Mr Gardiner is calling for an independent investigation into the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka goes ahead as demanded by the UNHRC and still that investigate has not happened. He also called on the UK government not to allow trade preferences, GSP+ to Sri Lanka.

For the past 10 years, the tamil community around the world has been engaged in a struggle for obtaining accountability and justice for those who died at Mullivaikkal. We know that first and foremost, the people who survived Mullivaikkal and those who did not, deserve justice. They need answers, they need truth. And I want to honour them, I want to honour their memory, and to make sure that we never forget what they went through. As a collective diaspora we have been working very hard with the international community to advance the issues of accountability. We know that accountability is an essential tool for any form of peace or reconcilliation to take place. Thats why Canada along with Great Britain and other countries have been instrumental in advancing resolutions at the United Nations Human Rights Council.

This past March Canada was part of the core group aoong with Great Britain in advancing 40/1 of the Human Rights Council Resolution. Going forward, we still have a great deal of work to do. We know that justice has evaded Srilanka, and those perpetrators of these injustices and violations of  international law, including War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Genocide are still on the loose. On this solemn day, we need to commit collectively to ensure that we will fgight for justice as we go forward. I want to thank the parliamentiarins in the United Kingdom, as well as all of those who have been working very hard including the British Tamils Forum who have been working very hard, who I have had the pleasure of working with for the last 10 years to advance this issue.

May 18th marks the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka, when the Sri Lankan army indiscriminately bombed its own civilians in violation of the international human rights law

Our research at the Oakland Institute has clearly demonstrated, that despite the end of the war ten years ago, the long shadow of war continues to be cast on the victims.

It has been ten years yet mothers, fathers, wives and children continue to wait for tens of thousands of people who remain missing

It has been ten years and there are no answers, there is no closure.

It has been ten years that the Eastern and Northern provinces still wait for the return of their homes, their lands, that were taken away in the name of military operations, through military encampments, resorts, hotels, through viharas and victory monuments.

The Sri Lankan Army continues to dispossess the people of the north and the east.

It has been ten years, and the Sri Lankan government continues to act with impunity because it has been allowed to make a mockery of human rights.

It has been ten years that the perpetrators of war crimes continue to enjoy being in power

and yet, have not been brought to justice.

It has been ten years since the international political community has continued to play geo-strategic political games

It has been ten years, way too long for repression and torture to continue for the minorities of Sri Lanka

The victims and the families refuse to forget, they continue to work for justice, without justice, there can be no peace in Sri Lanka.

At the Oakland Institute, we will continue to work with those impacted, with the diaspora community, groups such as the British Tamils Forum, to ensure that there is peace and justice in Sri Lanka.

If we fail to bring transitional justice in Sri Lanka, we as the international community cannot ever think of bringing accountability to those who are victims of these massive human rights abuses.

This is not a domestic issue for Sri Lanka, violation of human rights is an international issue.

It is essential that the voice of those impacted are heard.

It is essential that those who wait for the return of their loved ones, have a say within the international community as to what should be done in Sri Lanka to bring justice.

It is very important that an independent international mechanism is set up for accountability in Sri Lanka

This is the only way forward to ensure peace justice and prosperity in Sri Lanka, and ensuring justice for all, who were impacted, who were tortured, whose homes and lands were taken away and who continue to face repression.

This is the only way forward to ensure a democratic state in Sri Lanka, where a state is not just for the Sinhalese, it is not just for the Muslims, it is not just for the Tamils but it is a state truly for the people of Sri Lanka.

What i saw of tamil suffering when I toured the north in srilanka in august 2013 as the United Nations high commissioner for human rights remains fresh in my mind. I was deeply moved by the profound anguish of survivors, and relatives of the dead and missing. This was especially traumatizing along the lagoon at Mullaitivu, where shallowed, unmarked graves and the scattered clothing of those who had been shelled lay abandoned. I also met many tamil communities and was struck by their resilience and by their unwavering determination to achieve their rights.

