Expressing surprise at media reports on the refusal of visas by the Central government to the United Nations committee probing the human rights violations in Sri Lanka, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure that the committee members are granted visas and are in a position to do a fair and impartial inquiry.
In a letter written on Wednesday, the Chief Minister said that given India’s geographical proximity to Sri Lanka and that a number of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees were residing in Tamil Nadu, “India is definitely a place that any team probing human rights violations in Sri Lanka should visit to conduct its inquiries.” This was why she sought Mr. Modi’s intervention, which would go a long way in “assuaging the strong sentiments prevailing among all sections of society and the polity in Tamil Nadu.”
She stated that if the media reports on the refusal of visas were true, “this would be a bitter disappointment to the people of Tamil Nadu, who are determined to ensure that the Sri Lankan regime is held to account for its heinous acts against Tamils.”
Assembly resolutions
Ms. Jayalalithaa gave an account of the background in which the Assembly adopted four resolutions in recent years on the Sri Lankan Tamils question and the steps taken by her in the last three years to impress upon the Centre the need to do justice to the Tamils.