Peoples tribunal finds US, UK, India complicit in war crime
The Australian Tamil Congress (ATC) has welcomed the verdict of the second session of the Rome-based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) that the Sri Lankan government is guilty of genocide against the Tamils. The second session, held in December 2013, of the People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka found that the genocide against Tamils continues in Sri Lanka.
Speaking to The Indian Sun, Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson of the ATC, said: “We have been crying out for years that genocide has been and is continuing to take place against the Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. Now an independent panel has scrutinised evidence and witness testimonies to confirm our claim of genocide.
“In the absence of such a tribunal or any meaningful step from bodies such as the UN in actually stopping the destruction of the Eelam Tamils’ identity, the use of the term genocide is crucial in the lead up towards the UN HRC session in March this year.
“Almost five years have passed since the massacring of the Tamils in our homeland, and still no perpetrator has been brought to justice. In fact, the Sri Lankan state has accelerated its program of structural genocide of the Tamil people.
“The past two UN HRC resolutions “on” (not “against”) Sri Lanka were fairly weak and only helped buy Sri Lanka more time to execute its systematic eradication of the Eelam Tamils.
“When there is complicity of genocide, the international community has a responsibility to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice, and the genocide is not allowed to continue. On that front, the Tamil people have always called for an international independent investigation into war crimes in Sri Lanka. Furthermore, we believe only a political solution that addresses the legitimate grievances of the Eelam Tamils will stop the genocide of our people. With the recent PPT verdict, we hope the UN HRC will support and set steps to achieve these calls.”
Published in The Indian Sun (Indian Newspaper in Sydney)
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