The aspirations of the Tamils as a distinct community, that want to govern themselves in their areas of historical habitat and want acknowledgement and accountability for abuses committed against them must be addressed by the Sri Lankan government to resolve the national issue, said the Bishop of Mannar, Rayappu Joseph.
Expanding on how to build trust between the Tamil community and the Sri Lankan government, Bishop Joseph, said,
“Concrete actions to address grievances, such as first steps towards addressing the Tamil political question, actions towards releasing political prisoners, handing back land occupied by the military, demilitarisation, finding and acknowledging the truth about the disappeared, these are some actions that will help build trust.”
Responding to concerns of Tamil protests in the North-East disrupting the formation of a stable new governance, Bishop Joseph, said,
“Why should we stop voicing our long standing grievances to help one Sinhalese political party or alliance?”
Bishop Joseph, added,
“Tamils concerns continue to be summarily dismissed or we are accused of encouraging terrorism each time we raise our concerns.”
Commenting on Sri Lanka’s intention to set up a domestic inquiry into atrocities, the Bishop said that he had engaged with countless Sri Lankan inquiries and seen no results and had “no confidence in a purely domestic probe,” adding,
“I have personally made great efforts with domestic mechanisms..when I asked about 144,679 persons being unaccounted for during the last eight months of the final phase of the war, After more than four years, I have not had a substantial response, except being subjected to CID interrogations.”
Supporting the recently passed Northern Provincial Council resolution that called on the international community to stop the genocide of Tamils, Bishop Rayappu reiterated that the Northern Provincial Council was elected by over 80% of the people in the North-East, and that the resolution was tabled at the Council after careful study.
The above comments were made by the Bishop of Mannar in an interview with Ceylon Today on Sunday.
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