Following Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal, Malcolm Ranjith call for an international inquiry into the Easter Sunday bombings which claimed an estimated 270 lives, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, MA Sumanthiran has supported these calls and highlighted the urgent need to investigate Sri Lankan war crimes.

“His Eminence has called for an international inquiry after 2 years. We have waited for 11 long years or longer than that, how can anybody blame us for asking for an international investigation?” Sumanthiran stated.

Easter Sunday Attacks

In his parliamentary address, Sumanthiran highlighted the findings of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) report which maintained that a need for further investigations to determine whether “whether those with vested interest did not act on intelligence so as to create chaos and instil fear and uncertainty in the country in the lead up to the presidential election to be held later in the year”.

“Coincidentally or not so coincidentally, the security situation and fear would be unleashed months away from the Presidential elections the PSC also notes that this occurred in the context of changes in the leadership in the Sri Lankan Army and the DMI in 2019” he adds.

The 2019 elections saw a landslide victory of Gotabaya Rajapaksa who campaigned on a Sinhala nationalist ticket and attacked the administration for allegedly weakening national security. The report highlights that Sri Lanka’s intelligence officials had known the names of five of the 6 suicide bombers but failed to act to prevent the atrocities.

Sumanthiran also notes the shortcomings of the report, remarking that the country still does not know who masterminded the attack.

The need for accountability

He further highlights that those who vehemently oppose an international war crimes investigation are “themselves now calling for International Inquiry”. This, he notes, is because “the State has failed, the state has failed in its most awesome responsibility of accountability”.

“The State is accountable to its citizens in delivering Justice, that’s the highest obligation of the State towards its citizens. And the State has failed in that, I’m saying this today also in the context of the session of the UN Human Rights council going on where repeatedly for 11 years the world has asked us about accountability”, Sumanthiran declared.

He also remarked that Sri Lanka held responsibilities as well as privileges as being a member of the United Nations.

“If we say we are a Sovereign Nation then the Sovereignty that vests in the people must have some meaning and the officials of the State are only those who must carry that obligation and make that Sovereignty a reality. To the extent that they don’t do that, to the extent that they fail to do that, Justice will cry out all over the world and that’s something that people from both sides of the house must realise” he stated.

He further added that:

“Christian charity is to forgive but it’s a forgiveness based on justice […] The world is looking at this country that has failed to deliver justice to its citizen and has become a failed state today”.

Read his full statement here.