Northern Provincial Council yesterday (February 10, 2015) unanimously passed a resolution saying that genocide of the Tamil in Sri Lanka has been continuous since 1948, and that the UN must investigate it and submit a report at the March session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), and refer its findings to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for further action.
The Resolution was tabled by Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran, and adopted by the Council unanimously.
C.V Wigneswaran
We publish below the full text of the Resolution;
This resolution provides an overview of the evidence demonstrating successive Sri Lankan governments’ genocide against Tamils, and respectfully requests the ongoing United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Investigation on Sri Lanka (OISL) to investigate the claim of genocide and recommend appropriate investigations and prosecutions by the International Criminal Court.
The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide (Genocide Convention) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 9th December, 1948, and acceded to by Sri Lanka in 1950, and provides:
In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group;
(b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
(c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
(d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Although the OISL investigation is a time-bound effort focused on February 2002 – November 2011, Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils began with the island’s independence. Since then, Tamils across Sri Lanka, particularly in the historical Tamil homeland of the NorthEast, have been subject to gross and systematic human rights violations, culminating in the mass atrocities committed in 2009. Sri Lanka’s historic violations include over 60 years of state- sponsored anti-Tamil pogroms, massacres, sexual violence, and acts of cultural and linguistic destruction perpetrated by the state. These atrocities have been perpetrated with the intent to destroy the Tamil people, and therefore constitute genocide.
This Council is of opinion that during the period extending from 1948, when the Citizenship Act was passed to strip citizenship from a segment of the Tamil community and render them stateless, and continuing through the present day, successive Sri Lankan governments have perpetrated genocide against Tamils. Extensive evidence demonstrates that acts have been committed that constitute four of the five enumerated genocidal acts in the Genocide Convention:
1. KILLING MEMBERS OF THE GROUP
Historical Genocide
A series of anti-Tamil pogroms, fueled in part by fabricated rumors about Tamil violence against Sinhalese, began with the passage of the Sinhala Only Act, or the Official Language Act, in 1956. On June 5, 1956, at the urging of Sinhalese nationalists, a Sinhalese mob attacked Tamil demonstrators peacefully protesting the Sinhala Only policy, and pillaged Tamil businesses in Colombo. When the news reached Gal Oya, from June 11–16, Sinhalese mobs, who were galvanized by false rumors about Tamil-initiated violence, killed around 150 Tamils, injured about 100 more, and destroyed many Tamil-owned properties. Although police were present during the riot, they passively chose not to intervene and stop the violence; their presence and inaction illustrates the government’s intent to destroy the Tamil people in whole or in part.
Nonviolent, Gandhian-style protests by Tamils increased over the next two years. In May 1958, Buddhist monks and other Sinhala nationalists organized anti-Tamil pogroms throughout Sri Lanka from May 22–27 in the North Central Province, Colombo, Central Province, along the west coast, and eventually the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The Prime Minister spread false rumors about Tamil-initiated atrocities to incite violence against Tamils in the Sinhalese dominated areas. Estimates indicate that 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 200 women were raped in the 1958 pogrom.
In Jaffna in January 1974, a massive gathering at the Jaffna esplanade was engrossed in the speech of a Muslim Tamil scholar, late Professor Naina Mohamed, on the last day of the International Association of Tamil Research Conference. The Sri Lanka police unleashed a brutal attack on the passive gathering, which led to the wanton death of 9 Tamils. This Council notes that the memorandum submitted by the late Tamil United Front (TUF) Leader to visiting heads of states during the Commonwealth Conference held in Colombo in September 1974 placed on record important instances of serious human rights violations committed against Tamils on the island since independence in 1948.
From August 12–20, 1977, Tamils were attacked on the train from Jaffna to Colombo, through the country from Anuradhapura to Colombo, and in the Hill Country. Again, false rumors about Tamil violence against Sinhalese contributed to the rioting. About 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 25,000 were displaced. These pogrom occurred less than one month after J.R. Jayewardene took office as prime minister. Jayewardene said the deaths were regrettable but a natural reaction to support for separatism. Whilst the 1977 pogrom raged and the Tamil people were reeling from the slaughter, Prime Minister Jayawardene rose in Parliament on 18 August and arrogantly issued a challenge to Tamils: “if you want to fight, let there be a fight; if it is peace, let there be peace.” (Hansard, Vol. 23, No. 2, Col: 246.) Jayewardene’s victim-blaming furthers the argument that the government intended to commit genocide in response to the increasingly popular Tamil resistance.
The most horrific anti-Tamil pogroms, known as “Black July,” occurred July 23–30, 1983, and involved state-sponsored Sinhalese mobs attacking Tamils and destroying their properties across the country, beginning in Colombo. Towards the end of the week, false rumors that the LTTE infiltrated Colombo resulted in massacres of Tamils by Sinhalese mobs who wanted to be sure there was no LTTE presence. The mobs targeted and located Tamils using voter registration lists, damning evidence of the government’s instigation of these attacks. Over 3,000 Tamils were killed, 500 women were raped, 8,000 homes and 5,000 businesses were destroyed, and about 500,000 Tamils fled the country. In addition, as part of this pogrom, over 37 Tamil political prisoners detained at Welikada Prison were killed by Sinhalese prisoners on July 25. The survivors say that the prison officers facilitated these murders by letting the Sinhalese prisoners have their keys.
Just prior to Black July, on July 11, President Jayawardene was quoted in a newspaper, saying: “I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people. … now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion … Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.” (J.R. Jayawardene, President of Sri Lanka, Daily Telegraph, July 1983.) This statement by the head of state clearly indicates the government’s intent to destroy the Tamil people through killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting on the Tamil people the conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.
This Council notes that the spread of false rumors to incite violence against a group is a hallmark of genocides throughout history, such as in Nazi Germany, Rwanda, and the former Yugoslavia. The Sri Lankan government has used false rumors as one tool in organizing Sinhalese mobs to commit genocide against Tamils.
Black July is marked as the beginning of war in Sri Lanka. This Council notes that the ethnic conflict had already begun, however. Both overt and covert acts of state terrorism by successive government regimes, often pursuant to the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act, translated into systematic and widespread extrajudicial killings of Tamils. The atrocities against Tamils included over 50 separate massacres of civilians before 2008 and the targeted assassinations of political, civil and community leaders; enforced disappearances; torture; use of sexual violence as a tactic of war; severe restrictions or bans on food and basic medicine; and forced displacement, including coastal communities from the NorthEast Provinces.
The Vanni genocide of 2008-09 had previously been rehearsed in the Eastern Province. On 28 August 2006, the Sri Lankan military began a multi-pronged offensive against the LTTE- administered region stretching from Sampoor to Vaharai. Heavy shelling forced civilians to displace towards Vaharai. The UN reported that the Sri Lankan government first restricted international aid agencies and journalists from entering the area, and then completely barred food and medical supplies from reaching the IDPs. Presumed safe areas such as schools and hospitals came under heavy gunfire, according to the UN and Human Rights Watch. Thousands of Tamils died, either due to shelling or gunfire, or as a result of their untreated wounds or starvation. On 19 January 2007, the Sri Lankan military entered Vaharai with little resistance and began the process of colonizing the entire region.
During the war, government military forces engaged in deliberate aerial, artillery, and naval bombardment of civilian areas and also used prohibited weapons and ammunitions, such as cluster bombs. According to UN estimates, 60–100,000 Tamil civilians were killed over the course of the 27-year-long war. The large scale and severe nature of the genocide also forced many Tamils to flee the NorthEast Provinces and seek refuge in Tamil Nadu and Western countries.
Recent Genocide1
The Sri Lankan government intentionally corralled Tamils into the so-called No Fire Zones in 2009, in a calculated and deliberate attempt to destroy as many Tamils as possible. According to the U.N. Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka, the Sri Lankan government: “[S]helled on a large scale in three consecutive No Fire Zones, where it had encouraged the civilian population to concentrate, even after indicating that it would cease the use of heavy weapons. It shelled the United Nations hub, food distribution lines and near the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) ships that were coming to pick up the wounded and their relatives from the beaches. It shelled in spite of its knowledge of the impact, provided by its own intelligence systems and through notification by the United Nations, the ICRC and others. Most civilian casualties in the final phases of the war were caused by Government shelling.”
Callum Macrae, director of award-winning documentaries about Sri Lanka with UK’s Channel 4, reported on “evidence that the attacks killing civilians were accurately targeted.”
At the end of January 2009, government forces were killing approximately thirty-three Tamil people each day, with these casualties increasing to 116 people per day by April 2009. According to the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka, this toll surged, “with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19, 2009.” In a submission to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the Bishop of the Mannar Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, stated that according to the Government Secretariats, the population in the Vanni region in early October 2008 was 429,059. However, only 282,380 people emerged from the Vanni into government-controlled areas, according to UN OCHA 2009 statistics. Thus, over 146,679 people in the Vanni are not accounted for after the 2009 atrocities.
