The British Tamils Forum said this week it deplores the statement by the UK’s Minister in charge for Sri Lanka, Rt Hon Alistair Burt, in which he suggested that the island’s conflict has ended.

The BTF’s statement follows:

On his highly controversial trip to Sri Lanka, Minister Burt is seen giving an interview on the beaches of Mullivaikkal, with John Rankin, the British High commissioner in Sri Lanka, in which he repeatedly states that the conflict has ended in Sri Lanka.

[See the full interview here.]

Mullivaikal, a coastal village in the north east corner of the Island of Sri Lanka was where over 40,000 Tamils were massacred in just the final few days of the war in 2009. Gordon Weiss, a UN spokesman during the war described this as the "Srebrenica Moment".

British Tamils Forum’s Parliamentary Coordinator Nad Mylvaganam conveying the feelings of the Tamil people said

“The insensitivity at the choice of the place for his interview and the manner in which he refers to the conflict as a thing of the past, has incensed Tamil people who are still mourning their loved ones massacred on those beaches. Minister Burt’s untimely visit undermines the efforts of Human Rights defenders who are working hard to hold the regime to account.”

The conflict in the island is between the Tamil nation that is facing an existential threat from the Sinhala nation which is working systematically to rid the island of Tamil people in every way possible; by terrorising them, taking away their land and their livelihoods – all through “democratically” elected Sinhala governments.

War has ended, but the “conflict” between the two nations of the Island of Sri Lanka has not and will continue until a sustainable political solution in which the two nations are recognised by each other and by international community.

Here in Britain, it will be considered an insult to refer the Scottish or the Welsh people as minorities. Yet, labelling the Tamil people as minority goes unchallenged causing extreme distress to the Tamil people who see it as a direct attack on their nationhood. It is important that her Majesty’s government and its officers understand the nature of the conflict in Sri Lanka before trying to address it.