Responding to an event hosted by the London School of Economics’ South Asia Centre, which has invited Sri Lanka’s former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga as a guest speaker, a number of Tamil student organisations have expressed their opposition.
“Kumaratunga’s expression of peace was a mere charade to the world governments to cover the genocide that she had prepared to carry out against the North and East of the island” the joint statement reads.
The event is to mark Sri Lanka's 75th anniversary since its independence from British rule and is titled, "Ceylon to Sri Lanka: A journey in Nationhood"
The student's statement also details a number of atrocities against Tamil civilians which include the 1995 Navaly Church bombing, the 1995 Nagerkovil school massacre, the 1996 Kumarapuram massacre, the 1998 Thampalakamam massacre; and the 1999 Puthukkudiyituppu massacre.
Read more here: ‘Before I could run bombs began falling’ - Remembering the Navaly church massacre
The joint statement further called on the LSE to invite Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) Leader Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam to instead give a talk on Sri Lanka’s crisis and condemned Kumaratunga’s invitation.
The statement was signed by a number of Tamil student organisations and was led by the UK Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO).
Read the full statement here.
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