A group of Sri Lankan citizens who said they were Tamil businessmen protested in front of the Indian High Commission in Colombo demanding that India support Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Council session in Geneva.
The protest was held before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made clear India's “inclination” on the U.S.-sponsored resolution against Sri Lanka at the Council.
The businessmen reminded the Indian High Commission of the riots targeting Tamils in Colombo and wanted India to refrain from taking any course of action that might hurt Tamils in Sri Lanka. A few of them later met Deputy High Commissioner P. Kumaran and handed over a four-page memorandum detailing the past (when they were repressed by the LTTE), the present (the government is working to implement the recommendations of a commission that went into the cause of the Tamil struggle), and the future (what would happen if India did not support Sri Lanka at the UNHRC).
The memorandum, which reflected the government line on most points, said the businessmen had “suffered untold hardships for nearly 30 years due to the LTTE. All major industries, the agriculture, fisheries and services in the north and east Sri Lanka were adversely affected, and many were forced to liquidate their businesses as it was not viable for them to continue in the theatre of conflict”. Also, “LTTE levied heavy taxes…to finance their misplaced ideology”.
The memorandum went on to describe the steps taken by the government to bring about normalcy in the war-ravaged Northern Province, and also put on record the fears of the Tamil business community.
Stand welcomed
The Tamil National Alliance has welcomed India's stand on the U.S.-sponsored resolution.
It also thanked the political parties in Tamil Nadu for bringing pressure on the government. But many prominent individuals and civil society leaders here have criticised the Indian stand.
Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of Buddhist monks and leaders from other religions participated in an Adishtana Pooja and Satyagraha to defeat anti-Sri Lankan forces and conspiracies. A similar Buddhist prayer was held on Saturday too, to bless the government.
