Chennai, Mar. 2 (ANI): Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader Vaiko on Saturday pressed his demand for an independent international investigation on the war crimes committed by Sri Lankan military on Tamils.
Vaiko said that Indian Government should severe all economic ties with Sri Lanka.
“Our demand is very clear. There should an independent international investigation about the genocide of Tamils committed by the racist Sri Lanka Government. There should be an economic embargo as a resolution adopted in Tamil Nadu assembly,” Vaiko told media here.
” The Indian Government should severe all the commercial and economic agreements and there should be an economic embargo by the international community,” he added.
Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in 2009 in the final months the war, a U.N. panel said, as government troops advanced on the ever-shrinking northern tip of the island controlled by Tamil rebels fighting for an independent homeland.
India is a major partner in Sri Lanka”s reconciliation process for its Tamil populace who have bore the brunt of the long war which spanned more than 30 years.
A UN report last year cited an earlier estimate of 40,000 civilians killed in crossfire between government and rebel forces after they were trapped on a sliver of coastline, and cited credible information that over 70,000 remained ”unaccounted for”.
The UN report reinvigorated calls from human rights groups and expatriate ethnic Tamils for an international investigation into suspected war crimes towards the end of the conflict with the LTTE.
The Sri Lankan Government has repeatedly rejected allegations that it committed war crimes and also rejected suggestions in the report that it had intimidated UN officials. (ANI)