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Protests against war probe staged in Tamil dominated North, East of Sri Lanka

Xinhua, March 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Protests were staged in Sri Lanka' s Tamil dominated North and East on Monday against a proposed domestic investigation on human rights abuses alleged to have taken place during the country's civil war.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) led by Tamil political figure Gajen Ponnambalam, which is supporting the protest, said that the demonstration took place in eight districts in the North and East.

Over 100 people, including families of those reported missing during the war, took part in the protest in the Northern Jaffna town, as part of the protest, demanding an international investigation into the war.

The new Sri Lankan government has said it will launch a domestic investigation into the war and has already begun setting up the mechanisms for the process.

The UN Human Rights Council has backed the efforts of the new government and had delayed the release of a report on the war in Sri Lanka complied by a UN investigations team.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid Ra'ad al- Hussein had noted recently that he will release the investigations report on Sri Lanka by September, even if there is a fresh push to postpone it again.

In a letter to the president of the UN Human Rights Council ahead of the ongoing session of the Council in Geneva, Zeid had recommended delaying publication from this month until the council 's 30th session, which is due to take place in September.

However some Tamil groups in the North and East said they have no faith in the proposed domestic investigation based on past experiences and are demanding that the UN continue with its international investigation and make the report public soon.

Tens of thousands of civilians were killed in almost three decades of civil war that erupted in 1983 between the government troops and the rebel Tamil Tigers (LTTE), who had launched a separatist insurgency fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east before they were defeated in 2009.

A panel of experts, whose appointment was strongly criticized by the previous Sri Lankan government, was tasked with advising the United Nations on accountability issues related to alleged human rights violations at the end of the conflict. Endi