Australian parliamentarian calls for ceasefire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 01:06 GMT]
Australian parliamentarian for federal state of Lowe, Mr John Murphy, submitted to the House of Representatives Wednesday, a petition signed by more than 4000 Australians calling the Australian Government "to do everything in its power to get a peaceful resolution" to Sri Lanka's conflict, and pressed for the "proper implementation of the 2002 ceasefire agreement" that brought optimism for all Sri Lankans that there would be an end to the needless death and displacement of innocent people.

The parliametarian added that "[i]t is incumbent on all sides of politics to seek a peaceful resolution to the dispute that has engulfed the island of Sri Lanka and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. This intractable conflict has been going on for some three decades, and the time has arrived for all governments of the world to unite and to call on all parties to cease the bloodshed and work towards a peaceful solution and the resettlement and rehabilitation of Tamils in the war-torn region of north-east Sri Lanka."

The petition accused the Government of Sri Lanka of guilty of crime of genocide and appealed to the Australian parliament to stop all aid to Sri Lanka, and to "recognize the principles of equal rights and self-determination of the Tamil People."