The stakes of Sri Lanka's strategy - and why only an international investigation will suffice

What is happening in Sri Lanka is a systematic genocide. It has been happening for the last 60 odd years. What happened in the last stages of the war was taking that genocidal project to its extreme.

“It has been three years since the war ended. There are several steps that are being taken currently that carry on the structural genocide of our people. What is happening in Sri Lanka ... is the dismantling of the existence of the Tamils as a distinct nation of people.

“That is what is happening and it is that what has to be investigated and our belief is that if there is any prospect of justice to be met, it can only happen through one international independent investigation.

- Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, leader of Tamil National People's Front (TNPF), speaking to media on March 10, 2012.

See his comments in full below:


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“We have been to various countries like United State of America, Great Britain, Canada and South Africa, and we requested those countries that there must be an international investigation on the accountability, because [Sri Lanka’s] report does not have anything about the accountability as such.

- Suresh Premachandran, senior parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance, speaking to media on March 10, 2012.

See more of his comments here and below:


 

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