Letter to PM, signed by party MPs, comes ahead of UNHRC’s 46th session
DMK president M.K. Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, urging him to ensure that the Sri Lankan government implements the 13th Amendment in letter and spirit. The party’s MPs also signed the letter, sent ahead of the 46th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
The UNHRC meeting is scheduled to take up past resolutions for creating an independent international mechanism for an inquiry to do justice to Eelam Tamils for the war crimes and other human rights violations committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
Recalling External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar’s statement during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, Mr. Stalin said that while the Minister was only restating the Indian position on issues of power like devolution at the domestic level, he was silent on the UNHRC processes. “It is unclear whether he had really and meaningfully taken it up with Sri Lanka’s President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister,” he said.
“It is now clear that the Government of Sri Lanka has seriously failed to honour its UNHRC commitments under Resolution 40/1, and has also been reluctant to take forward constructive and internationally acceptable measures for accountability in the matters of war crimes and all human rights violations,” the letter said. It had failed to bring forward substantive constitutional and administrative initiatives to uphold the dignity of the Tamils.
Mr. Stalin said successive Sri Lankan governments had only whittled down the powers and authority of the provincial councils, even 34 years after the 13th Amendment was passed, treating the provincial councils with scant respect to their own Constitution. “The actions of these governments have deviated from the commitments made under the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987,” he said. They have failed to fulfil the “legitimate aspirations” of the Tamils, he said.
With all Tamil parties in Sri Lanka unanimously appealing to the member-states of the UNHRC, including India, to work for referring Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for ensuring effective international accountability over war crimes and other human rights violations, the Prime Minister should ensure at the personal and diplomatic levels that the Sri Lankan government implemented the 13th Amendment, he said.
“You may recall that India has voted against Sri Lanka at UNHRC in the past. I, therefore, request you to effectively cause India to take the initiative in an earnest manner and implore other member-nations of UNHRC early so as to move the issue collectively and ensure that the appeals of joint Tamil representation from Sri Lanka are met at the 46th session of UNHRC,” he said.