Sri Lanka's Killing Fields

Sri Lanka's Killing Fields

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Ratings: 7.99/10 from 161 users.

Sri Lanka's Killing FieldsOne of the most graphic television documentaries ever shown in the United Kingdom, this documentary outlines some of the atrocities that were committed during the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war and features amateur video footage from the conflict zone filmed by civilians and Sri Lankan soldiers.

Jon Snow presents a forensic investigation into the final weeks of the quarter-century-long civil war between the government of Sri Lanka and the secessionist rebels, the Tamil Tigers.

The video filmed by civilians included harrowing scenes during and after intense shelling of civilian targets, including hospitals, by the Sri Lankan military. The trophy video filmed by Sri Lankan soldiers showed disturbing scenes of blindfolded victims being executed and dead bodies of naked women being dragged onto trucks by soldiers as they made lewd remarks about the victims.

The documentary also included interviews with civilians who managed to survive the conflict, United Nations staff based in Sri Lanka during the conflict, human rights organizations and and international law expert. The documentary was made by ITN Productions and presented by Jon Snow, the main anchor on Channel 4 News. The Sri Lankan government has denounced the documentary as a fake.

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minority_report
minority_report
3 years ago

you could ask the same questions about the SL govt - where is the justice for civilians? ppl still support the ltte bc the govt keeps denying that they ALSO did wrong. in the mean time, the sheep in the rest of the country blindly follow a murderous govt filled with money-chasing rapists, bigots and liars. we're all slaves till we wake the f up - we've all been used.

Abha Agarwal
Abha Agarwal
4 years ago

Muslims must speak out against the use of Mohammed on the ISIS flag with the same intensity as opposition to Danish Cartoons. The name of the Holy Prophet is more insulted by ISIS than the cartoonist. Why are Muslims quiet ? Their silence is baffling and leads even the moderate Buddhist or Hindu to believe that they are hypocrites and one day, when their patience runs out, another Myanmar - Rohingya crises will happen in Sri Lanka and India. At that time, there will be no respite even for peace loving Muslims.

laksiri
laksiri
5 years ago

this is nothing more than the entire frailer of political leadership over 70 years.this is the country was not in position to have still proper constitution to rule the small island and still unable to established independence judiciary system. every dollar borrowed over the years more than 60% cheated by politicians and over 20% people were send to middle east for modern day selves job. killing of people from 1971 until today keep doing. even after this war was over 9 years had gone but no any solution to main problems,by way of political or economically.

huththige putha
huththige putha
6 years ago

What a load of fabricated crap. B bloody BC should be ashamed of putting up donkey dung like this in the public domain. Please PLEASE go to Sri Lanka and ascertain for yourself without believing what these dung beetles in BBC have crapped on to your screens.

Zulu
Zulu
7 years ago

Its a genoside country my parents n grandparents family well established business was burned to ashes by Sinhalese budhist thugs with full government support. Lost of 1 million in stock merchandise alone plus the government took the large land area.its a land of hell.

Gim
Gim
7 years ago

To all who defend the tigers.
How many innocent lives did they take? How many children were sent to battle? why did they shoot any one who retreated? How many people did they torcher? How many innocent Tamils, Sinhalese, ..etc were killed by the ltte? . how many human rights were violated by them. And how many human rights were violated by the countries who force us? Think about it

American people
American people
8 years ago

This is not a true report. I have been to Sri Lanka several time and no one talk about this much mass killing during war time. With in a week 40000?
Wrong information. Please don't shear this type of wrong info.

ponmylanathan selliah
ponmylanathan selliah
8 years ago

I am a tamil and I can say without a shadow of doubt that the LTTE was the horrendous organisation that brought Sri Lanka to shame. I have no problems with my Sinhalese friends and I urge you to go to SL and see for yourself instead of coming to false conclusions after watching this biased documentary by BBC. The British colonised SL and ruled by dividing the races which they are still trying to do in a more subtle way here. Shame on them.

vinoth
vinoth
10 years ago

after seeing this me and my friends are disturbed.UN failed

catherine cudmore
catherine cudmore
10 years ago

This is the 2nd time I've seen this doco and it is as profoundly disturbing as the first. How can the Sri Lankan government ever expect lasting peace with the Tamils if they do not acknowledge war crimes? Both sides have have to answer for their crimes but refusing to acknowledge that atrocities occurred only invites their return.

