“So far call to establish Int'l investigation came from Int'l NGO’s and diaspora groups like Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE). This is the 1st time, Tamils within Sri Lanka speaks out.”
(January 29, 2014, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) In a major humiliation to Sri Lankan President, the Sri Lanka’s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) unanimously adopted a resolution calling for the United Nations to establish an International War Crimes Investigation to investigate Sri Lankan leaders for committing War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide against Tamil people in that island.
So far the call to establish an International investigation was advocated only by International NGO’s and diaspora groups like Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE). This is the first time, Tamils within Sri Lanka through their elected representatives have called for such an investigation.
The next Session of the UN Human Rights Council is set to begin in March and it is expected that a Resolution calling for an International Investigation on Sri Lanka will be tabled by the United States. It is widely believed that the Resolution by Northern Provincial Council will add momentum for passing a UN Resolution calling for international investigation.
The call for international investigation is to investigate killings that took place in the final months of the war between Sri Lankan Government and Tamil rebels called Tamil Tigers.
According to a UN Internal Review Report on Sri Lanka, troops under the Sri Lankan President's command, killed over 70,000 Tamils in five months in 2009, mainly due to bombing and shelling of Tamils who were cornered into places designated by the Sri Lankan Government as “No-Fire Zones.” Food and medicine were also restricted to the trapped Tamils resulting in several died of starvation, sickness and many of the injured bleeding to death.
Additionally, according to a May 2012 report by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Human Rights and Democracy; there are up to 90,000 Tamil war widows in the North & East of Sri Lanka.
Another NPC Resolution rejects Sri Lankan Government’s own inquiry mechanisms and called for building a monument at a place called Mullivaikal, where these 70,000 Tamils were killed. It is believed that the Sri Lankan Government will oppose any such moves.
