By EuAsiaNews,
Brussels : Two years after the civil war in Sri Lanka ended with the surrender of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the European Parliament (EP) on Thursday urged the Sri Lankan government to take active measures to protect the Tamil people so that they can look forward to “a bright and prosperous future, on equal terms with their Sinhalese fellow citizens”.
An EP statement noted that following a recently published UN report which finds credible the allegations that both government forces and the LTTE conducted military operations with “flagrant” violations of human rights, Members of the European Parliament call for a full, impartial and transparent investigation.
The EP urged the Sri Lankan government to implement the recommendations suggested by the UN panel of experts and conduct a genuine investigation.
Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan embassy in Brussels released a statement saying the EP yesterday “defeated an attempt by the Socialist group to seek the immediate establishment of an international justice mechanism” on Sri Lanka, during an urgency debate called by the Socialist and Green parties at the EP plenary session in Strasbourg to draw attention to the so called UN Panel Report on accountability issues in Sri Lanka. ”
Chair of the ‘Friends of Sri Lanka’ group of the European Parliament Geoffrey Van Orden durong the debate on Sri Lanka said he regrets “that we are having this debate today. ”
“I suspect that it has been promoted by extremist elements in the Tamil diaspora – the same people who have helped to sustain the LTTE terrorist campaign over many years through political activity and funding, often from the proceeds of crime, ” said the British MEP.
“Instead of trying to bring together the peoples of Sri Lanka, there are those that seek to continue a campaign of hatred and division, ” he added.