Marking the 7th anniversary of the Mullivaikkal massacre, the UK Conservative party renewed its call for justice for the Tamils that were killed at the end of the armed conflict in 2009.

"Today we remember the thousands of Tamils who lost their lives seven years ago in the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka," the party's vice chairman, Robert Halfon said in a statement on Wednesday.

"Mullivaikkal is a day to remember the atrocities perpetrated against Tamils, and those who lost their lives during those terrible years," he added.

 

Members of the Tamil National People’s Front lit candles at Mullivaikkal earlier today, commemorating the lives lost during the massacres of 2009.

Students in Tamil Nadu lit candles and laid down flowers in remembrance of those killed during the final phase of the armed conflict that ended in Mullivaikkal.

The failure to acknowledge crimes committed in Sri Lanka “is a continuing injury” to victims, writes human rights lawyer Kate Cronin-Furman in the Washington Post.

Stating that “Sri Lanka has yet to face its past,” she said “to those in the south, these crimes may seem distant and forgettable”.

“For families still searching for information about their missing loved ones, though, they’re a glaring fact of everyday life,” she added.

A remembrance service for May 18 was observed by Tamil political leaders in Trincomalee on Wednesday morning.

Tamils in Trincomalee commemorated May 18 on Wednesday.

The event brought together religious leaders and civil society members across Trinco.

Sri Lanka’s president stated that his government would work towards strengthening the military, as he criticised the previous administration for putting “war heroes into jail” in a speech in Colombo today.

Maithripala Sirisena was addressing a ceremony in the southern capital marking Sri Lanka’s “National War Heroes’ Day” according to army’s official website, as Tamils across the North-East mourned those killed during the final stages of the island’s armed conflict seven years ago.

Colombo though had stated the ceremony would be “celebrated” as a “cultural presentation of victory”, as 400 soldiers stood in formation before Sri Lankan government and military officials.

Mr Sirisena, who was accorded a red carpet guard of honour on arrival at the ‘Battaramulla War Heroes’ Monument’, reportedly showed “his deep gratitude to the memory of fallen War Heroes who salvaged the country from LTTE terrorism”.

An accountability mechanism in Sri Lanka for mass atrocities committed during the final stages of the island’s armed conflict must have “meaningful engagement” of international judges, said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday.

In a statement released to mark seven years since the end of the armed conflict, Mr Trudeau said, “Over the past seven years, I have met many victims of this war, and have been deeply moved by their heroic stories of trauma and loss”.