Obama administration urged to arrest Gotabaya Rajapaksa

In an appeal to US President Barack Obama, two major Tamil groups in the United States, Tamils for Obama and American Tamil Forum, have urged the United States to arrest former Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa who is reported to be currently visiting the US.

“Gotabaya Rajapaksa is one of the main architect – along with the former President and the current President – who were responsible for the large-scale killing of Tamils and rape of Tamil women. According to United Nations internal review report around 70,000 Tamils were killed in six months during the early part of 2009 and the abuses committed by the Sri Lankan forces amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Some international legal experts believe that there are elements of these abuses that could amount to genocide,” the two organisations said.

The Tamil groups said that the US should not miss the opportunity to arrest and prosecute one of the main war criminals in recent times visiting the US, adding that failure to do so would encourage others to commit abuses amounting to war crimes.

The UN Human Rights Council, led by the US, last year passed a Sri Lanka resolution to hold a credible investigation to punish those responsible for these killings. 

“The United States should take the same leadership it took at the UN to initiate investigation for the visiting Sri Lankan war criminal,” said these two organisations. (Colombo Gazette)