Members of the TNPF have called on the UN Human Rights Council to take action to address the ongoing genocide and called for the establishment of a transitional administration in the North-East of Sri Lanka.
President of the TNPF, Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, General Secretary Kajendran Selvarajah and National Organiser Visvalingam Manivannan all addressed the Council, on behalf of the NGO International Educational Development, during the general debate on the High Commissioner’s report on Sri Lanka.
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Mr. V. Manivannan told the Council,
“While welcoming the High Commissioner's recommendation for the establishment for an international independent and credible investigative mechanism we are disappointed that this council will this week debate a resolution wherein the strongest possible mechanism that this council could establish will not be provided for.”
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Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, speaking about the prospects of reconciliation, said,
“Regarding reconciliation, this issue is a non-starter. Any reconciliation project has to include the Tamil nation - numerically smaller in number on the island - and the Sinhala nation - a majority within the current configuration of the Sri Lankan state. The Sinhala nation has no intention of “reconciling” with the Tamil nation and wants it to assimilate into its vision of a Sinhala Buddhist Sri Lanka. Indeed, the only “remedy” with the Tamil people in Sri Lanka is fleeing or assimilation.”
TNPF General Secretary Kajendran Selvarajah, welcomed the recognition that there was a lack of political will to achieve justice in Sri Lanka, while expressing disappointment at the use of the LLRC report as a basis for reconciliation.
“We wish to emphasise that the lack of a political will is not just a feature of the present government but a general characteristic attributable to the Sinhala nation that forms a majority of the Sri Lankan state. We reiterate that it will be futile to expect any future Government belonging to any political formation to provide for a domestic process to achieve justice in the island.”
Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam – Oral Statement at HRC25 (26 Mar 2014)
Visvalingam Manivannan – Oral Statement at HRC25 (26 Mar 2014)
Kajendran Selvarajah – Oral Statement at HRC25 (26 Mar 2014)