The U.N. Panel of Experts also reported on an elite unit within the Special Task Force (STF) of the police that was directly under the command of Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The Experts found that the unit was implicated in organizing “white van” operations in which individuals were abducted, tortured, and often “disappeared.”
Callum Macrae also reported that evidence exists “depicting the systematic and cold-blooded execution of bound, naked prisoners—and which also suggests sexual assault of naked female fighters.” At least 200 deceased and mutilated bodies, primarily of Tamil women and young girls, were observed by the employee of an international agency at the mortuary of a government hospital in February and March 2009.
2. CAUSING SERIOUS BODILY OR MENTAL HARM TO MEMBERS OF THE GROUP
Historical Genocide
In 1979, then-President Jayewardene passed the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which gave security forces broad powers to search, arrest, and detain suspects. The Prevention of Terrorism Act has been used to detain, torture, and even murder many Tamil civilians. Jayewardene also passed a constitutional amendment barring MPs who support separatism from Parliament, which effectively eliminated MPs from the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) from politics at the time. (6th Amendment, August 1983.) By curtailing Tamils’ right to free speech and free expression, Sri Lanka has violated the Tamils’ right to self-determination.
The governments of Sri Lanka also committed acts of cultural genocide, beginning on June 5, 1956, when the S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike government passed the Sinhala Only Act, or the Official Language Act, which replaced English with Sinhala, spoken by 70% of the population at the time, as the sole official language. This act failed to officially recognize Tamil in any capacity. In the first republican constitution of 1972, Buddhism was privileged “at the foremost place” among religions in the constitutions. Although the term “cultural genocide” does not appear in Genocide Convention, it was included in the initial draft, and international criminal tribunals have found acts of cultural and linguistic destruction to constitute acts of genocide. The Sinhala Only Act and the privileging of Buddhism undermine the Tamil people’s language and religion, predominantly Hindu.
Nearly ten years later, from May 31–June 2, 1981, policemen and paramilitaries organized a pogrom during which they killed 4 Tamils selected at random, destroyed TULF’s headquarters, the residence of the Jaffna MP, and burned the Jaffna library. Over 97,000 books and culturally and historically important and irreplaceable documents were destroyed in this heinous act of cultural genocide. High ranking security officers and cabinet ministers were in Jaffna when security forces destroyed Tamil life and property, further illustrating the state’s support of these acts. The government targeted the Jaffna library to destroy part of the Tamil people’s culture and cause them serious mental harm.
On 5 September 1990, the Sri Lanka Army took 158 Tamils from the Vantharamoolai IDP camp. Five days later, on 10 September, the Sri Lanka Army took 184 Tamils, including 38 children under age 10, from Sathurukkondaan and two nearby villages. There was only one witness who survived, who reported that all the detained had been massacred. Despite various commissions of inquiry, the fate of these people is still unknown.
This Council notes that all historical and more recent genocidal acts have caused serious mental harm to Tamils, as successive Sinhalese-dominated governments have committed gross and systematic human rights violations against the Tamil people. The International Law Commission interpreted the mental harm standard to mean that “the bodily harm or the mental harm inflicted on members of a group must be of such a serious nature as to threaten its destruction in whole or in part.” Thus, the acts of physical, cultural, and linguistic violence against Tamils are tantamount to genocide under the mental harm standard because extensive destruction of the Tamil culture and language threatens the Tamil people’s survival on the island.
Recent Genocide
The U.N. Report of the Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka found credible allegations that security forces committed rape and sexual violence against Tamil civilians while screening those leaving areas of conflict and in IDP camps. Yasmin Sooka, one of the experts who contributed to the Secretary-General’s U.N. report, released her own report in March 2014, concluding that “[a]bduction, arbitrary detention, torture, rape and sexual violence have increased in the post-war period . . . . These widespread and systematic violations by the Sri Lankan security forces occur in a manner that indicates a coordinated, systematic plan approved by the highest levels of government.” The report found “a pattern of targeting Tamils for abduction and arbitrary detention unconnected to a lawful purpose, involving widespread acts of torture and rape.” This report was based on forty sworn statements from witnesses who testified regarding their experiences of abduction, torture, and sexual violence by Sri Lankan security forces between May 2009 and February 2014. The report “paints a chilling picture of the continuation of the conflict against the ethnic Tamil Community with the purpose of sowing terror and destabilising community members who remain in the country.” The report identified “a practice of rape and sexual violence that has become institutionalized and entrenched in the Sri Lankan security forces.” Survivors reported being raped by uniformed male officers from the Sri Lankan military.
A Human Rights Watch report released in February 2013 also documented seventy-five cases of politically motivated sexual assaults of primarily Tamil detainees. Human Rights Watch found “disturbing patterns, strongly suggesting that [sexual violence] was a widespread and systematic practice,” and concluded that rape was a key element of more wide-ranging torture “intended to . . . instill terror in individuals and the broader Tamil population.” The report stated that “[s]exual violence, as with other serious abuses committed by Sri Lankan security forces, was committed against a backdrop of deeply entrenched impunity.”
Further, systematic attacks on hospitals during the 2009 military campaign caused serious bodily and mental harm to Tamils. Human Rights Watch documented at least thirty such attacks on permanent and makeshift hospitals in the combat area after December 2008. The destructive campaign has caused permanent mental effects on those who survived. Investigators with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Sri Lanka Ministry of Healthcare and Nutrition conducted a health survey of Jaffna District residents between July and September 2009. They found that the “prevalence of PTSD (13%), anxiety (48.5%), and depression (41.8%) symptoms among currently displaced Jaffna residents is more comparable with post-war Kosovars and Afghans.” As noted by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka, “continuous displacement and endless trauma caused by protracted war had a devastating impact” on mental health among Tamils. Further, the government hitherto has continued to impose restrictions on psychosocial support services in Tamil areas, which intentionally exacerbates serious mental harm.
3. DELIBERATELY INFLICTING ON THE GROUP CONDITIONS OF LIFE CALCULATED TO BRING ABOUT ITS PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART
Historical Genocide
Following the passage of the Sinhala Only Act, thousands of Tamil civil servants resigned due to a lack of fluency in Sinhala, and by 1970, the civil service was almost entirely Sinhalese. During this time, it was difficult, if not impossible, for Tamils to access government services due to the language barrier.
During the 1970s, university admissions were standardized to benefit Sinhalese students at the expense of Tamils. Gaining admission to university became increasingly difficult for Tamil students, whose numbers consequently declined at the tertiary level.
The UN noted that “If a state systematically denies to members of a certain group its elementary means of existence enjoyed by other sections of the population, it condemns such persons to a wretched existence maintained by illicit or clandestine activities and public charity.” The Sinhala Only Act made it prohibitively difficult for Tamils—many of whom were civil servants—to retain or gain employment or access government services, thus denying Tamils their elementary means of existence. Similarly, the standardization scheme introduced in 1970 discriminated against Tamil students seeking university entrance, putting them at a disadvantage for access to employment.
Moreover, according to international criminal jurisprudence from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the term “physical destruction” “should be construed as the methods of destruction by which the perpetrator does not immediately kill the members of the group, but which, ultimately, seek their physical destruction,” which would “include, inter alia, subjecting a group of people to a subsistence diet, systematic expulsion from homes and the reduction of essential medical services below minimum requirement”. By pushing Tamils out of the workforce and rendering them financially insecure, the Sinhala Only Act and university admissions standardization ultimately aimed to destroy the Tamil group at least in part via a “slow death genocide.”
This Council further notes that during the war, the government imposed prolonged blockades against humanitarian aid and embargos on necessary goods, preventing basic goods and supplies from reaching the NorthEast.
Recent Genocide
A military blockade against Tamil areas has been in place since 1990, except for ceasefire periods, which has contributed to the historical impoverishment and isolation of the Tamil community. The blockade has prevented ordinary items such as basic medicine, school books, cement, gasoline, candles, and chocolate from entering Tamil areas. During certain periods of the ethnic conflict, the military adopted a harsher stance, and blocked all humanitarian aid intended for civilians.
The U.N. Panel of Experts Report found that the government deliberately understated the Tamil population size “as part of a strategy to limit the supplies going into the Vanni.” The Panel of Experts Report continued, noting that “[a] senior Government official subsequently admitted that the estimates were reduced to this end. The low numbers also indicate that the Government conflated civilians with LTTE in the final stages of the war.” According to the International Crimes Evidence Project, the government’s refusal of “adequate food and medical supplies into the Vanni despite being aware of the devastating effect it would have on civilians, … could have amounted to inhumane acts or persecution, or both.” Such intentional starvation demonstrates the government’s deliberate infliction of deadly conditions calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Tamils.
