Protests ahead of Lankan Premier’s visit to India

Bengaluru, Karnataka (Reuters): Political activists on 13 September protested Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s visit to India and warned New Delhi not to support the domestic probe into the war crimes.

Wickremesinghe will be on a three-day visit to New Delhi between 14 and 16 September. This will be his first foreign tour after taking over as Sri Lankan Prime Minister.

Agitated protesters of Karnataka Tamil Makkal Iyakkam shouted slogans and asked Wickremesinghe to cancel the visit.

“We are demanding today that the Indian Government should no way go alongside the demand of Ranil Wickremesinghe to absolve Mahinda Rajapaksa, who conducted the war against Tamils in Sri Lanka. For this purpose, Karnataka Tamil Makkal Iyakkam and its supportive organisations have gathered here to protest the arrival of Ranil Wickremesinghe,” said Jagdish Chandra, a protester, in southern city of Bengaluru.

The United States has backed the new Sri Lankan Government’s plans for a domestic inquiry into alleged wartime atrocities, reversing its demand for an international probe.

Sri Lankan Government forces have been accused of widespread human rights violations in the final stages of the civil war that ended in May 2009, including most of about 40,000 killings of Tamil civilians in the final weeks of the conflict.

International investigators, whose findings have been rejected by the Sri Lankan authorities, have said the army committed large-scale abuses and was responsible for many civilian deaths in the final stages of the war.

The UN Human Rights Council voted last March to investigate war crimes in Sri Lanka, saying then President Mahinda Rajapaksa had failed to do so properly.

Sri Lanka had said it needed the delay to give it time to establish a new judicial mechanism to deal with the allegations. The new Government had given clear commitments indicating it was prepared to cooperate.

PM off to India on first State visit

On the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe will undertake an official visit to India from 14-16 September. 

During the visit, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka will hold talks with his Indian counterpart and call on Indian President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian Cabinet Ministers and political leaders are among those who are expected to call on the Prime Minister.  

Bilateral instruments on cooperation in the health sector, Indian grant assistance for the implementation of small development projects and frequency coordination for the SAARC Satellite will be initialed during the visit.  

The official visit is the first undertaken by Wickremesinghe following his election as Prime Minister consequent to the 17 August General Election. Earlier, President Maithripala Sirisena undertook a State visit to India in February 2015 and Indian Prime Minister Naredndra Modi visited Sri Lanka in March 2015.