Zo
Zo
10 years ago

Watched it/ browsed through comments. I don't know about you, but I barely remember the narrative about the sides fighting.

People dying, bodies bleeding, children in pain..... it will be hard to sleep in the coming days.. to think this goes on in other parts of the world and most likely in all types of wars... my heart sinks.

Dr P.S.E
Dr P.S.E
10 years ago

People, especially those from western countries, who watch documentaries like this and think they know all that is going on here in Sri Lanka.. This is my country, I lived here since the day I was born, I have seen everything there is to see about the civil war, and i know exactly what happened from the very beginning. It is true that there was a time that tamils were not given a chance to enjoy their full rights. It is not very much different from the situation in america regarding blacks. But then tamils made demands that simply cannot be done in a country where there is a sinhala majority is living. When their demands were neglected they turned into violence. Interestingly the first ever person the LTTE leader himself killed, was also a tamil, the mayor of Jaffna. the war started by spilling tamil blood by the tamils themselves. Then they committed a number of atrocities against Sinhalese and muslims. The sinhala civilians did not tolerate this violent behavior from a minor race..this is where things went wrong. They started mob violence against tamil civilians as revenge..the government at the time didnt try to stop this. As a result many able tamils went abroad, many others joined the extremist groups. Then India interviened and tried to negotiate peace deals between sinhala government and tamil extremists. Many tamil groups laid down arms as a gesture of agreement. The problem could have been solved there. But one group, LTTE, lead by the ruthless leader Prabakaran refused to lay arms and continued fighting. The government responded as any other government would have. LTTE proved itself to be a greedy organization that cannot be trusted from the very beginning. The killing of Rajeev Gandhi, killing of rivalry potential leaders withing the group to secure the leadership, the use of female suicide bombers and child soldiers are some of the examples. Mahinda Rajapaksa is the only leader to emerge with a spine to stop all this. When he came to power the country was in ruins. there was fear everywhere. you couldnt travel in a train or a bus without the fear of not knowing when or where a suicide attack might strike. In time, the popularity that tamils had for LTTE dropped because of its endless violence. The tamils living abroad were unaware of this, because the LTTE propaganda very tactfully maintained the idea that the situation is still the same in Sri Lanka. So we cannot blame tamils living in western countries and south India fro their opinions. Mahinda Rajapaksa government defeated the LTTE terrorism. In the later stages of the war the desperate LTTE extremists even used their own kind, the innocent civilians as a shield against the advancing Sri Lankan army. That was the reason why what could have been done in hours took months to complete. As you may have seen in the video the Sri Lankan army is equipped with advanced weaponry that a any modern army would have..it could have finished the job very easily by carpet bombing the area where the LTTE is trapped with their prisoners. But as a disciplined army, Sri Lankan army did their best to save thousands of innocent civilians in the grip of LTTE. Now, for those who say that Sri Lanka is a very unsafe place now, and we are practicing barbarism here, there is only one way to make sure what is true and what is false. LTTE sympathizers and those comapnies who make a profit by making documentaries like this can corrupt any person's mind. One might even argue that I myself is babling a whole bunch of lies. So.. if you are really interested to know what is going on, please, please, I tell without fear, come and visit our country.. go to jaffna and see for yourselves what is happening there. We have nothing to hide..we are not like north koreans.. we dont stop you from coming here... come and see, and then comment.

bujjibu
bujjibu
10 years ago

the actions of sri lankan soldiers confirms the descent of the sri lankan sinhalese from the rakshasas (the demons) as described in the ramayana. they have surpassed the ltte cadres in their cruelty and sadism. the president rajapaksa and his military hordes are representative of ravana and the demons. their actions will lead to the resurgence of ltte like organizations in the near future and this time the war will be more bloody. i warn the sinhalese that they have to bear the brunt of the actions of their killer soldiers and their sadistic president in the near future. the reprisal will be bloody and on the same terms as shown in the video.

bujjibu
bujjibu
10 years ago

the inaction of the indian government in the entire episode is shameful. was sonia gandhi extracting revenge from the entire sri-lankan tamils for the assassination of her husband? the indian government is dominated by north indians who do not give a damn about the southerners. in the recent years, people from the northern india are exploiting the resources and local people of the southern states. their ias and ips officers are ruling the roost and looting the local populace. the political situation is also defined on similar lines. there is no adequate representation of the south in the indian parliament, in the ministries or the cabinet. it is high time that we stand up against the indian government and demand our political, economic and social rights.

Girish Ananthavaram
Girish Ananthavaram
11 years ago

the kid was cute eating his last snack,
if he was a war leader in kid look at his face there is no sleep in his eyes before killing i think they first captured him showing footage to his dad to surrender and then caught him alive killed him and then killed the kid too.

RobGR
RobGR
11 years ago

Isn't that what the UN always does, gets the heck out of dodge as soon as people start dying; Rwanda, Srebrenica, etc.... And who are the puppet masters for the UN that makes these decisions.

Ravindu Shirantha
Ravindu Shirantha
11 years ago

AMERICA ready to distroy the peace of world.SRILANKAN army is the world best army in world.we are the winners but who are you .what do you wont
your dream is dream only man.we are peaceful country .some who ready to distroy it.BE CAREFUL

Ravindu Shirantha
Ravindu Shirantha
11 years ago

America ready to distroy the peoples and there peace and religion in one minutes.they help to tigers for distroy the world best army in world.are you ready to fight with us .be careful man becouse we know about your disipleans and army............................

Ruwan Gunaratne
Ruwan Gunaratne
11 years ago

It is not war. It is a systematic murder of innocent Tamil Civilians. Uncivilized Sinhalese continue to lie. State terrorism must be eradicated.

Civilized world now knows Sinhalese are the proven number one liars in the world.

Uncivilized people still support barbaric terrorist activities of Sinhala state terrorists, now led by Rajapakse terrorists.

Abjective
Abjective
11 years ago

A bloody nightmare, just some of the graffic scenes you see pretty much all over the globe these days. A tradegy. Are we living in a civilized world these days? I think not.

blahblahbob
blahblahbob
12 years ago

who cares who is right and wrong in the aftermath of a brutal civil war? if one side kills 28k and their enemy kills 32k does it really matter who shot the first bullet? im sure there were atrocities on both sides, but the point should be honoring the memories of the 60k dead men, women and children by making sure the rest of the world can learn from their mistakes, whether those were government mistakes or rebel mistakes.

blahblahbob
blahblahbob
12 years ago

some times i start to feel down about the rising cost of living in L.A., the lack of jobs and failing economy, problems with my wife or at work, little stuff, you know? then i watch something like this and realize that my problems arent really problems at all, just mild challenges, and in the global lottery of who ends up where i came out pretty good. then i feel stupid for complaining at all, for it was never my right to cry because i know very little of true loss and pain. i think more people should try to remember this, because those challenges seem a whole lot smaller afterwards.

Edis Omerovic
Edis Omerovic
12 years ago

The UN is a house full of ****, to tell you from personal experience from Bosnia

b0x0fr0x
b0x0fr0x
12 years ago

TLDR your bitchy little comments back and forth arguing with each other. You wanna have an online bitch fest, go to some forum. THIS is to post a review about the documentary. Is it worth watching? Are the sources reliable? Do you feel it was bias? This page is not for your @#% )@*%)*@% )@*(%@)*%# BITCH FEST.