Callum Macrae also found evidence of “the deliberate denial of adequate humanitarian supplies of food and medicine to civilians trapped in those grotesquely misnamed No Fire Zones. To justify this policy, the government systematically underestimated the number of civilians trapped in the zones. At the end of April 2009, for example, President Rajapaksa told CNN that ‘there are only about 5,000 . . . even 10,000’ civilians left in the zones.” According to UN figures, however, more than 125,000 civilians were stuck in these zones. President Rajapaksa endorsed the inaccurate figures as a means to “justify what almost certainly constitutes a war crime—a crime that left thousands of civilians catastrophically short of food and water—and allowed hundreds to die unnecessarily in makeshift hospitals because of desperate shortages of supplies including blood and anesthetics.” Amnesty International’s Asia director, Sam Zafiri, reportedly stated that the Sri Lankan government’s policy of obstructing aid was deliberate and illegal, noting that “[i]nternational law bans medieval sieges—you can’t subject a population to hunger, famine or plague as a means of military victory.” Today, the Tamil community “shows clear signs of continuing deterioration in terms of health, food and social security.” In the North- East areas, the malnutrition level has reached fifty percent, “corresponding also with the alarming poverty rate measured at [fifty-eight percent]” in those regions.
The systematic expulsion of victims from their homes is another means of inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a group, as stated by the international criminal tribunals. The Sri Lankan government used this practice extensively against Tamils, confiscating Tamils’ private lands. In May 2013, 1,474 northern Tamils filed a petition against the government’s confiscation of their land, stating that 6,381 acres were appropriated to build another Army base in Jaffna. The majority of these individuals were refused permission to return to their lands and forced to remain in the “welfare villages,” which enabled the government to claim that the owners of these lands are “unidentifiable.”
Even five years after the end of the war, Sri Lanka announced a defense budget of $1.95 billion for 2014 (twelve percent of the overall 2014 state budget). The Sri Lankan military’s current reach includes police powers throughout the country, with search and detention authority. In Tamil-speaking areas, the Sri Lankan military is “increasing its economic role, controlling land and seemingly establishing itself as a permanent, occupying presence.” The heavy militarization of the NorthEast has led to the drastic increase in Sinhalese settlers, land grabs, construction of Buddhist temples, conversion of village names and street signs from Tamil to Sinhalese, and unrestricted Sinhalese enterprise, all of which threaten to permanently alter the local demography and exacerbate ethnic tensions, as noted by the International Crisis Group. Evidence related to the “escalation of militarisation, colonisation and forcible imposition of Sinhala Buddhist culture” in Tamil areas contributed to a finding of genocide by the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka, an independent, international organization that has examined human rights violations around the world.
4. IMPOSING MEASURES INTENDED TO PREVENT BIRTHS WITHIN THE GROUP
Historical Genocide
As early as the 1990s, there have been reported incidents of forced sterilization of the Up- Country Tamils. Doctors would promise Rs. 500 to young and poor Tamil plantation workers, who would take a lorry to a makeshift clinic where they were forcibly sterilized via tubal ligation without consent. The government operated this program under the guise of family planning, but its aim was to prevent births amongst Tamils, thus changing the demographics of the Central Province. After the implementation of such forced sterilization programs, the growth rate of the Tamil population in the region fell drastically compared to other communities. Trends dating back to 5–10 years before these acts of forced sterilization also indicate closures of childcare centers following increased forcible sterilization measures, as the number of children below age 5 decreased too much. Women were almost always sterilized before the age of 26 years, which is ostensibly against Sri Lankan law. Thus, while the situation for Tamils deteriorated in the NorthEast due to the war, the government continued its genocide against Tamils by forcibly sterilizing the Up-Country Tamils.
Recent Genocide
Doctors aligned with the Sri Lankan government performed abortions on Tamil women without their consent. In May 2007, a confidential cable from the United States Embassy in Colombo stated, “Father Bernard also told us of an EPDP [Eelam People’s Democratic Party, a pro-government paramilitary organization] medical doctor named Dr. Sinnathambi, who performs forced abortions, often under the guise of a regular check-up, on Tamil women suspected of being aligned with the LTTE.”
Further, in August 2013, government health workers forced mothers to accept surgically implanted birth control in the Tamil villages of Veravil, Keranchi, and Valaipaddu in Kilinochchi in the Northern Province. When the women objected, the nurses said that if they did not agree to the contraceptive, they could be denied treatment at the hospital in the future. A Ministry of Health Department report from the Northern Province in 2012 found an unjustifiably higher rate of birth control implants—thirty times higher—in Tamil women in Mullaitivu, compared to the much more densely populated Jaffna. According to the Home for Human Rights (HHR), more than eighty percent of Tamil women in central Sri Lanka were offered a lump sum payment in return for their ability to reproduce. After receiving this payment—typically 500 rupees—women underwent surgical sterilization. This amount of money is significant, especially for these who are predominantly plantation workers. The population of this Tamil group has dropped annually since 1996 by five percent, whereas the population of the country overall has grown by fourteen percent. In contrast, police and Army officers have been encouraged to have a third child through payment of 100,000 rupees from the government. The police and Army are overwhelmingly Sinhalese, and thus those taking advantage of this offer are Sinhalese. “This systematic pattern of authority-sanctioned coerced sterilizations may amount to an intentional destruction . . . of the Tamil estate population,” as stated by the Home for Human Rights.
And also noted:
Sri Lanka’s Institutionalized Impunity
This Council notes that President Maithripala Sirisena was acting defense minister in May 2009, during the peak of the government’s attacks against Tamils. This conclusively demonstrates the need for justice and accountability for the Tamil genocide to be driven and carried out by the international community. Tamils have no hope for justice in any domestic Sri Lankan mechanism, whether conducted by the Rajapaksa regime, Sirisena regime, or its successor.
This Council further notes that Lt.-Gen. Sarath Fonseka was President Rajapakse’s Army Commander during the later stages of the war, and is currently President Sirisena’s advisor on defense matters. Fonseka told international media: “I strongly believe that this country belongs to the Sinhalese but there are minority communities and we treat them like our people. We being the majority of the country, 75%, we will never give in and we have the right to protect this country….We are also a strong nation … They can live in this country with us. But they must not try to, under the pretext of being a minority, demand undue things.” (National Post, 23 September 2008.) Fonseka’s rhetoric embodies the sentiment of Sinhala nationalist chauvinism that has been a hallmark of Sri Lankan politics since its independence. Sinhala nationalism serves to institutionalize impunity for genocide against Tamils, and prevent any meaningful political solution.
Further, an internal message from the then-United States Ambassador in Colombo, Patricia Butenis, said one of the reasons there was such little progress towards a genuine Sri Lankan inquiry into the 2009 killings was that the president and the former army commander, Sarath Fonseka, were largely responsible. “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power,” Butenis noted. “In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.” (Wikileaks Cables: ‘Sri Lankan president responsible for massacre of Tamils,’ as quoted in The Guardian, 1 December 2010.) Butenis’s analysis that no regime will investigate its own leaders remains equally true under Sirisena’s administration, given his role in the military leadership in 2009 and Fonseka’s continued position of privilege.
This Council further notes that countless Presidential Commissions established under different regimes to investigate human rights violations have not led to prosecutions of perpetrators or justice. (Amnesty International, Sri Lanka: Twenty Years of Make-Believe. Sri Lanka’s Commissions of Inquiry, 11 June 2009.)
Resolved that,
The obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law. This Council urges OISL to comprehensively investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015. The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes.2
To this day, Tamils in the NorthEast suffer from Sri Lanka’s ongoing genocide. In some areas of the NorthEast, there is 1 soldier for every 3 Tamils; this level of militarization is utterly unjustifiable, given that war ostensibly ended over 5 years ago. In Tamil-speaking areas, the Sri Lankan military has exponentially increased its role in Tamils’ daily life, expanded the amount of land it controls, and is establishing itself as a permanent, occupying presence. There has been no change in the oppressive level of militarization in the NorthEast with the election of Maithripala Sirisena.The extreme level of militarization uniquely affects Tamil women. There are approximately 90,000 female-headed households in the NorthEast after the end of the armed conflict. These women are especially vulnerable to sexual violence due to the military’s predatory practices. This Council urgently calls upon the international community to create conditions suitable and sustainable to protect the Tamils of the NorthEast Provinces in Sri Lanka from genocide.
The case of genocide in Sri Lanka is unique among genocides in history because it occurred over several decades and under different governments before intensifying into a no- holds-barred war for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass atrocities of 2009. It is accordingly vital that Sri Lanka’s historic violations against Tamils, in addition to the 2009 attacks, are addressed through an international mechanism in order to combat Sri Lanka’s institutionalized impunity. This international intervention, coupled with action to promote the respect of human rights, is necessary to ensure a sustainable future for self-determination, peace, and justice, in Sri Lanka and for the Tamil people.
1 Significant portions of this resolution’s analysis of the recent and ongoing genocide are from “The Legal Case of the Tamil Genocide,” UNROW Human Rights Impact Litigation Clinic, Human Rights Brief, 6 January 2015, available at http://hrbrief.org/2015/01/the-legal-case-of-the-tamil-genocide/
sach / February 11, 2015
NO no, there was tamil genocide since 1939….navalapitiya riots….
Dont forget that one…
Anyway i hope TNA can garner the extremists support with this initiative after they lost their face by attending independence day celebrations.
