"Tears of the Sinhala mothers of 89 and the Tamil mothers today are one and same"

Mano Ganesan at rally marking international human rights day

(December 11, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) The tears and agonies of the Sinhala mothers who lost their sons and daughters in 1989 and of the Tamil mothers who are losing their children today are one and same. The universal human rights charter which we are marking today does not distinguish between ethnicities and religions. There is nothing as such Sinhala human rights and Tamil human rights or Muslim human rights. Those who cried out, agitated and campaigned against the human rights violations in 1989 ought to struggle against the abductions, extra judicial killings and extortions against Tamil people today, said Civil Monitoring Commission Convener and Democratic Peoples Front Leader Mano Ganesan MP at the Rally organized by Mothers and Daughters of Lanka and the Collective movement against disappearances, extra judicial killings and Torture at the Colombo public library auditorium today 10th December. Speaking in Sinhala Mr. Ganesan said further,

"We condemn and do not approve the human rights violations of the terrorists. But terrorist activities do not give a free license to the state to engage in state terrorism. State is a legitimate entity with plenty of privileges. But these privileges come with plenty of responsibilities. Sri Lankan state today acquires best of the privileges and dodges the responsibilities over a part of it’s citizenry. There are over 3,000 people gone missing in the country over the last 36 months. This is including the 350 persons missing in our national capitol Colombo and suburbs. All the victims are Tamils. I am telling this with all the responsibility as I am an elected Parliamentarian of Colombo. There are over 1,000 persons kept detained without proper trial and investigations in remand prisons and police cells under poor custodial conditions."

"We resolve to talk and act on these issues on this international day of human rights. What happened in the eighties when Sinhala young men and women went missing? Personalities and Organizations campaigned against the state terror of the eighties. Some even went to United Nations human rights committee in Geneva and lodged complains against then government of Sri Lanka. They requested the international community to link the assistance to Sri Lanka with the human rights record."

"They also met the Amnesty International officials and invited them to Sri Lanka. Very few of those campaigners remain with us in our campaigns today. They are present here. I salute them. But where are those campaign leaders? Where have they gone? Today some of those human rights champions of the eighties have chosen to criticize and condemn the same Human Rights Council, same international community and the same Amnesty International. Today the subject of human rights has become more vital than in the eighties. No government can get away by labeling human rights violations as an internal issue. It is a global subject today. Let us get this message across very clear".- Sri Lanka Guardian