IC has failed to save imprisoned Eezham Tamils: NPC Councillor

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2015, 19:14 GMT]
The new Sri Lankan President Maithiripala Sirisena, who came to power with the votes of the Tamil-speaking people, gave full pardon to political prisoner Sarath Fonseka, who was the Sri Lankan Army commander during the genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils in 2009. This new president, who came to power with Tamil votes, was not able to release any of the Tamil political prisoners who are imprisoned by the Sri Lankan courts with jail terms ranging to 20 to 30 years for their participation in the war, said NPC Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam at a press conference held in Jaffna earlier this week. “When I visited Europe recently and the met some of the MEPs, they were urging the Tamils to be patient. I told them in clear terms that they too have failed in securing the release of Tamil prisoners from a regime that came to power with the votes of Tamil speaking people,” Mr Shivajilingam said.

The IC has a clear responsibility to commence negotiations between the parties to find a permanent negotiated settlement to the conflict, he further said.

The former parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance further said that he had met the chairman of the NPC and proposed a new resolution urging the international community and the United Nations to take responsibility to commence negotiations between the representatives of Eezham Tamils and the government of Sri Lanka in finding a permanent political solution to the national question of Eezham Tamils.

It will not be possible to find a permanent solution without the process being mediated with international responsibility, he told the reporters in Jaffna.

Mr Shivajilingam played a key role in initiating the process of passing a resolution on Tamil genocide in the Northern Provincial Council.