Another British Member of Parliament, Hon. Daniel Zeichner MP, has agreed to join a number of British MPs, human rights organizations and Tamil activists who have been calling on the FCDO to impose Sanctions against the Sri Lankan War Criminals including, the notorious General Shavendra Silva, the current chief of Sri Lankan Army.
As part of this ongoing campaign, on Friday, 29 April 2022, a very productive meeting was held with Hon. Daniel Zeichner MP, who is the Member of Parliament for Cambridge area via zoom.
The meeting was presided over by Human Rights activists and legal advisor, Mr. Geeth Kulasegaram, ICPPG’s director Mrs Ambihai K Selvakumar, Campaign Director of SLC Melissa Dring and many human rights activists participated in the meeting.
In his inaugural speech, Mr. Geeth Kulasegaram pointed out that FCDO has failed to take action to sanction Sri Lankan Army Commander General Shavendra Silva, even though ITJP and ICPPG have submitted enough evident to prove that he was responsible for the killings of many thousands of innocent Tamil People in the final war. He further added that Shavendra Silva was not only responsible for the massacre of Tamils in the final war but he is also responsible for the continuous abductions and tortures in Sri Lanka. Geeth also noted that some of the participants in the meeting were direct victims of his crime. He requested the MP to put pressure on the FCDO on behalf of the Tamil victims from his constituency to sanction Shavendra Silva. He also requested the MP to work with APPGT and APPG for Magnitsky and to share a small video calling to sanction Shavendra Silva on social media as a facilitation to stop the torture in Sri Lanka and to bring about justice to the victims.
ICPPG director Mrs. Ambihai K Selvakumar expressed her sadness over the ignorance of the FCDO in replying to their requests to sanction Shavendra Silva and revealed that the ICPPG has collected thousands of witnesses including the very recent torture victims and requested the MP to arrange a meeting with the FCDO so that they can get first-hand information.
Some of the recent torture victims from Sri Lanka Lucas Joseph Lesly Selvanathan, Kapilan Anpurethinam, Mohanaruban Varatharajaj , Kanistan Vimalathasan, and Christy Nilani Kandeeban also to participate in the meeting and shared their horrific experiences with the MP.
After taking into consideration of the information provided, the MP expressed his full support to the victims and pledged to demand the FCDO to sanction Chief Army Commander Shavendra Silva on behalf of his Tamil constituents.
