Guan Eng urges PM to boycott Sri Lankan summit
Pakatan Rakyat leaders have urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to boycott the Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka later this month in view of the nation’s human rights record.
Pakatan Rakyat leaders have urged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak to boycott the Commonwealth summit in Colombo, Sri Lanka later this month in view of the nation’s human rights record.
DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said that the Sri Lankan government has yet to admit any accountability over the deaths of Tamils in Sri Lanka during the 20-year civil war which engulfed the country.
PKR's Sungai Petani MP Johari Abdul also seconded the proposal during a press conference at the Parliament lobby today, citing the findings of Australian and New Zealand senators who had visited Sri Lanka and later urged their respective governments to boycott the summit.
So far, India and Canada’s top leaders have also announced they will boycott the summit.
Johari said that the Australian and New Zealand senators who had urged their governments to boycott the summit have been arrested and deported after they made their views known.
"For this, we urge the Sri Lankan government to apologise to both of them," Johari said.
Johari (left), who is also the chairman of the parliamentary caucus on Sri Lanka, said that he had also attempted to visit Colombo himself to establish the facts ahead of the summit but his visa was denied.
"Initially they said my visa should not be a problem, but now, even after I have paid the processing fees, they have not approved my visa," he said.
"If I went to Sri Lanka as well, maybe I would have been arrested deported as well," he added.
The government to date has not condemned the civil war that badly affected Tamils in Sri Lanka, claiming that it does not intend to interfere in the affairs of other countries.
