A day after David Cameron, the British Prime Minister, asking the Sri lankan Government to complete a “full, credible and independent inquiry” into the alleged charges of war crimes against ethnic Tamils before March 2014, Tamil Eelam Supporters Organisation (TESO), an umbrella organisation of various pro-lTTE elements headed by M Karunanidhi, the DMK chief, demanded the Indian Parliament to adopt a resolution on the same lines.
“The Indian Parliament should demand an international inquiry into the human rights violations and war crimes in the last phase of the Eelam War in May 2009,” said a resolution adopted in a meeting of TESO held here on Sunday. Cameron had warned the Sri lankan Government on Saturday that if it fails to complete the inquiry by March 2014, Britain would demand a “full, credible, and independent international inquiry” into the charges of war crimes against Sri lanka at the March 2014 session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. His demand came during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which is in session at Colombo.
Mahinda Rajapaksa, President of Sri lanka, in his reply to Cameron had made it clear that there was no question of an international inquiry into the charges of war crimes and human rights violations against his country. TESO asked the Indian Government to take into consideration the views expressed by the British Prime Minister. It also condemned the participation of Salman Khurshid, Union Minister for External Affairs in the CHOGM.
The TESO also demanded the Sri lankan Government to devolve more financial and political powers to the Tamil dominated Northern Provincial Council as per the 13th amendment of the Constitution. Cameron’s ultimatum drew widespread criticism from a cross section of the Sri lankan society. “We are very angry with how Cameron behaved here. We are not a colony but he behaved as if we were one,” Shenali Waduge, a Colombo-based political commentator told The Pioneer.