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| Protests in Jaffna Photograph:Tamil Guardian |
Demonstrations took place across the North-East on Monday, rejecting a newly proposed domestic probe into mass atrocities that occurred at the end of the armed conflict between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lankan government in 2009, and calling on the Sri Lankan government to give the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) investigation into Sri Lanka’s (OISL) team unfettered access to the North-East.
Protesters also rejected the current domestic presidential commission into the disappeared and called for an international process that would ensure that the whereabouts of the disappeared were known.
The protests took place in 8 districts across the North-East, including Ampara, Mattakalappu, Thirukonamalai, Mannar, Vavuniya, Mullaitivu, Killinochi and Jaffna.
Placards saying “No Local inquiry” in Tamil and English were held by some demonstrators, reports the Economic Times of India.
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| Photograph: Naangal |
The Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF) led by Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, which is supporting the protest, said that protests took place in eight districts in the North-East.
In Ampara, local religious leaders took part in protests.
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| Protesters take to the streets in Ampara Photographs:Tamil Guardian |
The protests take place amidst an increasing climate of discontent in the North-East after Sri Lanka suggested that it would carry out a domestic investigation following the announcement that the release of the report of the United Nations OISL by 6 months.
