TYO-UK pushes back on British Foreign Secretary's May 18 tweet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2020, 15:56 GMT]
On May 18, 2020 Dominic Raab, the British Foreign Secretary, posted a Twitter message about his conversation with SL Minister DCR Gunawardena and the “close relationship” between the UK and genocidal Sri Lanka. The Foreign Secretary’s tweet included an image of the Sinhala Lion Flag and the Union Jack. UK based activists in the Tamil Youth Organisation (TYO-UK) along with fourteen Tamil student societies responded, “[Y]our tweet regarding UK’s close relationship with the Sri Lankan government, is bittersweet to the Tamil Community,” While Boris Johnson recovered from COVID-19, Dominic Raab served as Deputy Prime Minister.

The Tamil Youth Organisation in the United Kingdom (TYO-UK) has mobilised the Tamil youth and student societies passing a joint message to Dominic Raab, reminding him “how elusive reconciliation has been in Sri Lanka.”

Furthermore, the statement said that the unitary state had been created by the British during the colonial rule and the British government, therefore, has the moral obligation to safeguard Tamils from the state-sponsored genocide, the joint statement further stated.

“Recently, the British Tamil community sought their own justice by trying Brigadier Priyanka Fernando in court for gesturing death threats to Tamil protestors outside the High Commission of Sri Lanka in the UK. Although the case was found in our favour, Brigadier Fernando fled to Sri Lanka where on our Remembrance Day of May 18th 2020, he was promoted to Major General,” the statement by the TYO UK said.



Sir Ed Davey, the acting co-leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sam Tarry, the Labour MP for Ilford South and Bob Blackman, the Conservative MP for Harrow East used the term genocide in their 18 May Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day messages to the Tamil community in the UK.

However, the high-ranking ruling Conservative politicians such as Dominic Raab were engaged to sustain their geopolitical dealings with Colombo, informed diplomatic sources in Colombo said.

The UK is yet to respond to SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s inflammatory “Ranawiru” (Sinhala term for Heroes) Day speech on 19 May.

“If any international body or organization continuously target our country and our war heroes, using baseless allegations, I will also not hesitate to withdraw Sri Lanka from such bodies or organizations,” Gotabaya went on record on Tuesday.

In such a context, Union Jack shaking hands with Sinhala Lion in a tweet on 18 May is not only “bittersweet”, but a direct insult to Diaspora Tamils in the UK.

The UK has been blighting the Tamil cause for a long time since its Colebrooke–Cameron Commission in 1833, Donoughmore Constitution in 1931 and Soulbury Commission in 1944.

During the genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils, UK’s permanent representative at the United Nations (August 2007 to November 2009) Sir John Sawers said: “The Tamil Tigers are a proscribed organisation and the government of Sri Lanka has long been blighted by the activities of the Tamil Tigers. We want these to be brought to an end.” Sawers was later appointed head of MI6 (November 2009 until November 2014).

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External Links:

Tweet by @BTConservatives:		Bob Blackman’s Mu'l'livaaykkaal message
Tweet by @SamTarry:		Sam Tarry's Mu'l'livaaykkaal message

Chronology: