Nedumaran Demands Extension Of UN Inquiry On Sri Lanka

Tamizhar Desiya Iyyakkam (Tamils National Movement) chairman Pazha Nedumaran on Saturday said the period of inquiry by the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Sri Lanka should be extended, Indian media reported.

Briefing newsmen at a press conference in Puducherry,  he remarked the term of the committee, constituted to look into the issues of the Tamils in Sri Lanka, will end this month. However, Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa had not cooperated with the enquiry and also no enquiry could be undertaken in Tamil Nadu. Nedumaran said that time was required to properly inquire.

Nedumaran, now 81, is known for his long standing pro-LTTE views.

Sri Lanka has criticized the UNHRC probe on Sri Lanka initiated after the UNHRC Resolution which was passed in March this year as a dangerous precedence of extending of the mandate given to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Therefore sri Lanka refused to grant visa to the investigators.

India, under the former Congress Party led government had abstained from voting in the resolution. The current BJP government refused to grant the investigators visa. Therefore the plans to run the investigation from Tamil Nadu came to naught.