PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
PEACE SETTLEMENT IN SRI LANKA (12 February 1998)

That this House notes the President of Sri Lanka's recent admission that her government has 'failed in the essential task of nation-building'; recalls the history of the past 50 years since independence where Sinhalese subjugation of the Tamil nation resulted in the Sinhala only language law, the pogroms against Tamils in Colombo in 1983 and the massacre of thousands of civilian Tamils through aerial bombardment of the Jaffna peninsula; and urges the Sinhalese government, in the spirit of their President's humble and contrite speech, to cease the current military action against the LTTE and enter into peace negotiations without preconditions.

Sponsored by:
Barry Gardiner (Labour)