 Australian Tamil Community in Victoria will be rallying to raise
awareness of human rights violations in Sri Lanka
[see also
'Bloodbath looms in war-torn Sri
Lanka' -
Special Correspondent, News Weekly, for 60 years
Australia's Independent News Magazine - "Sri
Lanka's 'dirty war' against its Tamil minority has surpassed the level of abuses
seen in General Augusto
Pinochet's Chile, and is now increasingly being compared with
Pol Pot's
murderous rule in Cambodia.]
Date: Tuesday, 22 May 2007
Venue: Opposite the State Parliament of Victoria, Spring Street, Melbourne
Time: 2.30 pm to 6.00 pm
For further information please contact: Siva Sivakumar
Email:
murukkusiva@hotmail.com Phone: 0404 894 591
The rally will also reflect the community’s concern about the
arrest and detention of
two of their community workers by the
Australian Federal Police at the instigation of the
chauvinistic
elements within the Government of Sri Lanka.
The current Government of President Rajapakse is continuing
with a genocidal war on Tamils in Sri Lanka, despite
repeated appeals from the International Community for a
negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict in the
country.
Since President Rajapakse came to power in November 2005, more than
4000 Tamils have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been
internally displaced due to the on-going military offensive, in
clear violation of the
2002 ceasefire agreement signed with the LTTE, with the
assistance of the Norwegian Government.
 Abductions,
extortions, disappearances and killings of innocent Tamils
including journalists,
politicians,
human rights activists,
business men and
academics are daily occurrences in all parts of
Sri Lanka. [see also
 Sri
Lanka's State Terror - the Terror of the White Van...
Video]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Sri Lankan Armed
Forces (SLAF) have imposed an economic embargo for the past
eight months in many areas occupied by the SLAF in the Tamil
homeland.
When a Government has embarked on a war with genocidal intent to
subjugate a people
struggling for freedom from alien rule, and in the
face of the inaction by
the international community, we believe it is our absolute
responsibility, as people who escaped
persecution ourselves a
few years ago, to help our brethren in our homeland.
The Vaharai Tragedy
- a Crime Against Humanity
[see also Sri Lanka's
State Terror in Streaming Video
-
Vaharai Tamil Refugees ]
As our family members are being subjected to starvation and
deprivation of basic services such as food, medicine and other
essential services, the two community workers arrested by the
AFP, were doing exactly what any Australian would have done if
his/her fellow Australians were subjected to similar conditions
by any Government.
It is extremely difficult for us to understand the notion that
the
Australian law enforcement agencies arrested and charged the two
Tamil community workers with the help of affidavits given by the
chiefs of the Sri Lankan Army, Navy, Air force, Police and the
Attorney General, all of whom are responsible for the
deaths and
disappearances of tens of thousands of Tamils in Sri Lanka. [see also
What is Terrorism ? - "The most problematic issue relating to terrorism and armed conflict
is distinguishing terrorists from
lawful combatants"
-
Terrorism and Human
Rights Final Report of the Special Rapporteur, Kalliopi K. Koufa, 25
June 2004 ]
We call upon all right minded Australians to appeal to the
Australian Government to approach the conflict in Sri Lanka with
even handedness instead of being a tool of the racist armed
forces of Sri Lanka. Australian Tamils have not committed any
crime against any Australian or for that matter any Sri Lankan
in Australia. We are only helping our brothers and sisters to
survive the current economic embargo by the Sri Lankan racist
regime.
Australian Tamils NEED protection NOT persecution in Australia!
கவன ஈர்ப்பு ஒன்று கூடல், 22 மெய்
2007
 |
