Tamil doctor reveals being pressurized by Sri Lanka govt to recant war reports

A Tamil doctor has revealed he was forced by the Sri Lankan government to recant his claims about casualty figures during the civil war.

Dr T Varatharaja was working in Sri Lanka's combat zone in the final days of the civil war.

Varatharaja was one of five doctors who spoke regularly to the media during the war, giving far higher casualty figures than the government, the BBC reports.

According to the BBC, the doctors were arrested and later said the rebels had forced them to lie.

Dr Varatharaja, who was speaking from Geneva where he had taken part in a discussion organised by Human Rights Watch, said he and his colleagues had been threatened with three to four years in jail if they did not recant their statements, the report said.

He also recalled how the Sri Lankan Government insisted that there were only 80,000 civilians left in the war zone as the conflict came to a head, while over 300,000 were actually trapped in the area, it added.