Paul Sankar
Paul Sankar
12 years ago

All we need to know is if war crimes took place. Yes! it did..end of story. Sri Lankan Government should be punished.

Dean
Dean
12 years ago

Once again the BBC portrays a biased opinion and one-sided view of the war in Srilanka. Where are all the videos of the LTTE using their own men, women and children as human shields and suicide bombers??? Don't trust the media people - almost every story is a damn lie trying to cover up the truth to the benefit of their own country...

kchief58
kchief58
12 years ago

The UN "United Nations" is a big JOKE to allow this to happen,,Simply HORRIBLE

observernumber321
observernumber321
12 years ago

this is really bad. this documentary shows how useless the UN is in doing their job. if nothing happen to this sri lanka government mass murderers, i think the UN should be disolved forever. this is the main reason why we have international law. f--k'n animals. some people truely are evil!!

Baseline BASELINE
Baseline BASELINE
12 years ago

Rajaf--ksa is a mass murderer and war criminal.

Baseline BASELINE
Baseline BASELINE
12 years ago

channel 4 did a wonderful job to bring out the truth from a ruthless country. 40000 people mass murder in a week.
Sri Lanka is a Genocide country.

Baseline BASELINE
Baseline BASELINE
12 years ago

Sri Lankan Hookers made lies agreed upon, full of lies in Lies agreed upon.

Edmé M-D
Edmé M-D
12 years ago

why doesn't matter...it happened... and it shouldn't off

Gayan Wijethunga
Gayan Wijethunga
12 years ago

There are thousand of Tamils in Canada, UK and Australia who entered to those countries as a war refuges. They having there very wealthy life. And they are the people who donate billions of dollars to LTTE. When war was over those countries ask them to leave their countries, because there are no more threats to their life in Sri Lanka. But these Tamil diaspora do not like to leave these countries. Because they lost their wealthy life. So they spend million of dollars to prove Sri Lankan government still killing Tamils and Sri Lanka is not safe to the Tamils. The "Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields" is a one of that production.

Jose Mari
Jose Mari
12 years ago

well oddsr I'm sure your color doesn't guarantee your reputation as a superior, peace-loving, and rational being. Check your history and I'm pretty sure horrors of crime and abuse associated with your color abound in equal or far greater measure. I do think that the world doesn't need people as close minded as you are in solving its problems...YOU are, in fact, a problem yourself...

g isaac
g isaac
12 years ago

What...why...I...I just don't understand how we could...

Fransiej Noyfb
Fransiej Noyfb
12 years ago

oooh you got my approval posting that message was disprovig my own point by paying attention

Fransiej Noyfb
Fransiej Noyfb
12 years ago

disgusting? not that much..foolish that it is, if you dislike something it isnt worth your attention if you go so far as hate something/someone you should know what you hate and how more you learn the more you see that they are different but so are I and the next one reading this..the thing that makes us humans the same is that we are ALL different

oddsrhuge
oddsrhuge
12 years ago

Another reason I'm proud to belong to this species...Sheesh. But, lets listen to people who say that we are all just paranoid about issues, if we want to question an official story.

Although, I am sure these things only happen in far away places, filled with "brown" people.

Anusan Moorthy
Anusan Moorthy
12 years ago

@Anthony Fernando

The link you provided has distorted the translation of Tamil spoken on their subtitles beyond fathom. You call that a credible source? Beginning of part 4 of that video, he seems to be reading if you watch his eyes, not the mention the video is cut in several places. I could easily use the same excuses you did and say they were under duress by the Sri Lankan government, and recited a scripted play in-fear of their well-being.

I don't know the full fledged workings of the LTTE. Regardless to say, if you were pushed into the corner by your own government, I'm sure it's fair to say, you would have no choice but to become a Tamil Tiger.

The onus is on the government to retribute for the innocent civilian lives lost, regardless of how many lives were lost. Shelling no-fire zones and hospitals is a clear infringement of rules of warfare, and is constituted as a war crime.

Time for the government to provide some concrete answer, and allow a independent investigation; instead of hiding behind their wall of denial.

MrTame
MrTame
12 years ago

Do a search on Tamil Tigers and look at what their terrorist organization accomplished thruout their reign. After doing 5 minutes of research I can see why the SL Gov't wanted this terrorist organization overthrown BUT they could have done it in a MUCH MORE humane way.

joe31
joe31
12 years ago

sir lanka government and its arny are scum,and the others who hid behind civilians are coward scum...this doc made me sick

MrTame
MrTame
12 years ago

If Sri Lanka was a major oil exporter then there would have been a UN endorsed "No Fly Zone." The Gov't would have been over thrown. The president would have been caught and killed by his own people. Shell would move in and begin exporting oil. The crises would have been deemed a major victory... ( all completely wrong in its own sense )

But...

Sri Lanka has no oil, so this will all be swept under a rug. Perhaps a plackard will go up somewhere honoring the tens of thousands that died. No true justice will be served for all those innocent lives.

Sieben Stern
Sieben Stern
12 years ago

it's not the violence that is shocking, but the fact that it happened as recently as 2009.

zaphodity
zaphodity
12 years ago

The human race sure is capable of some messed up stuff.

Anusan Moorthy
Anusan Moorthy
12 years ago

@Abraham Anand

What are you talking about? My comment was towards Anthony FERNANDO and his excuses. His and other campaigns' excuses to ridicule anyone, especially the Tamils speaking up against the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government.

Terrence Vivian Carr
Terrence Vivian Carr
12 years ago

UN is useless. Uganda, Srebrenic and Sri Lanka to mention just a few.

Anusan Moorthy
Anusan Moorthy
12 years ago

@Anthony Fernando

Quite sad that anyone who speaks up against the war crimes committed by the Sri Lankan government is either brainwashed, works for the LTTE, bribed, or was under duress.

If the government has nothing to hide, they would have no reason to deny an independent investigation against war crimes and human rights violation. Fact of the matter is innocent lives were taken, those lives being citizens of Sri Lanka, to which the government of that very country is doing nothing about it - besides being ignorant, hiding their mess under the carpet, and looking the other way.

Please do submit the source for your allegations.

Anthony Fernando
Anthony Fernando
12 years ago

This documentary was exposed recently I will try to get the link on here somehow. Please google it if i cannot. Channel 4 news was shamed when their financial audit revealed 2.4 million "donated" through various "charity" sources affiliated with the LTTE. To sum up why this documentary has so many inconsistencies present for dramatization: The main female actor is not a humanitarian worker, she is an ltte cadre. ALL the doctors in this video came out during a press conference last JULY and explained how they and their families were under threat by the ltte to give false testimonies. I really hope the UK government does a thorough investigation of transaction between a well know terror organization and Channel 4.... shame on them...a true example of the dark and corrupt side of media today.

Guest
Guest
12 years ago

Didn't find this any easier to watch the second time round but I did manage to keep my eyes open for it. I want to know but I don't want to see, makes me feel sick and Its in my mind now whether I want it or not. The things people do to each other...

Laurence Vanhelsuwe
Laurence Vanhelsuwe
12 years ago

When you see all the modern military hardware the SL forces have, why is it that so few people in the West are not supporting a complete outlawing of the design, manufacture and export of these weapons? The argument that "If we don't do it, another country will, so it's in our best interest." has always disgusted me to the core.. All directors, shareholders and employees of military equipment manufacturers have the blood of innocent civilians on their despicable hands. If people have to fight each other, then let them do it like chimpanzees: with sticks and dirt. That should be a more honest reflection of what level of consciousness they are exhibiting..