Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant visas to a UN team probing Sri Lanka’s human rights violations. Expressing surprise over reports of the Centre’s denial, she said it would be a bitter disappointment for the people of her state who are determined to see the Sri Lankan regime held to account for “its heinous acts against Tamilsâ€.
In a letter to the Prime Minister released to the media on Thursday, Jayalalithaa said the visa should be granted to enable a fair probe on the case. “I request you to kindly intervene in the issue and ensure that the international committee is granted the necessary visas and is in a position to complete a fair and impartial enquiry into the human rights violations in Sri Lanka.”
Stating that she had written to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on this issue, she rued that no strong action was taken. “Under the new government under your leadership, we were very hopeful of a change in India’s stance.”
Referring to her memorandum to Modi on June 3, she recalled that she had urged the Centre to sponsor a resolution in the UN “condemning the genocide in Sri Lanka and to hold to account all those responsible for the genocide and thereby render justice to the Tamils in Sri Lanka.”
Reiterating a strong demand in Tamil Nadu to hold the Sri Lankan regime to account for the alleged genocide and war crimes in the closing stages of the civil war, she regretted that Tamil minorities in Sri Lanka continued to be discriminated.