Tamil Member of Parliament Sritharan has rebuffed claims made by Australian politicians last week that Sri Lanka was safe for Tamils and the reasons for the rise in asylum seekers were “economic and lifestyle”.
Speaking on Melbourne radio 3CR, Sritharan said,
“I am very hurt by Julie Bishop’s false claims. Spreading lies with no conscience about a race that is being wiped out saddened us. We feel we have been deceived,”
Having met with the Australian delegation as they toured the island, Sritharan went on to say,
“I felt Julie Bishop and her colleagues were taking sides with the Sri Lankan Government. They did not care about Tamil grievances. The actions of people like Julie Bishop hurts us.”
“Many people who have been deported back from Sri Lanka are spending time in jails. They asked for names but I could not provide them at the time. When I asked them whether they could guarantee the lives of these young men, Julie Bishop shook her head and said we can’t guarantee anyone’s life. So we could not talk about issues certain individuals faced. It hurts us to know that they haven’t understood the sufferings of our people,”
“When they visited Tamil areas, they did not speak to any of the Tamil civilians. The people were too scared because the army and intelligence people surrounded them.”
“Thousands of Tamil youth are rotting in jails. Sri Lankan Army is everywhere. We have Sri Lankan intelligence roaming around everywhere. Even two days ago on Sri Lanka’s independence day (which Tamils mourn) Tamils were forced to hoist the Lion flag on their houses. When a flag accidentally fell down from a house, they beat up the house owner.”
“Tamils can’t live peacefully here. This why Tamils flee to places like Australia.”
Earlier, Australian opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison denied ongoing human rights abuses on the island stating,
“We didn’t hear of on-going Tamil abuse by the Sinhalese, that’s the point... The most important thing is to beef up the capacity of Sri Lanka to ensure they (the boats) don't get within a few hundred nautical miles of Australia".
The proposals put forward by the Coalition were shunned by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, with a spokesperson saying,
''Any such blanket approach - as past experience has shown - is operationally difficult and dangerous for all concerned,''
Australian Senator Hanson-Young also commented,
"The Coalition and Tony Abbott are prepared to do anything including illegal acts in order to continue their get tough, get cruel, get mean race to the bottom on refugees,”
