Include Tamil judges in SL war tribunal: CPI

The Communist Party of India has urged Sri Lanka to include judges and lawyers from the Tamil community in the tribunal to be set up to inquire into war crimes and human rights violations during the ethnic war. 

Talking to reporters in Coimbatore on Friday, CPI national secretary D Raja said the judicial process should have the participation of Commonwealth and other foreign judges. He said that the judges should be of impeccable integrity and impartiality. 

Raja also came down heavily on Centre stating that India had become a “camp follower” in the Sri Lankan issue for toeing the line of other countries rather than taking proactive measures to find a permanent solution to the ethnic crisis. 

Slamming the Centre for its handling of the Sri Lankan issue, Raja said that the Narendra Modi government had even refused to recognise the unanimous resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Sri Lankan crisis. 

Raja said that in addition to ensuring that there was an impartial probe, the Sri Lankan government should also strive to find a permanent solution and give equal right to Tamils. He said that president Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe should also withdraw military from the northern part of the country inhabited by Tamils and hand over their land currently occupied by the military. “The Lankan government should also release innocent Tamils lodged in the prisons,’’ he demanded. 

Now that a resolution has been adopted in the UN Human Rights Council, Raja sought the international community to ensure a credible inquiry into the war crimes, stated by US-sponsored resolution adopted by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. “People of the country, especially dalits and minorities are living in perpetual fear,’’ he alleged. 

Source: Time of India