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nuwan / February 11, 2015
Hmm Not a Bad word againt the LTTE or even the Former Tamil Terrorist Groups which the LTTE destroyed to Control Tamil Terror Politics. I didnt know the LTTE didnt have a Military formations that Cleansed So called Tamil ares of Muslims and Sinhalese.. Non of these have been mentioned along with the suicide bombings and massacre of civilians. SOme history Lesson. These is a Section of Tamil Racist who wish to live as Tamils rather than sri Lankans and equally there is a section of sinhalese Racist wo rather live as Sinhalese than SRI Lankans.. This Kind of Half Lies Resolution gives Fuel to those sections to Burn this land. But that is expected of racist. But the CM of the NPC a Highly Educated man , who sat as a judge and equally witnessed LTTE crimes to table such a one sided motion full of racial Under tones Is similar to JRJ.. The worst kind playing politics with race.
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Nuwan / February 11, 2015
Hmmm No Mention of the IPFK period in Sri Lanka.. I mean some of these TNA members were there and pointed fingers and made a Huge International Cry that the IPKF were taking part in ‘Genocide of Tamils’ Rape of Tamil women and all the same crime’s leveled againt sri lanka today. Yet this Resolution has not mentioned the Indians??? why were they LTTE properganda Lies??? So where is the justice for that period. We all know what happend in the Jaffna Hospital siege by the Indians. Hmm This is a Strage kind of Justice and resolution tabled by a No less top Former Judge. Why dont the TNA condem the Indian Crimes???
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Real Peace / February 12, 2015
nuwan:
You can’t reject this resolution outright. They are facts. This is how Sri Lankans were ill treated by another group of Sri Lanka. As these groups belong to different races and crimes are horrendous, hence, by definition, it’s genocide.
On other hand, I do agree with you, The CM should have criticised Prabaharan for his thuggery not necessarily in this resolution but on a different forum. I very much want him to do that.
It’s interesting to note that the CM took up the post rejected by Prabaharan and used his position to illustrate the appalling plight of the SL Tamils to fellow Sri Lankans and the international community.
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sach / February 12, 2015
Two people belonging to two races killing each other and one being defeated is genocide? Please go ahead with that definition.
yeah we very well know how CM criticised Prabha…actually Prabha is good, an open racist…and CM taking post rejected by Prabha LOL what else can he do?
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Ram / February 17, 2015
The ONLY fact that I know is that it was the Sinhala women in the Central province, barely in their twenties who were dragged from their beds to be sterilized the day after they had given birth to their second child, (and NOT by Sinhala or Muslim doctors).
Yet the story has been turned into one of ‘discrimination’ against the Tamils in the same way that the changes in the education policy were misrepresented all over the world, turning the victims into the perps.
/
Amarasiri / February 18, 2015
nuwan
“Hmm Not a Bad word againt the LTTE or even the Former Tamil Terrorist Groups which the LTTE destroyed to Control Tamil Terror Politics. I didnt know the LTTE didnt have a Military formations that Cleansed So called Tamil ares of Muslims and Sinhalese.”
Read below. Thre are two types of Tamils.
1. Tamils with Common Sense, and
2. Tamil Mootals, முட்டல்ல்ஸ், who seem to pop their heads now and then. Looks like the Tamils with common sense need to tale a more assertive position against these Mootals,முட்டல்ல்ஸ்.
Unfortunately for the Tamils, still many Mootals முட்டல்ல்ஸ்left.
The resolution adopted by the Northern Provincial Council is another extension of the arm of communalism. When masses stretch their hands for national unity the communalists unable to comprehend the new political situation that has been created or willfully wriggle into the dark caves of communalism states a media release issued by the Political Bureau of the JVP.
The JVP states:
/
Native Vedda / February 11, 2015
sach
“NO no, there was tamil genocide since 1939….navalapitiya riots….”
Could you shed some light on this Navalapitya riots.
Let me jog my memory if there had been any riots before or after 1939.
April 1883 Kotehena
May 1915 Kandy, neighboring villages, Colombo and Chilaw.
July 1931 Malayalis were assaulted in Colombo
December 1948 Ethnic cleansing bill passed in the parliament.
/
sach / February 11, 2015
yeah yeah 1983 and bla bla bla….but why forget 1939…i am not the one who made a list here, so give your advice to those who made a list.
My point is why dropped 1939 riots….
/
Native Vedda / February 11, 2015
sach
“My point is why dropped 1939 riots….”
You never had any point therefore lets not bog down on nonexistent.
Could you shed some light on this Navalapitya riots.
“yeah yeah 1983 and bla bla bla”
Stupid, in my comment where have I mentioned 1983? Reread my comment again “April 1883 Kotehena”
Why do you lift your bump over your head to type when you see 1883? Sit down and type.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
I started the list with you people’s favorite item 1983. I did not mention you said so….hard to comprehend? You can check what 1939 navalapitiya riots is as you spend most of your time in internet. I cant educate every [Edited out] in CT. The point is why leave out one?
/
Native Vedda / February 13, 2015
sach
“I cant educate every [Edited out] in CT.”
Thanks. I have no problem remaining as I am.
“The point is why leave out one?”
The point is that why are you reluctant to state the source?
The problem is that you just listen to bigots and then repeat it as universal truth.
For a change move your bump and do your own research, I know its difficult still you can try.
Relying on other third grade sources is disgraceful and then pretending to be all knowing racist is even worse.
/
Raja / February 11, 2015
The NPC has just fired the Opening Shots of a NEW CIVIL WAR at the Sri Lankan People.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
Lets not go that further, but lets mark this as NPC is NOT for reconciliation
/
Rabok / February 13, 2015
Well said – this is a crucial point everybody in the Gov. should understand perfectly – TNA is pushing for UN resolution – as a by product SL Gov. will be pushed away from West to East – history is being repeted
/
Native Vedda / February 14, 2015
Rabok
“TNA is pushing for UN resolution”
This is after MR government and clever dick Gota found no incidents of war crime after two home grown investigations.
The evidence suggest otherwise.
Had your sun god MR agreed to appoint a credible Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the entire investigation could have been completed by now and the reconciliation process would have worked. Before you start typing please visit Truth and Reconciliation process which was successfully completed in South Africa.
What do you understand by reconciliation?
Please stop complementing Bull s**t stupid comments, you are only degrading yourself.
/
Eelam or Bust / February 12, 2015
Unfortunate to hear most versatile YAHAPALANA MODEL RECONCILIATION happening in North. This may be the beginning of Fifth and final Ealam war. Creation of Separate state looks inevitable through the YAHAPALANA MODEL. 6.2 million of people were mandated this process. Many moderate people expected this to happen but not this soon. This is not a sudden developement, it is gradual process.
/
Don Wanni / February 13, 2015
April 1883 Kotehena??
IS THAT WHEN THE CATHOLICS (native and European) attacked the Buddhist perahera?
/
Native Vedda / February 14, 2015
Don Wanni
“IS THAT WHEN THE CATHOLICS (native and European) attacked the Buddhist perahera?”
Please read:
History of Ceylon Police
How police tackled the religious riots
We publish more excerpts from the book
The History of Ceylon Police
(Vol II) by A.C. Dep,
Former Deputy Inspector of Police.
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/970803/plus10.html
/
Jim softy / February 11, 2015
Tamils show how low they are.
That is why Sri lanka is better off without Tamils.
they live happy even as coolies any where else in the world.
/
Nuwan / February 11, 2015
I share and Understand you concerns, But we must never confuse Racist Terrorist like the LTTE with the Many Tamils who want to live in harmony as sri lankans. and we must condemn equally the sinhala racist who are the same as the LTTE and TNA who wish to live as sinhalese rather than SRI LANKANS.
/
sach / February 11, 2015
You are going through one stage…please continue to engage tamils then you will understand every tamil is an LTTE tamil
/
Burning Issue / February 11, 2015
Such,
You will never subjugate the Tamils the way you want them to be; you need to get this reality in your head for your own sanity!
All we, the Tamils, want you a Sinhala to be a good democrat. By so being we hope you will exercise your franchise respectfully in terms of minority sentiments. The Minorities, the Tamils in Particular feel that, their own government had massacred and killed thousands of them with impunity. We need an inquiry that impartially investigates the accusations. We need our rights, land and language within a united SL. This is a democratic request; we do not want to hear about your fabricated history and triumphalism. If you still want to class us as LTTE supporters, it means that you are mentally retarded or suffering from a form of superiority complex!
/
sach / February 11, 2015
I like open racists like Kali and Malla aran compared to closet racists.
Cut the crap, this is not a minority issue, this is not about minority persecution. This whole minority persecution is a constructed one. The real issue is nationhood.
You want the minority tamils to be identified as a separate nation with separate boundaries. That is the real issue. Otherwise there is no minority discrimination. The constitution treats all the people in this country as an equal before law. An individual sinhala is equal to an individual tamil and an individual muslim.
The so called fake history is the one with evidence. what sort of history do you want us , sinhalese to belive?