Wounds were not healed and reconciliation will not happen without respect and remembrance, for the tens of thousands who were killed, disappeared, displaced and abused. The struggle of tamils for self-determination goes a long way back – for almost 6 decades. 146,000 tamils are reported to have perished. More than 70 years of state-building exericses in srilanka have consistently failed in srilanka to explore the underlying root causes of the conflict, and they have consistently failed to result in meaningful measures to prevent human rights violations of the tamils. Far from investigating and bringing to justice the perpertrators, and finding a lasting solution to the ethinc tension, the srilankan state has, and continues to discrimante against the tamils and other minorities.

Instances of persisting human rights violations of tamils have been regularly monitored by the office for the high commissioner for human rights, as well as the independent special rapporteurs. These include the illegal occupation of tamil land by the military, lack of transparency and information on the return of land to tamils, arbitrary arrests and detentions for human rights defenders and protestors under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. By december 2015, 250 detainees were believed to be in detention. So the fate of these security detainees under the PTA, is a major concern for the tamil community. The military presence in the North and East of Srilanka remain heavy, and the culture of surveillance is ever present, verging on harassment of the tamils. Violence, torture and sexual abuses, especially of vulnerable female-headed families continue, with little or no arrests.

The Sri Lankan state acknowledged before the Human Rights Council in 2014 that 39 cases of sexual violence against Tamil women, involving the military were reported. Not a single soldier has been prosecuted. And by february 2016, high commissioner Zane was still asking for srilanka for an update on the state of these investigations. The denial of personal freedoms and human rights, are linked to persistent impunity and violation of the whole of the north. Strong calls have been made by the Human Rights Council, and by successive High Commissioners for human rights, for an end to corrosive decades of impunity, and for the implementation of accountability, justice, reconcilliation, and reparation for victims.

The Sri Lankan state, has not implemented its commitments in human rights council resolution 30/1 which it had co-sponsored to set up mechanisms to address accountability. This is extremely distressful for Sri Lankan Tamils who have steadfastly demanded these remedies. In response the authorities are telling them, to forgive and forget. UN investigations determined that international crime amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity were committed against Tamils.

இலங்கையில் வணக்க ஸ்தலங்களின் மீது நடைபெற்ற பயங்கரவாத தாக்குதல் தொடர்பாகபிரித்தானியா தமிழர் பேரவை (BTF) உறுப்பினர்கள் பிரித்தானிய பாராளுமன்ற உறுப்பினர் John Mann MP அவர்களை சந்தித்து இத் தாக்குதல் தொடர்பாககலந்துரையாடியிருந்தனர். குறிப்பாக இத் தாக்குதல்கள்  தமிழர்களை குறி வைத்தேநடத்தப்பட்டமை தொடர்பான விபரங்கள் தெளிவுபடுத்தபட்டது.

கடந்த காலங்களில் ஸ்ரீலங்கா அரசுகள் மத தீவிரவாதத்தினை தமிழர்களுக்கு எதிராகவளர்த்து விட்டமை, இன்று அது விஸ்வரூபம் எடுத்திருப்பதன் பின்னணி போன்ற விடயங்களை ஆதாரபூர்வமாக எடுத்துரைத்தனர்.

இது தொடர்பில் ஜோன் மான் MP  அவர்களும் தனது கண்டனங்களைதெரிவித்திருந்ததுடன், இத் தாக்குதல் தொடர்பான விசாரணையில் சர்வதேசத்தின்பங்களிப்பினையும் வலியுறுத்தியிருந்தார்.

Experts in northern Sri Lanka are trying to identify the remains of dozens of bodies in a mass grave in the country’s former war zone.

So far the skeletal remains of more than 90 people have been unearthed in the north-western town of Mannar.

The mass grave is the second biggest found in the north since the end of the conflict in 2009.

The 26-year war between troops and separatist Tamil rebels left at least 100,000 people dead, and many missing.

A court ordered detailed excavations at the site – a former co-operative wholesale depot near the main bus terminus – after human remains were found by workers digging foundations for a new building earlier this year.

“The entire area can be divided into two parts. In one segment we have a proper cemetery. In the second part, you have a collection of human skeletons which have been deposited in an informal way,” said Professor Raj Somadeva, a forensic archaeologist from the University of Kelaniya near Colombo, who is leading a team of experts at the site.

There is more ground still to excavate and he says more skeletons could be found. The remains unearthed by his team include the skeletons of at least six children.

Who the victims were – and who killed them and when – remains unclear. The town of Mannar is dominated by ethnic minority Tamils.

Local police guard the site so no-one can tamper with it and the forensic archaeologists can painstakingly remove skulls and other bones from the dirt without being disturbed. They use brushes and small chisels so the remains are not damaged.

No clothes or other items have been found in the grave that could help identify the victims.

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While Mannar town remained mostly under army control during the civil war, Tamil Tiger rebels dominated its surrounding areas and many other parts of the district. The military captured the entire district after ferocious battles, which ended almost 10 years ago.

The way the bodies are arranged inside the mass grave has puzzled the experts.

“We are concerned about the line position. [It is] completely chaotic – you have two layers of skeletons roughly,” said Prof Somadeva.

As his team uncovers the human remains, they transfer them to the custody of the court in Mannar, which will decide the future course of action once the excavation is complete.

Prof Somadeva and his colleagues are also yet to determine how the victims died. The age of the bodies will be analysed later.

So far no one has been blamed for the killings.

A number of mass graves have been unearthed in Sri Lanka’s former war zone since the conflict ended.

None found so far has contained more bodies than a site in another part of Mannar – adjacent to Thiruketheeswaram, a prominent Hindu temple – where the remains of 96 people were discovered in 2014.

But four years on there’s still no clarity in this case either, about who was killed and by whom.

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Rights groups allege that both the military and the Tamil Tigers inflicted widespread civilian casualties. At least 20,000 people disappeared during the conflict.

But the government has always denied its forces had anything to do with civilian deaths or disappearances.

After years of international pressure, the government set up an independent body, the Office of the Missing Persons (OMP), earlier this year to investigate the disappearances. The OMP has provided partial funding for the excavation in Mannar.

OMP chairman Saliya Pieris insists that a detailed investigation at the latest grave found in Mannar is important.

“The primary task of the OMP is tracing the disappeared and informing the relatives about the circumstances of their disappearances.

“One of the aspects of this tracing would be naturally [to find out] if there are mass graves and there are people who have been disappeared, who have been buried in mass graves.”

But given the failure of the authorities to investigate the remains unearthed from previous mass graves, there is scepticism among Tamils over what the new inquiry might achieve.

“Hundreds of people disappeared in Mannar district during the conflict while moving from uncontrolled areas to controlled areas,” said Victor Sosai, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Mannar.

“There have been allegations that several Tamils who were trying to flee the conflict to India on boats were also intercepted and their fate is unknown.”

He visited the site of the latest mass grave along with the Bishop of Mannar, Emmanuel Fernando, during the initial stages of the excavation.

“We understand that they have found skeletons of children and adults, we need to really find out more about who these people are and how they died and who was responsible,” Rev Sosai says.

The Tamil Tigers were accused of ruthlessly eliminating fighters and supporters of rival Tamil militant groups. They were also accused of executing Sri Lankan soldiers captured in battle.

As Thai Pongal begins, Tamil families here in the UK and around the world are coming together to celebrate. It’s a time to cast out the old and embrace opportunities to come. A time to give thanks not just for the harvest, but also for friends, family and neighbours. And it’s also a great opportunity for all of us to reflect on the contribution made by Britain’s Tamils. Your community punches well above its weight, making a real difference to countless lives right across the country.

I want this to be a country where everyone, regardless of their background, can play their part and achieve their ambitions. Our Tamil community is a fantastic example of what that looks like, helping make Britain the diverse, successful country we are all so proud of.

So to everyone celebrating today and in the days to come, let me wish you all a happy Thai Pongal, and an auspicious year ahead.