BTF welcomes UK opposition leader’s support for Tamils right
Apr 15, 2016
Britain’s main Opposition party leader Mr.Jeremy Corbyn on Monday said his Labour Party fully supports Tamils in their prolonged struggle to achieve self-determination and justice in Sri Lanka. Stressing that human rights abuses have not been fully addressed in Sri Lanka despite regime change, he said the British government should not treat countries that abuse human rights as its trade partners. “We as a party are very committed to the issues of human rights and justice. We are very committed to the rights of peoples, the Tamil people in this case to achieve their self-expression and their self-determination. That’s what we are about as a party,” the Labour leader in his address at the Tamils for Labour meeting at the Parliamentary complex on Monday. His pronouncement was welcomed by a spontaneous applause from the audience.
BTF whole heartedly welcomes the principled stand taken by the UK opposition leader and request the UK government and the other major parties in UK to recognise the Tamils right to self-determination, as a first step in finding a permanent solution to the continuing oppression faced by the Tamil people in Sri Lanka. Right to self-determination is a right recognised by the UN charter and a right given to the Scottish people with in UK. Ms. Siobhain Mc Donald ( MP) said ,’ A long term political solution that respects the Tamil right to self-determination is essential for long term stability of the region’.
At the same meeting the killing field’s documentary film maker Mr. Callum McRae said, ‘There is an international drive to preserve Sirisena regardless of cost. Cost could be genuine justice’. Shadow foreign secretary Mr. Hilary Benn stressed that to move forward in Sri Lanka there must be justice truth and reconciliation.
BTF calls upon the UK Government and the Rt.Hon. Minister Mr.Hugo Swire to review the current policy on Sri Lanka, and take a similar principled stand with regard to Tamils’ right to self-determination, justice and accountability prior to calling for investments from the diaspora.
