Australian Tamils protest former Sri Lanka Navy chief's appointment as High Commissioner to Canberra

Tamil diaspora in Australia have demanded the Australian government to reject the nomination of Sri Lanka's former Navy Commander Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe's appointment as the High Commissioner to Canberra.


Tamil community leaders have asked the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister, Kevin Rudd to reject the nomination in protest at Sri Lanka's refusal to allow an international war crimes tribunal although no specific allegation of war crimes arising from the conflict has been made against Admiral Samarasinghe.

According to a report in Sydney Morning Herald the demand has placed Australia under pressure as the Foreign Affairs Ministry has to decide whether to accept the nomination which is seen as ''problematic'' for Australia due to the calls from human right groups for a United Nations investigation into human rights violations in Sri Lanka.

The issue also threatens to derail Australia's official co-operation with Sri Lanka on preventing Tamil asylum seekers entering Australia, Herald reports.

An exemplary naval officer, Admiral Samarasinghe was appointed as the Navy Commander following the end of the war in July 2009. He retired from the Navy on January 15.

During the war Admiral Samarasinghe commanded the operations in the country's eastern and northern waters that successfully destroyed the Sea Tiger Wing of the terrorist group LTTE.