Tamil lawmaker M A Sumanthiran praised those “who took up arms on our behalf” as part of the Tamil liberation struggle this month, as Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day was marked around the world.
“Although it is my personal belief that a just political liberation cannot be achieved at the point of a gun, I have repeatedly stated that we cannot today decry or judge the decision taken by the Tamil youth who saw no other option at a time when oppression and military,” he said in the run up to commemoration events.
“I have also consistently emphasised that the commitment and sacrifices unselfishly made by those who took up arms on our behalf should be regarded very highly.”
His remarks came before Sumanthiran made a rare appearance at the main commemoration ceremony at Mullivaikkal on May 18, the site of the Tamil genocide.
Before he travelled to Mullivaikkal however, the Ilankai tamil Arasu Katchi (ITAK) MP took part in another event at the Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo.
Organised with the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), a diaspora organisation that has come under immense criticism from Tamils in recent months, the theme of the event was to remember “"all victims of war over 30 years in the north and south".
There was no mention of the Tamil genocide at that event.
