Australian Tamils demand intl probe into Lanka 'war crimes'

Last Updated: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 22:54

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Tags: Australian Tamils, probe, Sri Lanka, `war crimes`

Melbourne: Tamils in Australia have asked Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to support calls for an international probe into alleged war crimes committed in the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war.

It is the time Australia "shows some leadership and speaks out and calls on the Sri Lankan government to allow an international independent investigation into war crimes", said Sam Pari of Australian Tamil Congress.

"If Colombo fails to do so then Australia should take a strong stand and impose trade sanctions or travel bans on Sri Lankan government officials," she was quoted as saying by Australia's public broadcaster 'ABC'.

Pari said the group had previously asked former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to take stronger diplomatic action against Sri Lanka.

"Now Rudd is our foreign minister and it gives him an opportunity to finally speak up and show some leadership when it comes to human rights abuses in the Asia-Pacific region."

Pari said she hoped Gillard will raise the issue with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting scheduled to be held in Perth later this year.

Earlier, a UN panel said killing of tens of thousands of people in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil strife could amount to "war crimes".

However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon an international probe will only be launched if Sri Lanka agrees or member states call for it.

PTI

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First Published: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 22:54

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Suresh Kumar - Melbourne
Tamils living in Melbourne know who Sam Pari is and why she is crying woulf now. Australian Tamil Congress is nothing but a commercial venture to grab innocent Tamils living in Australia. When LTTE was active they managed to use intimidating tactics to collect money and now they lack the power to do it any more. It is now time to let by gones be bygones and let the inncoent Tamils living in Sri Lanka and every where build up there lives.

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Sumedha - Sri Lanka
Why talking only about the last two-three years of the `war` and conviniently forgetting the LTTE`s brutalities for nearly 30 years? Butchering Sinhala infants by smashing their skulls against tree trunks, massacring clergy, massacring hundreds of (if not thousands)of police officers captured after they had surrendered, why not these events? Even though their ``son God`` paid for all these like a dog, LTTE sympathizers who funded the terrorist outfit are still very much active in many parts of the World. And they have found strategic partners, the US, the West (and other supporting governments) who are trying hard to cover-up their own sins and attrocities in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine, Libya and (soon Syria). Why UN Secretary General and Navi Pillai do not have a backbone to challenge the actions of the so called `powerful` nations?

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Nash - London
Tamils live peacefully among all other ethnicities in Sri Lanka. They enjoy equal rights as any other after the end of 30 years of terrorism which was mainly backed by LTTE supporters like Sam Pari who is enjoying the state benefits and other privileges by western states and back politicians to elect in elections.

LTTE diaspora living abroad does not care about tamils living in Sri Lanka but they can stay and live on benefits in western world only if they keep their propaganda against Sri Lanka government working.

Sam Pari and others if you do care about your own let them live peacefully in Sri Lanka.

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lawry - canada
Try hard as they may - Sri Lanka will for ever remain a single nation and the Tamils have no option but to remain an ethnic minority. It will be wise for the Tamils who think otherwise to learn to live like their counterparts in countries like Singapore, Malaysia and Fiji. Those who think otherwise also have the option of living in the variuos countries they moved to, like Canada, Australia and UK. If they choose a life of agitation, conflict and chasing rainbows, their lives would be in vain when the time comes that they find themselves aged and like all humans, will have to go to their graves,frustrated and miserble. Dont waste your youth.