Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) leader and Jaffna parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam has said that no government in the world has been willing to bring the Sri Lankan state before an international court, despite overwhelming evidence of atrocities committed against Tamils.
Speaking at a discussion titled “Mirage of Justice” held at the Thanthai Chelva Auditorium in Jaffna this week, Ponnambalam made the remarks while commemorating Dr Kasipillai Manoharan and the five Tamil students shot dead by the Sri Lankan military in Trincomalee in 2006.
During his address, Ponnambalam recalled that when he spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Sri Lanka’s genocide, he had warned that the mechanisms being established were not designed to deliver genuine justice to victims, but merely to provide accountability through a symbolic vote.
He went on to recount the events of May 2009, during the final days of the armed conflict. Ponnambalam said that on 16 May, senior members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) — Nadesan and Pulidevan — had contacted him to say that over 100,000 Tamil civilians were trapped in the war zone and urged him to help negotiate a halt to the fighting to ensure their safety.
According to Ponnambalam, subsequent discussions took place with Basil Rajapaksa, then-president Mahinda Rajapaksa, and several priests. During those talks, he said, an understanding was reached to protect the civilians on May 16, 2009, with representatives from multiple parties participating in the negotiations.
The effort, he explained, was aimed at rescuing between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians. However, in the final stage, aerial bombardments were carried out in the designated area, resulting in the mass killing of Tamil civilians, Ponnambalam said.
He stated that at least 100,000 people were killed in the assault, a figure directly communicated to him by LTTE officials on 16 May 2009.
Ponnambalam added that, on the instructions of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan, he had passed information about the ongoing massacres to the embassies of India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
He concluded his remarks by reiterating that no government, despite repeated international resolutions and pledges, has been willing to hold the Sri Lankan state accountable before an international court for its crimes.
