MIC president S Samy Vellu today called on the government to retract its support for a draft resolution tabled by Sri Lanka at the United Nations calling for member nations not to interfere in the internal affairs of the country.

Stressing that such a resolution must not be supported, the veteran politician and former minister said he would write to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak regarding the matter.

samy vellu exclusive on tamil schools 080708 06 "Tamils in Malaysia constitute 1.4 million of the 1.8 million Indians. As such their feelings have to be respected," he added in a statement.

Samy Vellu also called for a war tribunal to be set up "to bring the war criminals in Sri Lanka to justice."

"They have committed genocide and will have to pay the price," he said.

"Malaysia should deplore the atrocities committed by the Sri Lankan army instead of supporting the resolution," he added.

Backed by 12 nations

Previously, international news agency Reuters reported that apart from Malaysia, 11 other nations had backed the resolution.

The other countries were China, India, Pakistan, Bahrain, Bolivia, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia, Nicaragua, the Philippines and Saudi Arabia.

Diplomats said the resolution was in response to Western criticism of alleged human rights abuses committed during its final phase of war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Colombo had declared total victory over the Tigers on Monday after cornering them in the northeast of the island and killing off their leaders and remaining fighters in a climactic battle.

sri lanka celebrate victory over tamil tigers conflict prabhakaran killed 200509 02 Although disputed by certain quarters, the Sri Lankan army had also claimed to have killed the Tigers iconic chief Vellupilai Prabakaran and had displayed photographs of his corpse.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay had also backed calls in the West for an independent inquiry into possible war crimes.

The United Nations said this week that the conflict had killed between 80,000 and 100,000 people since erupting into full-scale civil war in 1983.

The toll includes unofficial and unverified tallies showing 7,000 civilian deaths since January.