Following Sri Lanka’s 74th Independence Day, Tamil parliamentarians have called on Britain’s Minister for South Asia, Lord Tariq Ahmad to take “meaningful action” on Sri Lanka as they list over 800 cases of abuse on the island, with 38 cases from January 2022 alone.
“We look to the UK, as the penholder for the Geneva process, to do more to vet and screen Sri Lankan officials it engages with, to apply Magnitsky Sanctions to Sri Lankan alleged war criminals, to exercise universal jurisdiction over alleged perpetrators and to speak out about ongoing grave violations of human rights that drive so many of our people to flee their homes and seek refuge abroad”.
In detailing the abuse of Sri Lankan officers, the letter highlights numerous cases of torture and suspicious deaths in police custody. This includes reports of Tamil youth being “abducted, detained, tortured, executed and their bodies dumped”.
The letter further urges Lord Ahmad to ensure that Police Scotland does not renew its training with Sri Lanka’s police force.
One of the cases concerns a 27-year-old Tamil youth who was arrested for his participation in the P2P protest in February whilst an EU human rights investigation team was in the country. The victims tended to be young men from the North-East who had no connection with the LTTE – indeed they were children during the war.
On Twitter, MP Rishad Bathiudeen stated:
“Within last 2 months,40-45 #Tamil youth arrested under Prevention of Terrorism Act (#PTA) are held in prisons. I’ve spoken to some in their early 20s while I was in prison. They must have been 10 or 12 at the time war ended”.
Reports have also noted the “arrests of many 17 and 18-year-old Tamil and Muslim young men during the last two years”.
“The trigger for arrest or abduction appears to be something as simple as participating in commemorations for the dead from the war which is our right and our duty as Tamils or participating in peaceful protests for our rights” the letter adds.
The letter lists those arrested for social media posts as well as the targeting and harassment of Tamil politicians for participating in memorial events such as Selvarajah Kajendran. This crackdown has also extended to Tamil journalists who have been brutally attacked by Sri Lanka’s military. The letter also notes the beating of a fisherman with a cricket wicket stump whilst he was tied up.
A further issue raised is the harassment of former LTTE cadres which is decried as “an attempt to construct a narrative about an LTTE resurgence being a threat”.
“Such a narrative is an excuse for fear-mongering against Tamils and is used to justify continued militarisation of the north and east. Many of these arrestees are past their prime and some had received rehabilitation by the state”.
The letter was signed by Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, Selva Adaikalanathan, Govindan Karunakaram, S. Noharathalingam, Dharmalingam Sithadthan, Charles Nirmalanthan, Mrs Anathy Sasitahran, M. K Shivajilangam, and Sivagnanam Shritharan.
The International Centre for Prevention and Prosecution of Genocide has urged for the international community to impose targeted sanctions on senior Sri Lankan officials implicated in war crimes; to prosecute them under universal jurisdiction; to boycott events and tournaments conducted in Sri Lanka; to review asylum processes regarding Sri Lankan nationals to avoid refoulment and safeguard human rights; to stop support for Sri Lanka’s genocide regime and to pursue accountability at the international level.