Let me put in point form. You racist tamils (both open and closet) want us sinhalese to do the following.
1. Declare that sinhalese is a fake race and sinhalese are actually tamil.
2. Tamils cannot find evidence for a tamil nation before 14 AD. So tamils want to belittle the sinhala people’s history as a people without history. That is why all these vituperation against mahavamsa is coming out.
3. Tamils want Sinhala people to punish their leader MR, GR and SF for defeating their terrorist leaders. Dont come with what happened to bros and sisters. You dont give a two hoots about that. We fed your bros and sisters for 30 years. You had no problem when LTTE when they were massacring tamil civilians (I can understand your inhumane approval and support of massacre of sinhalas). But we know you are lieing when you are talking about tamils
The real thing that triggered ethnic polarization was GGP’s racist speech in 1939 in Navalapitiya which triggered ethnic riots. And you and your racist politicians conveniently miss that one. So when you make a list of riots why ignore one?
Who the hell subjugate tamils? Go and see in the rest of SL and see whether tamils are under subjugation? Is that why Tamils are moving out to SOuth? Do people come and live voluntarily in places where there is subjugation? what sort of a people are they?
This whole subjugation thing is a made up thing. Such a racist who gave money to bomb our people.
/
Burning Issue / February 12, 2015
Such,
Since MR’s demise, and the new President has started honouring his pledges, and the NPC getting a civilian Governor, you have become rather agitated exhibiting symptoms of one is extremely hot under the collar! Does Good Governance means giving into the TNA for you? It looks as if you are one of the “Smart Patriots” that DR DJ coined camouflaging Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism! All I can do is to feel sorry for you. You can be rest assured that DR DJ will write prolifically that will feed your chauvinistic needs!
“You want the minority tamils to be identified as a separate nation with separate boundaries. That is the real issue. Otherwise there is no minority discrimination. The constitution treats all the people in this country as an equal before law. An individual sinhala is equal to an individual tamil and an individual muslim.”
The 1948 Constitution was composed and endorsed by all including GGP, who was a cabinet minister in the first ever government. During the negotiations with Lord Soulbury, the then UNP Leader D.S.S made a solemn promise that under a unitary government with Sinhala majority, no minorities will be harmed! What really transpired ever since has been the opposite. The Sinhala Buddhists unilaterally asserted themselves using the electoral advantage to suit their whim and fancy. No consideration or consultations were accorded to the minority sentiments. The history was conveniently fabricated; the schools texts were modified to promote Sinhala Buddhist superiority; Buddhism took a foremost place in the Constitution; The Sinhala Language became the official language; the sate sector employments were radically overhauled, and as a direct result, many qualified Tamil people sought employments abroad. The Tamil language was given a place in the constitution on a token basis.
The Tamils started to realize that they needed to assert themselves to counter the Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism only after the infamous Sinhala Only. This is evident, if one were to study the first ever general elections; SJVC lost his seat of KKS to a UNP candidate, Nadesan! The Tamil Congress that was being led by GGP won only 3 seats in Jaffna with many independent candidates won! Can you point Tamil nationalism/separatism at that time? Contrast this situation with post Sinhala Only; the Tamil Federal Party became the center point for the Tamil democratic opposition. Either Bunda/Chela pact or Dudly/Chelva pact would have been enough to galvanise all under a common Sri Lankan identity. Such an opportunity was squandered with contempt. The Tamils cannot trust Sinhala anymore; they now need an international agreement that guarantees their rights, land and language. This does not mean that Sri lanka as a nation cannot advance and build a common identity, e.g. India and Switzerland. The Tamils will not relent on this. The Tamils must compromise; the Sinhala should Compromise and this is the only way a way forward can be found. The bottom line is that, you can no longer keep the Tamils under your whim and fancy!
/
sach / February 12, 2015
Since MR’s demise, and the new President has started honouring his pledges, and the NPC getting a civilian Governor, you have become rather agitated exhibiting symptoms of one is extremely hot under the collar! Does Good Governance means giving into the TNA for you? It looks as if you are one of the “Smart Patriots” that DR DJ coined camouflaging Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism! All I can do is to feel sorry for you. You can be rest assured that DR DJ will write prolifically that will feed your chauvinistic needs!
————————————————–
So when new president is honoring his pledges your racist dog in north is throwing mud at that gentleman. Your racist dog is saying Maithree hasn’t done his promises not what you say…
So why should I be agitated? And where did I even talk about governance of Maithree? I did not even say a single word about him or this government. I talked about the origin of SL war. Why do you put words into my mouth about things I did not say? Why cant you counter argue what I said?
Yeah everyone who doesn’t agree with racist imbeciles like you are chauvinists.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
The 1948 Constitution was composed and endorsed by all including GGP, who was a cabinet minister in the first ever government. During the negotiations with Lord Soulbury, the then UNP Leader D.S.S made a solemn promise that under a unitary government with Sinhala majority, no minorities will be harmed! What really transpired ever since has been the opposite. The Sinhala Buddhists unilaterally asserted themselves using the electoral advantage to suit their whim and fancy. No consideration or consultations were accorded to the minority sentiments.
——————————
Really did GGP endorse it? How very thoughtful of him? Is that why the bastard GGP went on his racist offensive insults against Sinhala people in Navalapitiya? Where he said Sinhala are tamils and Sinhala history is fake that too having NOTHING for that bastard’s race in SL. What did DS do to harm minority? Not listening the fathers of tamil fascism not to settle Sinhala people in North Central? Is that harming minorities? But tamils are not a minority ne. They are a nation (fake) according to you ne.
The only thing that made Tamil fascist leaders angry is Sinhala people using their electoral right as a numerical majority in Sri Lanka which is essentially a Sinhala nation.
In 1945 (before independance) in Parliament racist bastard GGP said this whole country is tamil, then DS stood up and said this is the country of Ceylonese. The difference between GGP and DS was like the difference between Wiggie and MS
/
sach / February 12, 2015
The history was conveniently fabricated; the schools texts were modified to promote Sinhala Buddhist superiority; Buddhism took a foremost place in the Constitution; The Sinhala Language became the official language; the sate sector employments were radically overhauled, and as a direct result, many qualified Tamil people sought employments abroad. The Tamil language was given a place in the constitution on a token basis.
—————-
How do you know it is fabricated? Are you a history scholar? Do you have any scholarly work to produce to say history is fabricated? Arent you saying the same thing that racist bastard GGP said? Give me a single scholarly work that shows the real history of SL according to you? And give a single scholarly work that says SL’s history is fabricated?
Name a single source…anyhow have you found any Tamul literature written before 17AD?
/
sach / February 12, 2015
The Tamils started to realize that they needed to assert themselves to counter the Sinhala Buddhist Chauvinism only after the infamous Sinhala Only. This is evident, if one were to study the first ever general elections; SJVC lost his seat of KKS to a UNP candidate, Nadesan! The Tamil Congress that was being led by GGP won only 3 seats in Jaffna with many independent candidates won!
—————————-
Really did 1939 come before 1956 sinhala only or after? What came first 1939 or 1956? I hope this is not difficult to you. Sinhala leaders’ policies and actions later were in response to Tamil bastard racist politicians actions. Much like Wigneshwaran today.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
Can you point Tamil nationalism/separatism at that time? Contrast this situation with post Sinhala Only; the Tamil Federal Party became the center point for the Tamil democratic opposition. Either Bunda/Chela pact or Dudly/Chelva pact would have been enough to galvanise all under a common Sri Lankan identity. Such an opportunity was squandered with contempt.
————————–
In 1922 Arunachalam fellow in a speech said they need to work towards achieving Eelam. I remember OTC published his full speech in the comment section. Go and read. Eelam is a very early project, it is theft of a country, theft of Sinhala nation.
Banda/Chelva pact where chelva asked not make Sinhala people settle in North Central. Is that forging a common identity or separating the identity?
/
sach / February 12, 2015
The Tamils cannot trust Sinhala anymore; they now need an international agreement that guarantees their rights, land and language. This does not mean that Sri lanka as a nation cannot advance and build a common identity, e.g. India and Switzerland. The Tamils will not relent on this
———————–
What makes you think we Sinhala should trust you? When LTTE terrorists were given a ceasefire they came to Colombo to gather intel to do their next suicide mission with support from NGOs. And now the moment a little relief is given the wiggie bastard showed he is not different. A race of untrustworthy bastards. When getting benefits this country offers whether it is health or education, these bastards would be the first to join the queue. We have a good name for people like you who pee on the same plate they eat.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
The Tamils must compromise; the Sinhala should Compromise and this is the only way a way forward can be found. The bottom line is that, you can no longer keep the Tamils under your whim and fancy!
—————-
Yeah tamils compromising hell ya
/
sach / February 11, 2015
Sinhalese dont have any superiority complex, that is why the so called sinhala intelligentia are banding backwards to the tamil racists like you.
The real ones who suffer from superiority complex is you people. This very comment threads in CT will attest to that.
