Tamils who Met UN Rights Chief Threatened in Sri Lanka: TGTE

"High-Commissioner Pillay urged to protect Tamils whom she met"

( August 30 , 2013, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) In an urgent appeal to the UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Pillay, the Prime-Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran , urged her to ensure that those Tamils who met her in the NorthEast of the island are protected from harassment and abuse by the Sri Lankan Security forces and intelligence agencies.

According to BBC (Tamil Service), those who met the UN High-Commissioner Pillai have been threatened.

Additionally BBC reports that the military who were kept inside the camps during her trip were out in the streets and have re-established their check points, after the High-Commissioner left Tamil areas. The checkpoint at Elephant-pass in the A9 road, which was closed down during her stay have also been reopened after she left.

Hundreds of mothers of the disappeared held peaceful rally showing the pictures of their loved ones who went missing after security forces abducted them or surrendered to the security forces. Some of these mothers and relatives of the disappeared met High-Commissioner Pillay and urged her to find their loved ones.

“It is those who met High-Commissioner Pillay who are being threatened by the intelligence services and the security forces” said Rudrakumaran.

“We strongly urge High-Commissioner Pillay to take necessary steps to ensure the safety of those Tamil whom she met. These people are extremely vulnerable and need protection” appealed Mr. Rudrakumaran.

UN High-Commissioner Pillai visited Northern town of Jaffna and “Mullivalkal” where the mass killing of Tamils took place during the final months of the war in May 2009. It is in these places she met families of those directly affected by the Sri Lankan Security Force abuse.

According to UN internal Review report around 70,000 Tamils were killed in five months in early 2009 and hundreds of Tamil women were raped by the Sri Lankan Security forces. There are also around 90,000 Tamil war widows.

Tamil areas are saturated with the Sri Lankan Security forces. It is believed that the ratio of military to civilian is the highest in the world in Tamil areas (one soldier to every five civilians). Sri Lankan Security forces comprise almost exclusively by the Sinhalese and victims are all Tamils.