Move UN over Sri Lanka war crimes, demands Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu on Wednesday urged the central government to move a resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for an international enquiry against those who committed war crimes against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa, forwarding a resolution passed by the assembly unanimously to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requested the central government to take immediate necessary further action on its basis.

The resolution, moved by her, also urged the central government to take appropriate action to change the US attitude if it chose to support Sri Lanka in this regard, following reports that said the US was now proposing an internal probe by Sri Lanka against the alleged human rights violations and war crimes.

Terming the US move "against natural justice", Jayalalithaa said the US had earlier demanded an international probe on the alleged war crimes and human rights violations committed in 2009.

The assembly resolution comes a day after India and Sri Lanka agreed to boost cooperation in combating terrorism and working together for security and stability in the maritime neighbourhood as Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe visited India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Wickremesinghe held talks in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Jayalalithaa said India should move a strong resolution in the UNHRC alongwith the US to seek an international probe against those in Sri Lanka alleged to have committed war crimes and violated human rights.

She also recalled the earlier resolutions passed in the assembly urging India to stop treating Sri Lanka as a friendly nation and to boycott the meeting of heads of Commonwealth nations held in the island nation.

Jayalalithaa also said the state government had insisted that it would not allow Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket matches to be staged in Chennai if the teams had Sri Lankan players.

Members of the opposition parties welcomed the resolution.

Jayalalithaa, in her letter to Modi, said: "You are aware of the ethnic pogrom and genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils in the closing stage of the civil war in Sri Lanka.

"The report of the enquiry of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will be tabled in the current session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. The Resolution on the subject will be discussed on October 1 and 2."

She said in the face of overwhelming public opinion in Tamil Nadu, the state assembly passed the resolution strongly urging the India to take necessary action to pass a resolution in the UNHRC in Geneva to have an international enquiry into the instances of war crimes and violations of the Geneva Conventions in the closing stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka.