In separate letters to President Mahinda Rajapaksa and UN Human Rights Chief Navaneetham Pillay, TULF leader V. Anandasangaree has called on Pillay to look for alternative ways to deal with the problem than calling for an international probe.

Instead, a committee comprised of nations should be appointed with an Indian Representative to head the team, to attend to the residual matters of the war, such as full compensation for loss of life and property and housing, he said in his letter to Navi pillay.

He also censured the actions of the TNA members in respect of an international probe and called on the President to implement the 13th Amendment to the Constitution as a solution.

Anandasangaree had distanced himself from the stance of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) towards the LTTE and had said that the LTTE was an illegal terrorist organisation banned in many Western and Asian countries. He had also charged that the TNA was arbitrarily led by a group of members of the Diaspora.
He said the actions of the TNA had only led to increased problems to the innocent youths wrongly detained as LTTE suspects and their relatives.

“Cordon-and-search operations have now started on a large scale in the Kilinochchi, Mullaithivu and the Vavuniya Districts and are sure to be extended to other areas. This situation has developed due to the foolish and unwanted statements and utterances of some inexperienced politicians, who have their own agenda,” he said.

He had also requested Mrs. Pillay to amend the 8th clause of the US led resolution. “In my opinion the demand for an “Independent and Credible International Investigation” should be changed with suitable local alternate arrangements made.

It is the country’s prestige that should be first looked into and not that of an individual’s, as the Tamil Diaspora expect. The impact of the consequences is felt by the people here and not by the Diaspora abroad, TULF leader argued. Calling on the President to implement the 13th Amendment, he said that the country should be saved from being castigated internationally.

“The biggest mistake you made was, not to check those who were criticising almost all countries that had pledged to support the American resolution,” he states to the President.

What does our country have, for any country to the have hidden motives of bringing our country under their control, the TULF leader asked.

Mr. Anandasangaree was of the view that these criticisms of all countries might change the minds of countries that were neutral towards the resolution.

“The second mistake was your attempt to go round the world seeking support against the motion from various countries. Almost all countries are sensitive to Human Rights violations. One reason may be that they are angry about what their forefathers did to the people during colonial days. Reminding them of the past will prove counterproductive. If anyone asks about the punishment meted out to Ehelapole’s family, we have no answer, says the veteran Tamil leader.

He points out that there were Human Rights violations during the tail-end of the war, for which all the soldiers cannot be held responsible.

You have a right and also a duty to identify the real culprits and while doing your duty to the people, whom you rule, give sufficient legal assistance to the soldiers also to escape from punishment, which duty you can’t shirk as Minister of Defence, he points out to the President.

“The third mistake which may be even more important than the other two is your reluctance or failure to implement the 13th Amendment which you had promised to the Indian authorities to implement with a Plus.  This is the gravest mistake of all.”
Listing out the instances where the governments of the past had gone back on their word he says the undertaking given by the Father of the Nation D.S. Senanayake to the Tamil Members of the outgoing State Council in 1947 was dishonored by the Indian Citizenship Act.

“Then the Banda-Chelva Pact was torn by the late S.W.R.D. Bandaranaiake himself due to pressure from the opposition and the Dudley-Chelva Pact never saw the light of the day.”

The TULF leader further said in his letter that the report of the Experts Committee created by the President under the APRC died a natural death. “Now, realising the seriousness of the present situation, please take a bold step to implement the 13th Amendment brought out due to the efforts of the late Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India who sacrificed his life to bring peace to our country, he said.

He suggests that the government’s representatives at the UNHRC should request the members of the council to vote for an amendment to pay compensation for lives and property lost. War crimes can be taken up under a committee of the nations sponsoring the present resolution headed by an Indian representative.

Courtesy: dailymirror.lk