The Tamil National Alliance MP for Batticaloa, P Ariyanethiran, welcomed the resolution passed by the Northern Provincial Council on Tuesday, which called on the UN to investigate charges of genocide and prosecute those responsible at the International Criminal Court.

“Our position is the same as the NPC. We welcome the resolution and wish to add to the call for a UN probe into genocide and prosecutions of those responsible,” the MP, who is based in the Eastern Province, told the Tamil Guardian over the phone.

Mr Ariyenethiran echoed the NPC’s demand for an international investigation, regardless of whether the government conducts its own inquiry, saying that a domestic inquiry is designed to “cover up” the mass atrocities committed by the government.

Tamils living in villages in Kilinochchi demanded the Sri Lankan government issues them with certificates for their land, during a protest in the district capital today,

Residents accused the government of deliberately withholding the certificates, in some cases for 25 years, which they require in order to be eligible for funds from the housing scheme, to connect to the electrical grid and other development. The land concerned is in the villages of Nathakkudiyiruppu, Ulavanoor and Punnaineeraavi, all in the Kilinochchi district’s Kandaavalai regional secretariat division.

The Northern Provincial Council’s Chief Minister CV Wigneswaran said the resolution passed today by the Northern Provincial Council, calling on the UN to investigate genocide, is a challenge to "moral integrity and humaneness" of the international community and the Sinhala people.