‘Tamil speaking people should vote for a person who publicly recognises their rights and aspirations,’ said Mr Manicaksothy, a prominent person in Jaffna peninsula, reports TamilNet.
He added in a report to media on Monday in support of Dr Wickramabahu Karunaratne, the Common Front contestant in the forthcoming presidential candidate that they should ‘openly tell the Sinhalese Nation and the world of his stand.’
‘Then only, the Tamil speaking people will be able to let their principles and stand [be] known,’ Manicaksothy further said in the report.
‘But some politicians, heads of political parties, persons calling themselves intellectuals, persons who consider themselves the sole representatives of God and media persons are asking us to vote for either Mahinda Rajapakse or Sarath Fonseka.
‘These persons are striving for personal benefits,’ Manicaksothy added.
Meanwhile, a senior British minister on Friday said that the allegations of war crimes especially during the last phase of war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) including the killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge in Sri Lanka should be probed independently.
British International Development Minister, Gareth Thomas made these remarks in his address at the First Anniversary of the killing of the late editor of Sri Lanka’s weekly, Sunday Leader, Lasantha Wickramatunge, during an event held at Mahatma Gandhi Hall, Fitzroy Square, London.
The event was organised by Tamil Legal Advocacy Project (TLAP) in the UK.
A large gathering of Tamil and Sinhala expatriates, lawyers, human rights observers and activists attended.
‘We have been consistently delivering to Sri Lanka our concerns through diplomatic channels on probing the consistent allegations of war crimes, especially by Security Forces,’ Thomas said.
‘We are very clear that wherever there are substantial allegations of war crimes, they should be probed independently,’ he stressed.
Wickrematunge was shot dead in a high street in Colombo in broad daylight on January 8th last year while he was on his way to the newspaper office.
The gunmen came on motorbikes and shot him at point blank range using automatic pistols equipped with silencers, after breaking his car windows.
Describing late Mr Wickrematunge as a courageous journalist in Sri Lanka, the UK minister said that his killing had sent terrible shock waves to the outside world.
‘The killing of Lasantha Wickrematunge was the final confirmation of terrible human rights violation taking place in Sri Lanka,’ Thomas said, adding that the killers are still at large.
He said that the killings of civilians especially during the last phase of war, systematic silencing of independent voices, kidnaps and arbitrary arrests in Sri Lanka ‘clearly show that there was a culture of impunity prevailing in the island nation and the violations of international law were being carried out in a systematic manner.’
‘Tamil journalist J Tissanayagam serving 20 years of rigorous imprisonment for writing two articles is completely unacceptable under any democracy,’ he said, expressing the concern over the lack of progress in investigation into the killing of dozens of journalists including the late editor.
‘Even after the end of hostilities in Sri Lanka the culture of impunity is still prevailing there. That is why the UK supported the EU resolution to withdraw the trade tariff concessions. The GSP Plus trade concession is granted to the countries which respects human right values.
‘It is a clear signal to Sri Lanka,’ the British minister said.
Highlighting that the members of the international community ‘still do not have proper access to the internment camps’ where thousands of war displaced Tamil civilians are detained, he said that there were hopes for a possible solution constitutionally after the defeat of the LTTE.
‘Simply because a military conflict has come to an end, it does not mean that the series of political issues underpinning the military conflict have also ended.
‘We will certainly be watching closely the upcoming presidential poll in Sri Lanka.
‘We need to see the outcome of the poll, but we will continue to put pressure on Sri Lanka on human rights issues and for a lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict,’ Thomas said.
Answering a question from the audience, he confirmed that ‘the UK’s arms sale licences to Sri Lanka have been cancelled.’
He, however, said that the British government would continue to provide humanitarian aid for the needy people via international agencies such as the UNICEF and World Food Program (WPF).
A leading Human Rights lawyer, Baroness Helena Kennedy QC in her address recalled late Mr Wickrematunge’s last editorial in which he predicted his own death.
She said his ‘courage was as remarkable as one could ever imagine’.
‘Protection of free press is vital for any democracy. We can only feel humble when remembering Mr Wickrematunge’s sacrifice,’ she said.
Addressing the gathering, Alex Wilks, Programme Lawyer, International Bar Association – Human Rights Institute, said that his organisation has already written to Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapakse expressing its disappointment over the lack of progress and seriousness into his killing.
Noting that the Tamil press in Sri Lanka ‘is extremely exposed to threats and attacks,’ he said that there is a ‘systematic campaign under the draconian emergency laws Prevention of Terrorism Laws to suppress the freedom of expression and free press’.
Heather Blake of Reporters without Borders (RSF) said ‘shock and anger continue one year after Lasantha Wickrematunge’s unpunished murder.’
A pre-recorded speech from the late editor’s wife Sonali Samarasinghe was played and his brother, Lal Wickrematunge’s statement was read at this event.
The Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka also issued a statement into his killing.
A Sri Lankan journalist in exile Mr Balsundram described the threats faced by journalists in the island nation.
