Argument in the House over Gajendrakumar’s statement that genocide continues

Members of the ruling and opposition parties clashed with Jaffna District Parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam in Parliament after he told the House that the Tamil uprising rally “From Pottuvil to Polikany” had taken place  demanding justice for the genocide in Sri Lanka and an end to the genocide that continues even today.

Despite arguments from members of the ruling opposition that the term “genocide” could not be used today, Gajendrakumar MP was adamant that he could not retract the word.

Gajendrakumar addressed the debate on the Ministry of Labour in Parliament yesterday , Tuesday.

Gajendrakumar mentioned in the House the demands of the struggle”F rom Pottuvil to Polikandy”.  Among them, he mentioned the following four co-demands  stated in the proclamation of the rally:

-Recognition of the North and East as the homeland of Tamil speaking people

-The recognition of Tamils as a distinct Nation.

-Right to self-determination of the Tamil Nation.

-The referral of Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court and other international accountability mechanisms to look into and investigate the crime of genocide that happened and continuing to happen.

Opposition MP Harsha de Silva raised a point of order saying   that by definition genocide is the killing of a group of people and thus it was inappropriate to claim that genocide was continuing. Minister Ajith Nivard Cabraal argued in support of Harsha de Silva’s view.

In response, Gajendrakumar said that genocide is not just about killing the race, but also about targeting a community and destroying their identity.  He said that genocide had been carried out targeting lives of the Tamil people till 2009 and that steps were being taken to destroy the identities of Tamils in the North and East. Gajendrakumar asked members of the government and the opposition to read article 5 of The Rome statute.

Gajendrakumar challenged the government to hold a debate in the parliament  to discuss whether genocide was and is being perpetrated against the Tamil people.