/
Native Vedda / February 12, 2015
sach
“Sinhalese dont have any superiority complex,”
The Sinhala/Buddhists never had such complex however they do suffer from inferiority complex, paranoia, tendency to self destruct, stupidity, … therefore they are unable to construct a secular state and unable to elect honest people to higher offices and recruit the best people to man the bureaucracy, judiciary, armed forces, …………. corporations, educational establishments, ……..
Look Sajin Vass was dictating Prof G L Peiris.
/
Kalu Nangi / February 12, 2015
Great comment! Bull’s eye!!
/
sach / February 12, 2015
Sinhala people do not suffer from any inferiority complex, it is simply tamils like you want sinhalese to look like that..
Do you think by throwing some words like inferiority complex, paranoia, tendencey, stupidity you can cover the extreme racism displayed by the tamils?
How is sajin vaas dictating to GL pieris is an example of superiority complex of Sinhalese? If that is the example you have for superiority complex of sinhalese, then it is obvious there is nothing like that.
/
Uthungan / February 12, 2015
sach
By that are you saying or. meaning to say that Your GL P is Tamil with inferiority complex?
/
sach / February 12, 2015
Seriously are you that stupid?
/
kamal / February 11, 2015
@sach you are just a [Edited out] Racist FULL STOP. dont you shoud be sitting in the NPC with the TNA u will fit in well.
/
sach / February 11, 2015
yes I am racist. Is being racist a privilege that should be given only to tamils?
/
Native Vedda / February 12, 2015
sach
“Is being racist a privilege that should be given only to tamils?”
Being a racist is not a simple job it requires extraordinary courage to publicly display ignorance, stupidity, hatred, lie, and expect sympathy from others for being a bigot.
The best parts of being a bigot are
No need to learn
No need to say sorry
No need to be right
No need to think
No need to support one’s point of view with reference
……
………
……..
All you have to do is lift your bump over your head and knock the key board.
/
canxle / February 12, 2015
Native, those attributes remind me of our favourite political scientist, DJ!
/
sach / February 12, 2015
You have displayed those qualities.
Anyway wrong lists. Wiggie like fellows are racists but i am sure they have the ability to think and so did Prabha have.
Say sorry for what?
For plagiarising our history? Killing our people? enjoying every benefit this country offered to its benefits and then engage in treason, do you think after Tamils did all these, sinhalese should apologise.? for what imbecile?
/
Tamil from the north / February 12, 2015
@Sach, yes you are a racist and a disgrace to the Sinhala community. If they find you somewhere they should beat you with a broom. I know so many Sinhalese, they are not like you. You are a real misfit and a loser.
/
sach / February 12, 2015
DO those sinhalese know youre real side racist bastard? when telling the truth it must be hurting ne?
/
Native Vedda / February 13, 2015
Tamil from the north East/West Pakistan
Whenever sach see the word Tamil she lifts her bump over her head and start knocking the keyboard. She is going to hurt herself and then blame your people for it.
Therefore will you please change your name to
Sinhalese from North East or South India?
/
sach / February 13, 2015
yeah sinhala people are the bad ones. you racist tamil opportunist [Edited out] are angels……
/
sach / February 13, 2015
cant argue based on facts so resort to get too personal….you are a sad human a waste of oxygen
/
Huz / February 11, 2015
I’m not a tamil. You are an idiot.
/
Native Vedda / February 12, 2015
Huz
“I’m not a tamil. You are an idiot.”
Ah, obviously racists/bigots are stupid by nature.
Read their comments which is self explanatory.
/
Javi. / February 13, 2015
you a tamil murmuring camel thoppi-
Pakistani healing Dance is your dream position. – Huz_Peesutra,
Hustle the Huz.
:-))))
/
aia / February 11, 2015
Softy
The comment you make is not softer. You have some difficulties accepting the historical facts. If you say Tamils are low, you are very much lower than them, because coolies is a trade, but those who lootings Tamils shops and killing them are criminals and thugs. Note I am not talking about Sinhalese here, but those lowest ones.
/
Amarasiri / February 11, 2015
Jim softy
“That is why Sri lanka is better off without Tamils.”
Correction:
That is why Sri lanka is better off without Para-Sinhala and Oara-Tamils from South and East India.
Native Veddah Aethho should charge $5,000 for each Para, who inhabits the land of Native Vedda Aethool.
The Vedda Tribe
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f89NuukY32U
Tamil-speaking Veddas of Vaharai await war recovery support
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeFCuZwexRw
/
Anpu / February 11, 2015
Well done Mr Vigneswaran and NPC.
/
Tamil Truth / February 11, 2015
TNA clown never wanted peace.. all they do is follow thier masters and betray tamil people. Karuna explained it wonderfully.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xW5C_nCt7uA
/
Ravi Perera / February 11, 2015
“The government operated this program (Sterilizing Indian Tamil women)under the guise of family planning, but its aim was to prevent births amongst Tamils, thus changing the demographics of the Central Province”
Demography of the central hills was changed by bringing in the Indian Tamils about 150 yrs ago by the British. Why not mention that in the first instance.
/
Anpu / February 11, 2015
Ravi,
“Demography of the central hills was changed by bringing in the Indian Tamils”
Please write to David Cameron and Modi.
/
Ravi Perera / February 11, 2015
Anpu,
The reason I wrote this was because you guys are talking (Really highlighting) about a demographic change in favor of the Sinhalese in the central province.
/
Native Vedda / February 12, 2015
Ravi Perera The Sinhala Speaking Demela
“about a demographic change in favor of the Sinhalese in the central province.”
If the demographic change benefits ordinary Sinhala speaking people I don’t think anyone has any problem with such shift.
The problem arises and people protest when Kallathonie Sinhala/Buddhists claim sole ownership of this island.
If you want to live in the North/East or Himalaya its you who have to pay for the land. Nothing is free unlike free rice from moon.
Educate yourself.
/
sach / February 13, 2015
“Ravi Perera The Sinhala Speaking Demela”
This is exactly what GGP [Edited out] said in Navalapitiya. GGP [Edited out] is not dead, every Tamil is a reincarnation of GGP [Edited out]
According to these tamil racists they should have the right to malign sinhalese people and kill them if the sinhalese dont agree…what not, they want to act the victim too…
When the sinhalese respond to their vitriol, then sinhalese are racist.
/
Native Vedda / February 11, 2015
Ravi Perera The Sinhala Speaking Demela:
“Demography of the central hills was changed by bringing in the Indian Tamils about 150 yrs ago by the British. Why not mention that in the first instance.”
Its a valid point.
He also should have mentioned that over the years the entire island’s demography had been changed by Kallathonies from North and mostly South India in particular Ravi Perera’s immediate ancestors.
/
Kettikaran / February 13, 2015
In responding to Mr. Ravi Perera, Indian labour was invited to come here and make huge sacrifices to transform shrub land and jungles into verdant tea and coffee Estates – the revenue therefrom supported the many welfare measures of the State from the British times till now. The British then felt local labour was unfit or not up to the onerous tasks demanded of them waking up at dawn and going on till dusk. And, hence their choice of neighbouring Indian labour. During the time the once Christian name changer Anagarika Dharmapala raised his pseudo-Buddhist Sinhala cry (1930s) India stopped the supply of labour. The move created havoc in the Tea/Coffee and Rubber industries resulting in the Ceylon side suffering from labour shortage then pleading with India – at the instance of the British run Planters Society of Ceylon – to resume the labour flow to keep the wheels of the industries rolling. I am aware Ceylon rushed a group of Sinhala politicians to New Delhi to ask for Indian help in the matter.
As it happens in all countries when such labour is present in different countries over a period of time, they are conferred local Citizenship. That is what happened here when Ceylon gained independence. Those “Indian Tamils” even enjoyed their franchise in the 1947 elections and returned about 10 MPs in the first Parliament. However, DS Senanayake “suspected” these Thondaman’s people MAY join the LSSP and the leftists in the future with potential to harm the UNPs electoral fortunes. Therefore, the Father of the Nation de-franchised them and overnight declared them “Stateless” That, Sir, is be beginning of a part of our problem. Decide for yourself if it is fair, moral and just.
Kettikaran
/
Ram / February 13, 2015
They were brought as indentured labour by the British colonialists to work the land from which the Sinhala villagers had been forcibly evicted. They should have been sent back when the British left. The Dutch had brought their own untouchables from India too.
In Fiji they created immense trouble for the local Fijians, till they rose up and took control of their islands. In British Guyana they were fighting for control of the land with the Blacks who too had been brought in as slaves. The bhoomiputra, who had managed to escape the pogroms were dispossessed.
/
Off The Wall / February 11, 2015
Looks like there is no respite for the Tamils living in the north. First it was Prabakaran, the blood-thirsty fascist killer. Now it is Wigneswaran, the cardboard King of Jaffna.
Wicky, you must constantly check the sign on the door to your office to stop hallucinating and going totally bananas.
/
Paul / February 11, 2015
The TNA refused a ministry of National Languages and Reconciliation in the new Government. Now they are crying genocide like the diaspora. They will end up with nothing.
