– More Tamil Political Leaders jointly insist the British Government to sanction Sri Lankan Army Officers –
A further letter jointly signed by 3 more key Tamil Political Leaders in Sri Lanka, had been submitted to Rt. Hon. Lord Tariq Ahmad of Wimbledon who is the British Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and Minister of State (Minister for South and Central Asia, North Africa, United Nations, and the Commonwealth), UK.
Following the recent visit of Lord Ahmad to Sri Lanka, on 04 February 2022, a joint letter signed by 9 Tamil Political leaders including current Members of a Parliament and Political Party Leaders was submitted to him highlighting his failure to comment on the ongoing abductions, unlawful arrest, arbitrary detentions, torture in custody, increasing mysterious murders and other human rights violations in Sri Lanka and condemning his omission to meet the Tamil Political Leaders.
Subsequently, this week, the second letter had been jointly signed by 3 more key political leaders including the Leader of Tamil Arasu Kadchi Hon. Maavai Senathirajah, Leader of the Tamil Eelam Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) Hon. Suresh Premachandran and the current Member of Parliament Hon. Kalaiyarasan Thevarajah, in order to endorse the previous letter, followup and demands a response.
Whilst the letter provides a lot of information on a number of most recent human rights violations, a very detailed research report compiled by the International Centre for Prevention and Prosecution of Genocide (ICPPG) which contains evidence of the most recent cases of violations documented by the local media was also submitted to corroborate the facts in the letter. According to this research report, between Nov 2019 – Mar 2022, the ICPPG has documented at least 848 reported cases of human rights violations in Sri Lanka.
It is also pointed out that this is just the tip of the iceberg and the Tamil Political leaders confirmed their personal knowledge of these kinds of violations and also invited Lord Ahmad for a meeting in which they offered to furnish him with more evidence and first-hand information of such ongoing violations.
In conclusion, all the 11 Tamils Political Leaders who have jointly signed the letters to Lord Ahmad, have unanimously insisted the U.K to take meaningful action and prove its genuine commitment by imposing sanctions against the Sri Lankan army officers involved in war crimes and ongoing violations.
