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: 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!
