Deputy CM of Penang in Malaysia insists Tamils still suffering

The Deputy Chief Minister of Penang in Malaysia P Ramasamy?insists Tamils in Sri Lanka are still suffering despite the end of the war.

He said that while peace dividends might have brought benefits to political elites, foreign investors and tourists the?Tamils are still suffering.

Free Malaysia Today quoted Ramasamy?as saying if not for the harsh and brutal policies of the Sri Lankan Government, the LTTE would not have arisen in the first place.

“Wanton killings of Tamils, ethnic massacres, and discrimination against Tamils in education as well as employment contributed to the rise of the liberation movement.?One can hardly talk about the dividends of peace, when major human rights issues concerning the Tamils in the north and east have not been settled yet,” he said.

He also said that the call by international human rights agencies for the Sri Lanka Government to undertake reconciliation measures by accounting for the hundreds of thousands of Tamils who have gone missing,?the more than one hundred thousand, mostly innocent women, children and the elderly who were killed during the height of the civil war as well as the rapes and torture inflicted on Tamil women, have not been addressed.

Ramasamy said the new Government of Maithripala Sirisena has failed to punish those responsible for war crimes.

He also said that despite calls by international human rights agencies including the United Nations, countries like India and the United States have shown no interest in addressing the human rights violations in Sri Lanka. (Colombo Gazette)