TNA urged MR regime not to miss the opportunity to "constructively engage in a process which would result in true democracy,equality & justice.!!!

TNA urges GoSL not to miss theopportunity to engage in equality process

[Tamil Net, Monday, 18 April 2011, 18:38 GMT]

R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leaderof the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in his response to the leaked recommendations of the UN Panel, on Monday said that the TNA urged the Rajapaksa regime not to miss the opportunity to "constructively engage ina process which would result in all the Peoples of Sri Lanka being the beneficiaries of genuine democracy, equality and justice."

“The TNA on its part has always been committed and continues to becommitted towards achieving a genuine political solution that recognizes SriLanka's ethnic diversity and a full and inclusive citizenship of all itsPeoples, including Tamils as a foundation for permanent peace and stability inthe country,” Mr. Sampan than said in his response.

Full text of the statement by Mr. R. Sampanthanfollows:

We have read the disclosure made by the media, said to be the Executive Summaryof the Report submitted by the Advisory Panel to the United Nations SecretaryGeneral (UNSG).

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), as the democratically electedrepresentatives of the Tamil People of the North East, who have been the worstaffected victims of the recently concluded war, we consider it our duty torespond to same, while reserving a fuller response to the full Report after itbecomes available to us.

We recall here with deep anguish, that for over the past half a century, wehave consistently urged an acceptable and reasonable political solution toaddress the root causes of the ethno-nationalist conflict in the country andthe exclusion of the Tamil People from meaningful powers of governance. It isthe failure on the part of successive governments of the Sri Lankan State todeliver on such a political solution that has been the primary cause for theexacerbation of the conflict and the consequences thereof. The Sri Lankan Statehas over the years, systematically and continuously unleashed violence againstunarmed Tamil civilians in order to suppress and subjugate them and to deny anddeprive them of the realization of any legitimate power-sharing.

We have consistently emphasized that the Sri Lankan government had a duty toensure that unarmed Tamil civilians are protected and not harmed in the courseof whatever military operations the Government conducts against armedcombatants. However, the Sri Lankan government has persistently bombed civilianpopulated areas, used heavy artillery and multi-barrel rocket launchers in suchareas, carried out attacks by deep penetration units resulting in the death ofand serious injury to tens of thousands of unarmed Tamil civilians, displacedhundreds of thousands of such Tamil civilians from their homes, destroyed theirhomes and all their occupational equipment and other assets, reducing them to astate of destitution, deprived such unarmed Tamil civilians of shelter, food,medicines, drinking water and other essentials, shelled hospitals and relief centresand prosecuted their military operations with scant regard for the safety,well-being and dignity of the unarmed Tamil civilians in conflict areas. Theextra-judicial execution and enforced disappearance of unarmed Tamil civiliansand the scourge of the white vans has continued unabated. These and otheraccounts of horrendous incidents were contemporaneously placed on record inParliament by the TNA and brought to the notice of all concerned.

We observe that the Report of the Advisory Panel to the UNSG confirms the truthof what happened to the unarmed Tamil civilians in the course of the conduct ofthe recently concluded war and is an irrefutable confirmation of the accountsof the events as reported by us to Parliament as and when they occurred. Wewelcome the finding by the panel that "credible allegations, which ifproven, indicate that a wide range of serious violations of internationalhumanitarian law and international human rights law were committed both by theGovernment of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, some of which would amount to war crimesand crimes against humanity. Indeed, the conduct of the war represented a graveassault on the entire regime of international law designed to protectindividual dignity during both war and peace."

Especially the Panel has also found credible allegations associated with thefinal stages of the war and that the Sri Lankan Army’s military campaigninto the Vanni using large scale and widespread shelling caused large numbersof civilian deaths. The Panel states that this campaign constituted persecutionof the population of the Vanni, of around 330,000 civilians. TheGovernment’s estimate of the population in the Vanni at this time wasonly 70,000. The Panel also asserts that these credibly alleged violationsdemand a serious investigation and the prosecution of those responsible. ThePanel also notes that "the Government’s notion of accountability isnot in accordance with international standards." The Panel also requiresthat the Government genuinely addresses the allegations of violations committedby both sides and to place the rights and dignity of the victims of theconflict at the centre of its approach to accountability, if its measures arenot to fall dramatically short of international expectations. In this context,the Panel has recommended certain measures, which as a whole, it hopes willserve as a framework for an ongoing and constructive engagement between theSecretary-General and the Government of Sri Lanka on accountability. We welcomethe recommendations made by the Panel and trust that they will be honestlyimplemented.

Most importantly, the Panel has observed that an environment conducive toaccountability which would permit a candid appraisal of the broad patterns ofthe past, including the root causes of the long-running ethno-nationalistconflict, does not exist at present. It would require concrete steps towardsbuilding an open society in which human rights are respected, as well as afundamental shift away from triumphalism and denial towards a genuinecommitment to a political solution that recognizes Sri Lanka's ethnic diversityand a full and inclusive citizenship of its entire people, including Tamils asa foundation for the country's future.

The TNA on its part has always been committed and continues to be committedtowards achieving a genuine political solution that recognizes Sri Lanka's ethnic diversityand a full and inclusive citizenship of all its Peoples, including Tamils as a foundation for permanent peace and stability in the country. We therefore urgethe Government of Sri Lanka not to miss this opportunity and to constructivelyengage in a process which would result in all the Peoples of Sri Lanka beingthe beneficiaries of genuine democracy, equality and justice.

R Sampanthan,
Parliamentary Group Leader
Tamil National Alliance