Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Rauff Hakeem told parliament on Wednesday that the killing of Balachandran Prabhakaran, the 12-year-old son of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, must be investigated as a war crime.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate, Hakeem referred to renewed attention on the child's murder. He recalled the photographs that emerged after the war showing Balachandran alive and being given a snack in Sri Lankan military custody, before later images showed his body with gunshot wounds to the chest.
"Whether he was a terrorist's son or not," Hakeem said, questioning why allegations surrounding the child's death continued to be dismissed without investigation.
Drawing comparisons with the treatment of the families of other militant leaders, he noted that the children and family of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) founder Rohana Wijeweera had been protected after Wijeweera was killed, and that the daughter of Easter Sunday attacks mastermind Zahran Hashim had survived.
"Wijeweera's family was saved. Zahran's daughter was saved. Why do you have to kill Prabhakaran's son?" he asked.
Hakeem stressed that he was not asserting that the killing had taken place, but argued that if it had, it demanded a proper inquiry. "If it is true that such a war crime occurred, and if Prabhakaran's son was killed, then the matter must be investigated. It must be treated as a war crime," he said.
The evidence that Balachandran was executed in custody is extensive and has been in the public domain since 2013. Leaked trophy photographs taken by Sri Lankan soldiers show the boy seated on a bench surrounded by sandbags in what appears to be a fortified army position, a snack in his hand.
Subsequent photographs show him lying dead with five bullet wounds to his chest. Digital analysis established that both images were taken by the same camera within a couple of hours of each other. Forensic pathologists instructed by Channel 4 concluded that the child had been executed, and Callum Macrae, director of the documentary No Fire Zone, stated that the photographs ruled out any suggestion that Balachandran had died in crossfire, showing instead that he was held, fed and then taken away and shot in cold blood.
The Sri Lankan military has long claimed that Balachandran was killed in crossfire during battle.
Balachandran, born on 1 October 1996, was one of thousands of Tamil children killed by the Sri Lankan military during the final phase of the armed conflict. His killing has come to occupy a particular place in the documentary record of the Mullivaikkal genocide, both for the clarity of the photographic evidence and for what it represented: the deliberate killing of a child who posed no threat, taken into custody alive and shot. No one has ever been held accountable for his death.
During the same speech, Hakeem also criticised the continued extension of emergency regulations, questioned delays in judicial appointments and promotions, and accused Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake of failing to fulfil constitutional obligations regarding judicial vacancies. He further warned that proposed amendments to the Prevention of Terrorism Act could prove more draconian than the existing law.