/
Pacs / February 11, 2015
good gimmicks for the on coming election
/
sach / February 11, 2015
I hope government would realize now that there is no point in cooperating with NPC….so NPC has given the GOSL chance to act tough…and please use it
/
Huz / February 11, 2015
That’s exactly the way Mahinda Rajapakse thought. You should run his election campaign if he contests.
/
sach / February 11, 2015
I started the list with you people’s favorite item 1983. I did not mention you said so….hard to comprehend?
You can check what 1939 navalapitiya riots is as you spend most of your time in internet. I cant educate every idiot in CT.
The point is why leave out one?
/
Javi. / February 13, 2015
“”1939 navalapitiya riots”I cant educate every idiot in CT. “
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬………..▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
” newsroom:) Vultures Are Circling Sachet,V.A.C.S.
Cobbler’s Awls!!ʘʘ Get educated `sachet the mutt`
I can smell a raspberry. Phew!
“☻/
/▌ Phew!!
/ \
/
sach / February 11, 2015
Are you saying there is any point in cooperating with NPC? what change has that made other than further deterioration.
So if MR is the bad man, has Wiggie changed? No ne?
You people thought the only issue in proper devolution is MR, that is not the case. The real problem in devolution is tamil politicians.
And I look forward how the RW gover is acting with this..
/
Rabok / February 13, 2015
Sach – excellent
This should be an eye opener for MS and CHAMPIKA
/
Thiru / February 11, 2015
Dayan, over to you for your rebuttal with sophisticated academic jargon.
sach, Jim softy, you are no different from other Sinhala racists: [Edited out]
/
sach / February 11, 2015
yeah we are extremely racist towards Tamil racist terrorists..
/
Thiru / February 11, 2015
Any more idiotic responses from Sinhala racists?
Why can’t you accept the facts and repent for your actions?
Why don’t you be civilized and let Tamils look after themselves?
Are you worried they might surpass you in everything?
What the article describes are facts and facts alone for the world to know
:
Not some crazy, fancy stuff that racist Dayan writes about!
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nuwan / February 11, 2015
@Thiru First look at the so called people who have given the evidence. But lets leave that aside.. Why hasnt this resolution mentioned the Indians IPKF period, The Other ‘BOYS’ Former groups as well as LTTE crimes against civilians. Tamil Nadu Politicians supporting terrorist I mean that assinated A Indian PM and a SL president. Alomst Beat the world 4th larges army etc etc not some innocent Boys who could not defend themselves. Lets to siot and BS that resolution is not worth the two bits full of properganda. If u want justice it should be equal and apply to all act pick and choose
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Senthil / February 11, 2015
You can wake up some one who is actually sleeping, but can’t wakeup if some one is acting as sleeping. Most of the Singhalese are acting to establish that nothing happened at Mullivaikal. One more thing, we are not enemies of Chinese, I like Sambanthar’s comment. Never know China might help us in the future because we have betrayed by US and India for a long time. Why can’t we try something different in the future. Our children are very friendly with Chinese, marrying Chinese , so things might change in the future.
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Bensen Berner / February 11, 2015
It is indeed a comprehensinve document detailing instances of the continued genocide directed against the Tamils of Sri Lanka done with impunity. However a distinction should have been made between the wanton killings of the innocent Tamil people in 2009 in the so called war against the Tamil militants where at least 40,000 people perished, well documented by international agencies including credible sections of their media. The sections responsible for these killings are the Rajapaksa brothers and the murderous sections of their chauvinist cohorts who should be tried for these crimes. Needless to say that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and Mahinda Rajapaksa stand out prominently in these heinous crimes. The present government, however, cannot disinherit the legal responsibilities of their predecessor. Bensen
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T.A.KUMAR / February 11, 2015
The Tamils were well looked after by the British and the Singhalese were trampled. If wignesh wants his people to live freely please do not make such remarks as genocide forgetting what the LTTE did or else he too can go to Tamil Nadu
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Prem / February 11, 2015
Your Sri Lanka Majority race or puppet of UK, US, India, China source Peoples’ Tribunal on Sri Lanka
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Senthil / February 11, 2015
Denying something does not prove anything. In reality you can say I have seen and it is there but you can’t definitely say it is not there because you could have missed it. we are saying genocide, how can anyone say it is not. What happened to MR & CO Zero causality business. What happened to Channel4 video which was taken by Singhalese army and SLG rejected as fake – now no one in the world are prepared to believe any SLG statements. Powerful countries are just acting now but not very long.
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dingiri / February 11, 2015
What?? 67 years to complete a genocide. What kind of ineficiency is this? Typical lazy Sinhalese Kawum eaters with Mahavamsa mindsets. Even after 67 years of genocide there is a Tamil governor of the Central Bank!?! Even after 66 years A Tamil chief justice!?! Tamil kids are being educated in the Tamil language and entering universities with less markes than what is required by Sinhalese!?!
It took the Germans only 6 years, The Hutus 6 months. But the lazy Sinhalese…….66 years and still counting! They should take a lesson from what the late Hon. Prabakaran did to the Moslems. 24 hours to pack their possesions in a shopping bag and off they were on their way. Now THAT is what you call efficiency!
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Agnos / February 12, 2015
Dingiri,
Justice CVW was himself against using the term geonocide initially; I think there could be several reasons why he changed his mind.
I will wait and see.
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Sritharan / February 11, 2015
The same old strategical mistake. The last one was executed by the LTTE. They annihilated, Sri Sabaratnam who was the leader of TELO, Pathmanaba, secretary General of EPRLF and Amirthalinkam, the leader of TULF. Ironically, for their political representation when they needed one for the LTTE, they formed TNA from the same TELO, EPRL and TULF which earlier lost their leaders.
Northern Provincial Council is not a political organization or an institution for politcis.It’s been elected by the people to look after the local governance of Northern province, regardless of people’sidentities. It is highly inappropriate to speak or represent on behalf of the Tamil Nation and it’s people in a political sense. So what is the function of TNA, TAMIL ARASUK KADSI, EPRLF,TELO etc..etc…Are they going to run the development works in that province while Chief Minister and the other members of the NPC taking care of political activities????
Someone who have no patient and as well as have not a political program, stirring the things up. They target small fish, but crocodiles will emerge out.
Dogs are to bark and Donkeys are to carry……
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Abimanu / February 11, 2015
Pay no more attention to this than to take it as a political posture/stunt devised simply in advance preparation of the upcoming parliamentary elections; this is a resolution purposely brought in with the next parliamentary elections in mind.
The tragedy of the Sri Lankan politics is that it has been always a cheap ploy on the part of the politicians on all sides of the ethnic divide, to seek political fortunes and social power and gain parliamentary seats by only propagating fear and hatred about the other community—Sinhalese politicians saying that Tamils are bent on gaining dominance with the help of their brethren from Tamil Nadu (but that the politicians from Tamil Nadu are exploiting the Sri Lanka Tamil issue riding on them to gain political leverage for them is another matter) and Tamil politicians saying that the Sinhalese are bent on eliminating the Tamils completely and erase their identity from Sri Lanka. Politicians on both sides have found that this and only this pays and works well to gain their parliamentary seats.
The hierarchy of the TNA knows that this so called “International investigation” will turn out to be farce in the long-run. Nothing tangible of (1)a reasonable solution to the political aspirations of the Tamils, or (2)bringing to the International Courts the former President and the Army commanders, or (3)compensation for the victims of the brutal war will come about. But they are doing this to appease the vociferous and comfortably living Diaspora for support and funds, appease the electorate for votes which is easy to get by appealing to their base instincts of revenge, anger, negativism and enmity. These are “very easy sell” than the nobler instincts of reason, humanism and realism. The ordinary people are not inculcated with the belief or introspection that mistakes have been done by all sides, that opportunities have been missed by all sides; that there could be ‘new beginning’; that there could be a prospect of joining hands with the best of human on all sides to expose the worst of human on all sides.
Unfortunately, these vision-less, cheap stunts of political expediency only plays into the hands of the extremists on the both sides of the ethnic divide and enable them to hold a firm grip on power to the ruin of the entire country. They constantly make it very hard for persons who think and work for goodwill, reconciliation, realism, and progress for the good of all.
But, the worst affected will be the ordinary Tamils –as history has proved beyond doubt. They are unable to ‘see through’ that their leaders vying for parliamentary seats and social power backed by short-sighted, egoistic and selfish Tamil Civil society leaders are making the situation worse and more and more irredeemable for the ordinary and poor Tamils.
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nelum / February 11, 2015
Some of these comments sound pretty genocidal to me. So what should we call it if not a genocide. A pogrom?
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sach / February 11, 2015
A legitimate act of defence of a territory by a legitimate state in a war. If the terrorists put the people in the defence lines it is the responsibility of the LTTE and the people who supported it.
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Javi. / February 13, 2015
follow the queue!! faded flower.
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Saman / February 12, 2015
Both Sinhalese and Tamils live still in the past.
