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The Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) wrote to the United Nations Resident Coordinator in the country this morning, in a hand delivered letter that called for “action” regarding the attack on anti-government protestors by Sri Lanka’s security forces last week.
Parliamentarian Harshana Rajakaruna was one of the SJB members who personally delivered the letter to the UN office in Colombo this morning.
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The call for action from the global body comes despite the SJB having been steadfastly opposed to international action from the global body for the massacres of tens of thousands of Tamils by Sri Lankan security forces in 2009.
As the UN Human Rights Council passed resolutions calling for an internationalised accountability mechanism to prosecute perpetrators of mass atrocities the party called for yet another “domestic accountability mechanism”.
The party continues to hold key Sinhala extremist figures such as Champika Ranawaka, who has called for the banning of the niqab and burkha; immediate deportation of foreign Islamic teachers; and called for greater scrutiny of Muslim places of worship by the state security units amongst other racist policies.
Former Sri Lankan army commander and accused war criminal Sarath Fonseka also remains a key figure. Fonseka is one of the architects of the Mullivaikkal genocide. He served as Sri Lanka’s army commander during the final years of the wars, from 2005 to 2009, which oversaw a litany of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of hospitals, mass executions and sexual violence. During the final months, UN data suggests that over 70,000 Tamils were slaughtered whilst local census records indicate that at least 146,679 people are unaccounted for and are presumed to have been killed.
