22 June 2011 07:25 am Views - 7554
M Kulasegaran (DAP- Ipoh Barat) noted that Parliament had even passed resolutions against other countries, such as Israel, and Johari Abdul (PKR-Sungai Petani) pointed out that the Dewan Rakyat had often discussed the issue of Palestinians and the Rohingyas of Burma.
“Why is Sri Lanka so special?” Kulasegaran said as he and Johari spoke to reporters in the Parliament lobby.
Johari, who filed the notice for the debate, said that he, along with M Manogaran (DAP-Teluk Intan) and Senator S Ramakrishnan, visited Sri Lanka early this month and found that the situation in the northern part of the island nation was “appalling”.
He said many Sri Lankans experienced untold suffering during the 26-year war that ended in 2009.
In his notice to Pandikar Amin, he said nearly 300,000 of them were now living in camps for Internally Displaced Persons and that they included thousands of Muslims.
He added: “Eighty thousand women there are widows. Five thousand Tamil fighters who have surrendered are nowhere to be found. Many women and children have been raped.”
It is estimated that more than 100,000 people perished during the war between the Sri Lankan military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Kulasegaran said the Dewan Rakyat used to be more willing to discuss Sri Lanka, recalling that he raised the subject of the civil war in 2004.
“The Home Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, personally replied that he had visited Sri Lanka and had asked the government there to find a final solution.
“If this could happen in 2004, why is it not allowed in 2011"
(freemalaysiatoday)