Concerned at the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka following reports of alleged war crimes and violation of human rights during the war, the Communist Party of India asked India to raise the issue at the current United Nations Human Rights Commission meeting at Geneva.
CPI Member of Parliament D. Raja said the party had consistently raised the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils both inside and outside Parliament. Even during the last phase of the war, the CPI pleaded with the Centre to prevail upon Colombo to stop the genocide and work out a political solution. On the other hand, India continued to extend its support to the Sri Lankan government.
Stating that the Sri Lankan government strategically utilised the geo-political equations and launched bombings on innocent Tamil civilians, leading to the killing of nearly 45,000 people on a single day, Mr. Raja said the international community was shocked by the war crimes and gross violations of human rights.
In view of this, the U.N. Secretary-General constituted an advisory panel to examine the situation. Having gathered credible evidence on war crimes and human rights violations, the U.N. Advisory Panel, in its report, highlighted its concern: “It is imperative that international steps to ensure accountability not be held hostage to unnecessarily slow or otherwise ineffective national efforts. Thus, while the Sri Lankan government should immediately embark on a genuine investigation of the alleged violations in this report, the panel considers that an independent and complementary international approach is imperative,” he said in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Sharing his concern over the U.N. advisory anel, Mr. Raja said he strongly believed that the country and the government had the moral responsibility to raise the issue in the international arena to bring the perpetrators of this “heinous crime” to justice. through appropriate international bodies and mechanisms.