Defeated people very diligently fuel to ignite conflict again in our peaceful society.
Mr. Wigneswaran is a well educated and matured person but by digging negative memories of the past will never help to settle any issue in our country.
Mahinda Rajapaksa and his henchmen started to fabricate unnecessary issues in our society again because they can not tolerate victory of Maithreepala Sirisena.
Politically failed Vasudewa Nanayakkara, Dinesh Gnawardhana, Completely uneducated Buruwansa, mentally weakened Gammanpila along with other defeated henchmen of Rajapaksa madly spread negative rumours in our society.
These people must be brought to justice and punished.
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sach / February 12, 2015
Is this resolution fabricated by MR? How does MR a nearly nobody in SL power now fabricate things in North?
Last week a policeman was shot in North…what investigation did gover do? Who was arrested?
Is it true army camps are now being removed?
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Ceylon Tamil / February 12, 2015
Tamils have created many good professionals like doctors , engineers, lawyers; but they have totally failed in one thing- POLITICS. they simply don’t understand to be part of a mainstream discussion. They don’t have the mental stamina to withstand pressure. So they take the easy path- walk out first and call for SEPARATION. This is the sad history of the Tamils and dstruction ensued for 30 years.
Why don’t the Tamil Politicians go to Wanni and see how they can uplift the living standards of the people who are live below poverty level. This should be the prime focus of any leader.
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Sengodan. M / February 12, 2015
A surprise move from Justice CVW. The big question is why at this time? Was it a move prompted by our giant neighbour who may be concerned about the Port City Project going through almost as planned?
Sengodan. M
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Srinath.gunaratne / February 12, 2015
This is what is called asking and eating, Hope everyone can see why racist TNA wanted MR gone. Start the racist war in different mode with distorted stories,
APE BURU MY3, ATE THE BITE AND DESTROYED THE POLITICAL STABILTY, KANDA HALIYA WILL BRING US PROSPERITY!
GUYS KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN, WE HAVE TO SALVAGE THE COUNTRY FROM TNA RACISTS AND BBS RACISTS, THEY ALL WORK FOR ONE AGENDA, SEPARATION AND DESTABLISATION OF OUR COUNTRY.
MY3 wake up. Do not let Chandrika Ranil destroy our country, thousnads of our soldiers did not die invain, their curse will be upon you.
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Sapumal / February 12, 2015
Dear Mr. Wigneswaran,
I totally condemned your effort and it will harm the total effort of new govt.s reconciliation effort. It is not going to give you anything other than humiliation and defeat. The only solution is within our reach. Don’t try to look anywhere else. Shame on you. This govt. is only one month old!
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Javi. / February 13, 2015
Brown Boar & Bacon he i understand prefers vegetranian has has been right very often.
You can never solve your inferiority complex.
You never had much of a complex when ruled from Presidency Madras East India Company of Dutch (80% of all documentation is still preserved though you and Cochin deatroiyed yours- as per VOC dutch Amsterdam research foundation)
The value of your flag and passport in todays world: Hysterical Lying DownMeth Mouth, Crocuta crocuta, Terrorist with sword is : worse than toilet paper and a disgrace to anyone from island or president.- stick to your square head second/third class citizen kalu pukka passport- DNA) Any german mum sihala pop child can confirm that.
Buruva’s you were given that name for posterity by – conquests, you need a kick up your lingering, lying habits to get a negotiation.
Anyway you have no alternative as much as they because the nose is getting closer- Sikkim, Nagaland style (inclusive state of hindia for prosperity, peace). Bhutan managed to temporally like Lanka with Chinese cash but Nepal got in between- Your days of numbered)
Wiggi understands this so is drawing the whip. You play like classic seductress woman yawning – you have no understanding on Hindia or language but just an economic refugee in the EU like Sepala and his gang at magazine prison murder.
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Javi. / February 14, 2015
“”Shame on you. This govt. is only one month old! “”
Anee where is my Hinurika!!,
Hide & Seek, Heenende?? Too many cooks spoil the broth-
Folks always vote for party to be governed by a minority never majority.
The common peoples candidate was Hijacked by Sobitha the orange colour one- Crocuta
who wnet into his hole when the muslims were attacked by his own kind to go with the Shap, shape spin for the last 67 years- by Heynas who dream of lion-hood because of begging bowl not the kill or skill to export the mind, goods services but its women to medieval ME and multitask at home for a pittance.
Freak of Civilisation Sobita needs a crown of Thorns the prick is a Crocuta.
Tunisia is democracy in practice thanks to the women who have held the state and religion as far apart as the constitution permitted for the good of the people
100 years ago.
ʘʘAnyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.
ʘʘ“Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.”
― Albert Einstein
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Srinath.gunaratne / February 12, 2015
The TNA should be prosecuted for genecide of Tamil youth by indoctrinating litlle kids with poison of racism.
What did they do when children were conscripted by force? Nothing!
Tamils exercise their democratic rights thanks to Mahinda.
What freedom they had with facists for 30 years!
They are ungreatful and stop nothing from peelam.
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Native Vedda / February 13, 2015
Srinath.gunaratne
“The TNA should be prosecuted for genecide of Tamil youth by indoctrinating litlle kids with poison of racism.”
Is there a law governing racism in this island?
Good what do you suggest that the state should do with the Sinhala/Buddhist racists who continue to wreak mayhem in this island since Anagarika Dharmapala times?
By the way did the state investigate those racists who burnt down the contents of the Jaffna library, those rioters who killed, raped, stole the victims in 1956, 1977, 1983 and since then?
You too believe a dead Tamil is a good Tamil.
“Tamils exercise their democratic rights thanks to Mahinda”
Please thank Hindia.
By the way why did Mahinda pay VP a tidy sum just before his first presidential elections? Is it for VP’s life long service to democracy in this island? Without VP’s support MR never could have won the elections.
I am sure MR is eternally grateful to VP unlike you.
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Newton / February 12, 2015
The resolution is outside the scope of provincial council.
Just imagine if the western provincial council pass a resolution.
“Tamils are living all over the province. Not a single Sinhalese
live in Northern province. They must allocate land in the northern province to Sinhalese in the ratio of national population” will they accept it
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Andare / February 12, 2015
Genocide of Tamils ??? What is this nonsense you are talking about.
As a Sri Lankan Tamil do you think you would have achieved what you have if there was genocide of our Tamil breathren. Do you even understand the meaning of the word and the implications of what you are saying or are you merely a mouth piece for the bankrupt TNA proxies of the LTTE.
Are you a rip van winkle who has suddenly woken up from a 30 year slumber and conveniently forgotten the fact that we have been fighting a brutal terrorist group called the LTTE who massacred and killed thousands of men, women and children from all communities.
Please do not look at the world thro the myopic lens of a racist but instead rise above the petty politics and theatrics of our TNA politicians that has been the bane of our country.
Now that you have got ur wish of changing the governor and secretary, get off ur high horse, roll up ur sleeves, engage the diaspora and try and help ur Tamil breatheren in their hour of need. Don’t wait for the Government to fill this void and happily criticize thereafter.
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Unfinished / February 13, 2015
This is what the NP CM said at the end of reading the resolution and it’s very important to quote him here…
“It is my hope that this resolution would not be considered as an epistle to the international community only, unrelated to the life of my Sinhalese brothers and sisters. This resolution is a challenge to your moral integrity and humaneness. If you could assimilate what brutality and
inconsiderateness has pre-seeded you or bypassed you so far, may be chances for moral regeneration and more healthier corporative and coordinative lifestyle for the future of all people living in this blessed isle could be ensured”
He also said that the resolution “reflects to some extent the feelings and frustrations of our people”
As such it would be prudent for the Sinhalese brothers and sisters to view this resolution as another attempt of a more permanent reconciliation attempt.
There were no mentions of the LTTE, neither of the IPKF. In terms of reconciliation of this island both of them are not protagonists any more. IPKF was gone in 1989 and LTTE was in 2009. The Tamil people and the TNA are more than aware of the actions of both.
Having worked so hard for a meaningful reconciliation, TNA and the NPC would not want to stir things up with this government. Especially, the Indian government would not allow them to do so. So it will be really prudent for all of us to think before making judgements.
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Ranil Wijeyesekera / February 13, 2015
This seems to be a attempt to inflame hostilities between ethnic groups. It will push the government to dissolve the provincial council. It could be that it is against the oath that members of council take and is sedition. Freedom does not mean that one can sow terror.
If the armed forces commuted misdeedes it should be tried by a Military Tribunal. General Sarath Fonseka should head it.
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Javi. / February 13, 2015
headed by war criminal wadduva from ambalangoda- he has never manufactured a gun- scum bag offshot. Typical of former slaves of the Portuguese slave masters.
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commando695 / February 13, 2015
So…its is genocidal to have a TAMIL Chief Minister..Chief Justice..and Central Bank Governor all at the same time.
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Javi. / February 14, 2015
sihala speaking tam`ill`??
sihala rump Buddhist???
Where were you hiding before Aug.47??
Shiv Sena, RSS Maratha.
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