The Northern Provincial Council’s Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran said the resolution passed today by the Northern Provincial Council, calling on the UN to investigate genocide, is a challenge to "moral integrity and humaneness" of the international community and the Sinhala people.

"It is my hope that this resolution would not be considered as an epistle to the international community only, unrelated to the life of my Sinhalese brothers and sisters. This resolution is a challenge to your moral integrity and humaneness. If you could assimilate what brutality and inconsiderateness has preceded you or bypassed you so far, may be chances for moral regeneration and a more healthier cooperative and coordinated life style for the future of all people living in this blessed isle could be ensured," the chief minister said.

Speaking after the resolution passed with a huge majority, Justice Wigneswaran said if warnings by previous Tamil leaders were given heed, the “brutal war and its ill effects” may have been averted.

The chief minister quoted a 1974 memorandum by the Tamil United Front leader CJV Chelvanayagam to the Commonwealth conference, which took place in Sri Lanka that year, which said “In Ceylon today there is clearly a situation where immediate action and assistance are necessary to stop a bad situation from getting worse”.

See full speech here.