Batticaloa district Tamils condemn killing of Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 07:47 GMT]
The Association of Tamil People (ATP) in Batticaloa district vehemently condemns the systematic killings of the Tamils in Vanni by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) while urging the International Community to come forward to stop the genocide and exert pressure on GoSL for an immediate ceasefire, according to an appeal made by the Association Thursday.

The following is the excerpt of the appeal:

The present government began its ethnic cleansing of the Tamils already in 2006 with its indiscriminate artillery and aerial attacks on the Tamils living in areas from Moothoor East in Trincomalee district to Paduvaankarai in Batticaloa district in which hundreds of Tamils were killed and many more injured and maimed. The Tamils were displaced in their thousands loosing their homes and properties.

There was no ‘Dawn of Democracy’ in the Eastern Province as the GoSL claims and human rights violation is rampant under the total occupation by its armed forces and its puppet provincial rule by paramilitary men.

The GoSL is enacting the same strategy and agenda to bring Vanni under its total occupation.

The impoverished hospitals in the region are attacked in order to prevent the injured civilians being treated. The armed forces do not only hinder the patients being treated in the local hospitals, but also deny access to take the critically injured to the hospitals in the government controlled area.

In addition, the government prevents food and medicine to be taken to Vanni.

The international community, including neighboring India, is not only watching this human tragedy passively, but also provides military and monetary aids to Sri Lanka to sustain the genocidal war.

We, as the people of Southern Tamil Eelam, vehemently condemn the attacks on the Vanni people by the GoSL and the indifference of the international community including India.

At the same time, we urge the international community to pressurize the Sri Lankan government to stop this genocidal destructive war immediately in order to make available the urgent humanitarian assistance to the Vanni people.

The Association of Tamil People Batticaloa District