NPC wants international war crimes probe

Tuesday, 28 January 2014 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ananthi to represent NPC in Geneva this March
Wigneswaran attempts last minute dilution of resolution language
Urges TNA Councillors not to embark on collision course with Govt.

The Northern Provincial Council yesterday passed a resolution calling for an international war crimes probe to establish whether the Sri Lankan Government had killed Tamil civilians in order to win the war in 2009. The resolution was presented to the Council by TNA Councillor M.K. Shivajilingam. The resolution was presented at the fifth session of the NPC after several amendments were put forward by Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran to soften the language of the controversial resolution. The Chief Minister insisted that it was inappropriate to use the term ‘genocide’ with regard to the killing of Tamil civilians during the final phase of the war, until it was proved by a credible international inquiry. The Chief Minister was concerned that the tone of the resolution that would pass with an overwhelmingly majority in the TNA controlled Council would set the NPC on a collision course with the Government in Colombo. Wigneswaran met with several TNA councillors yesterday to attempt to convince them to refrain from creating stumbling blocks to working with the Government in the future. The resolution rejects all domestic inquiries into the conduct of the final phase of the war and calls for a full-fledged international war crimes inquiry. The resolution adopted also calls for a member of the NPC to attend the UN Human Rights Council’s March sessions in Geneva. TNA Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan is likely to represent the TNA controlled Council in Geneva in March, accordingly. (DB)