
Sahathevan Nilakshan, also spelt
Sahadevan Nilakshan a
Sri Lankan Tamil student journalist and the head of the Chaalaram magazine. Sahadevan was shot dead inside his house during nighttime curfew in an area heavily guarded by the Sri Lankan Army. Sahadevan was part of a series of killing of Tamil media workers particularly those seen supporting the Tamil nationalist cause as Chaalaram magazine for which he worked was linked to the Federation of Jaffna District Students was seen supporting Tamil nationalism. It was seen as part of the intimidation of Tamil media.
Post-war People who were previously in, or who assisted, the Tamil Tigers have alleged that the government has been continuing to torture them after the formal end of hostilities.
Human Rights Watch has said that 62 cases of sexual violence have been documented since the end of the civil war, though the government says that there have only been 5. Similarly, the government asserts that these are isolated cases, while those making the allegations believe that this is a part of an organized government campaign. One specific link to a formal government program investigated by the
BBC found numerous people who say they were tortured at government rehabilitation camps, run for suspected former rebels. Several of those involved have medical documentation of torture along with documentation of having attended these programmes. Two UN reports have stated that the programme does not meet international standards and that there was a possibility of torture occurring. The government claimed to the BBC that they did not agree with the claims, and asserted that those anonymous people making the reports may have been paid by the Tamil Tigers or tortured by the Tigers themselves.
Abuses by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) The
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have repeatedly been accused of
attacks on civilians during their separatist guerrilla campaign. The US State Department reported several human rights abuses in 2005, but it specifically states that there were no confirmed reports of politically motivated killings by the government. The report states that "they [LTTE] continued to control large sections of the north and east and engaged in politically motivated killings, disappearances, torture,
arbitrary arrest and detention, denial of a fair public trial, arbitrary interference with privacy, denial of freedom of speech, press, of assembly and association, and the recruitment of child soldiers". The report further accused the LTTE of extrajudicial killings in the North and East. The LTTE committed massacres in the
Northern and
Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka. The number of civilians massacred in a single incident were as high as 144 (
Anuradhapura massacre) in 1985. Some of the major attacks resulting in civilian deaths include the
Kebithigollewa massacre, the
Gonagala massacre (54 dead), the
Dehiwala train bombing (56 dead), the
Palliyagodella massacre (109 dead) and the
bombing of Sri Lanka's Central Bank (102 dead). Further a
Claymore antipersonnel mine attack by the LTTE on June 15, 2006 on a bus carrying 140 civilians killed 68 people including 15 children, and injured 60 others. Tamil Tigers were also credited by FBI for the invention of suicide bra and suicide belt. Most of the targets of suicide attacks were made on civilians rather than the government forces.
Abuses by other groups The
TamilEela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), an armed organization led by Colonel
Karuna, was accused by many human rights and
non-governmental organizations of recruiting children, torture, assassinations and engaging in extortion in its war against the LTTE. The TMVP was also involved in kidnappings for ransom of wealthy, predominantly Tamil, businessmen to raise money in Colombo and other towns. Some businessmen were killed because their family could not pay the ransom.
Aftermath The legacy of alleged human rights abuses continued to affect Sri Lanka after the end of the war. For example, the biennial
Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting was held in Sri Lanka in 2013. The prime ministers of India, Canada, and Mauritius refused to attend due to concerns about Sri Lanka's human rights record, including "ongoing allegations of abuse of opposition politicians and journalists".
Investigations After President Mahinda Rajapaksa was ousted from power, investigations into the disappearances were launched by the new government which revealed a secret unit within the Sri Lankan Navy that was responsible for several disappearances. In March 2015, three navy personnel and a former police officer were arrested in relation to the killing of parliamentarian Nadarajah Raviraj in 2006 and in August 2015, police also announced that they had arrested several military personnel in relation to the disappearance of journalist and cartoonist
Prageeth Eknaligoda. On 2015 October 11, Former Eastern Province Chief Minister
Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan of the former paramilitary group
TMVP was arrested by the
Criminal Investigation Department in connection with the killing of former TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham who was shot dead on December 25, 2005 in Batticaloa. He was allowed to be detained till 4 November for further questioning ==Post-war ethnic clashes==