May 17 Movement appeals TN govt to declare Lanka as Genocidal State in Assembly

Chennai, December 22:
May 17 Movement, an organisation formed to voice support for Sri Lankan Tamils, on Tuesday appealed to the state government to pass a resolution in the forthcoming Assembly session declaring Sri Lanka as Genocidal State.
Speaking to reporter here, Thirumurugan, one of the organisers of the Movement, said, “The resolution in the state assembly categorically declaring the island nation was involved in genocide of innocent Tamils in the final phases of Eelam War would set the momentum to prosecute it in international courts.”
Explaining the Movement’s demand, Thirumurugan said, “Their own officials records substantiate our claim of genocide and everyone knows what had happened during the May near Mullivaikal where several thousands of innocent Tamils were butchered by the Lankan army.”
Citing a recent report, Thirumurugan said, “The then army chief and now a contender for the presidential post (Sarath Fonseka) had openly admitted that three top LTTE figures (Nadesan, Pulidevan and Ramesh) were shot and killed while they were surrendering to the Lankan forces. This revelation clearly proves that the army was involved in killing even those Tamils who came out of their hideouts with white flags with the intention of surrender.”
It may be noted that the UN has sought a detailed report on Fonseka’s disclosure about extra-judicial killings of Tamils.
He further said: “Prior to the beginning of the latest phase of ethnic war about two years ago, Government Agents (GA) in Northern Sri Lanka registered that around 4.5 lakh Tamils were living in those territories, but the figure recorded by the very same officials after the end of war in May this year put it as about three lakhs only. That detail shows that more than 1.5 lakh Tamils were either killed by the Lankan army or simply disappeared.”
On a question about the need for such resolution, Ayyanathan, another organiser of the Movement, said, “Besides registering the country accountable for all these butchering in the name of fighting the terrorists, it would also secure the remaining Tamils now living in camps in the country to live peacefully.”
The movement also said that they would approach all political parties and human rights groups in the state to force the government to come out with a strong resolution declaring the nation involved in genocide.