Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared held a press briefing in Vavuniya calling on Tamil politicians to quit politics adding that they were appearing to be more like celebrities than actually standing up for a worthy cause including the grievances of the Tamils.
Secretary to the Association Gopalkrishna Rajkumar said that individuals like Sumanthiran, Shritharan, Mavi Senadhiraja, TELO, PLOT, and others should leave politics entirely. “Tamils do not support the people who served under Sampanthan and mothers of missing families are calling on applauding Sampanthan’s anit-Tamil stance to step down.”
“The lack of respect during Sampanthan’s final journey demonstrates the Tamils' rejection of his ideals. His tenure was marked by futile attempts to gain political concessions by cooperating with Sinhalese governments. There continued to be lack of transparency and accountability for war crimes.”
He went on to read a list of the causes including the prioritization of Buddhism, ignoring war crime investigations, opposing the construction of Hindu temples in Tamil lands, associating the Seven Spring Well of Thirukoneshwaran with Buddhism, dividing the North and East provinces, participating in the Independence Day celebrations which Tamils mark as Black day as some of the causes that Tamil politicians supported Sampanthan for.
“Importing Colombo-based Tamil politicians like Sumanthiran and Wigneswaran into Tamil Eelam to support the Sinhalese governments is part of the reason for this opposition,” he said. He added that Eelam Tamils advocated for the opposite of what Sampanthan fought for, a unified Tamil sovereign state in the North-East. In addition to this, international investigation into war crimes, accountability at the ICC, and support of US legislators who are demanding a referendum on behalf of Tamils.
