3RD LEAD

UK Deputy PM’s awareness not on genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 May 2013, 22:41 GMT]
When Liberal Democratic MP, Simon Hughes questioned UK Prime Minister’s decision to participate Sri Lanka CHOGM, the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, replied in the British Parliament on Wednesday, “We are all aware that the decision […] is controversial, especially in the light of the despicable human rights violations during the recent civil war.” But according to the Deputy PM, consequences could be expected only when violations continue in ways of political trials, regular assaults on legal professionals, suppression of press freedom, and in the non-implementation of the LLRC recommendations. It is exactly this reduction, twist and pretended unawareness of the UK that is in complicity with Sri Lanka’s genocide. Worse than that is the pretended unawareness seen in a section of the diaspora ‘lobbyists’ when it comes to the treachery of the West, commented Tamil political observers.

While the diaspora Tamil lobbyists of the Western Establishments paint a picture of support coming from the West for ‘international investigations’ of war crimes, and argue that it is the way forward, the British Deputy Prime Minister's ‘concern’ was reduced to “political trials” by Sri Lanka.

Even the questioner, Simon Hughes has reduced the issue to mere ‘human rights’, without even specifying whether it is individual human rights of every individual in the island or collective human rights of Eezham Tamils as a nation that is primarily the issue.

Every one now try to project and deal with the issue, as it is something common to the whole of the island – another subtle way of detracting the plight of the Eezham Tamil nation offended by all of them.

The LLRC recommendations being the roadmap for the structural genocide of the nation of Eezham Tamils and the annihilation of the territorial identity of their nation forever, is well known to those who have carefully perused the recommendations.

In this respect, the LLRC recommendations are even worse than New Delhi’s original 13th Amendment provisions, many Tamil activists argue.

The repeated references coming from the USA and the UK, upholding the LLRC recommendations have to be the foremost target to counter by any Tamil politician, activist or lobbyist “against genocide.” But, a particular section of them miserably failed in denouncing the LLRC deception getting international status by the US-tabled resolutions at Geneva, commented Eezham Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

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The text of the question by LD parliamentarian Simon Hughes and the reply by Deputy PM Nich Clegg follows:

Simon Hughes (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (LD):
I have to tell my friend that I cannot support the decision of the Prime Minister to go to the Commonwealth Heads of Government conference in Sri Lanka because of the human rights record of the Sri Lankan Government. What can the Deputy Prime Minister tell us about how we can respond to that terrible regime’s record? What can we do to make sure that in future the Commonwealth does not just say it believes in human rights, but does something about it?

The Deputy Prime Minister:
We are all aware that the decision that the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary will attend the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Sri Lanka is controversial, especially in the light of the despicable human rights violations during the recent civil war. But I assure my right hon. Friend that the Government condemn those violations, the way in which political trials, regular assaults on legal professionals and suppression of press freedom continue, and the fact that too many recommendations of the lessons learnt and reconciliation commission have not been implemented. If such violations continue, and if the Sri Lankan Government continue to ignore their international commitments in the lead up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, of course there will be consequences.

Chronology: