இலங்கையில் அரசாங்கத்தினாலும், அரசபடைகளாலும் தமிழ்மக்கள் மீது கட்டவிழ்த்து விடப்பட்டுள்ள இன அழிப்பினையும், இன ஒடுக்குமுறையையும் உலகத்தலைவர்களினதும், மனித உரிமைகள் சம்பந்தப்பட்ட அமைப்புக்களினதும் கவனத்திற்கு எடுத்துச்செல்ல உலகத் தமிழர்களாகிய நாம் இந்த மின்னஞ்சலினை அனுப்பி வைப்பதன் ஊடாக இன்னல்களினாலும், அவலங்களினாலும் வேதனைப்பட்டுக் கொண்டிருக்கும் மக்களுக்கு எம்மாலான இவ்வுதவியினை செய்ய முன்வருவோமாக..

இம்மடலை அனுப்புவதற்கு உங்களுடைய பெயரினையும், மின்னஞ்சல் முகவரியினையும், நீங்கள் வாழும் நாட்டினையும் குறித்த வெற்றிடங்களில் இட்டு அனுப்புக. நன்றி.

An earnest appeal to World Leaders from the Tamil Diaspora.

We, the Tamils of Sri Lanka living abroad had to leave our dear land to escape persecution by the Government. We were compelled to do so for fear of being illegally arrested, unlawfully detained, tortured and killed or caused to be disappeared. Your Excellencies are perhaps aware of the atrocities taking place in Sri Lanka today. Our unfortunate brethren who are living there are being victimized by successive governments in an effort to subjugate them or force them to go to other parts of the world. What is happening there today nothing short of genocide? In this regard we wish to highlight some of the key facts that relate to this problem to enable you to understand the situation better and seek the intervention of Your Excellencies to save the community from the grave situation they are facing today.

• It is a historical fact that at the time the Portuguese came to Sri Lanka in 1505 there were three kingdoms, the kingdom of the Tamils in the North and East, kingdoms of the inhalese in the Western and Southern coastal areas and another kingdom in the central hilly areas.


• The Portuguese, and the Dutch who came later, ruled the Maritime Provinces as one unit for administrative convenience.


• The British who took over the country from the Dutch captured the central kingdom in 1815, also ruled the whole country as one unit for the same reason.


• In 1948 when the British gave independence to Ceylon (as it was known then) and handed over the administration to the Sinhala majority, as one country with a constitution that was supposed to provide protection for the minorities from being discriminated.


• The Tamils who are a minority accepted this arrangement in good faith but soon realized that they are being subjected to discrimination in every way.


• This started with the disenfranchisement of more than a million Tamil workers in the tea estates of Sri Lanka and the law that replaced English with Sinhala as the official language in 1956. These actions clearly indicated to the Tamils that they are going to be treated as second class citizens in the country of their birth.


• All attempts by the Tamils protest against such discrimination through peaceful means failed. They were even beaten up when their leaders fasted to show their disapproval of the discrimination of the Tamils.


• This was followed by a serious of other incidents such as making it compulsory for Tamil government officials to learn Sinhala if they are to continue to be in service, the replacement of admission to the universities on merit, to admission on a racial ratio, etc. Such actions led to the Tamil youth becoming militant.


• Subsequent government used the police and the security forces to ruthlessly suppress militancy. In the process many youth suspected to be involved with the militants were arrested and their human rights were violated.


• Atrocious legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act was passed. Many persons were taken into custody and detained for long periods without a trial. This Act made confessions to police officers admissible in Courts and resulted in many being punished for offences they never committed or arrested on a mere suspicion and detained for long periods.


• Such actions only increased the militancy. Unable to contain the militancy several peace talks brokered by well intentioned foreign governments were held locally and in other countries such as Bhutan, Thailand and Switzerland. All these failed to bring peace due to the government not implementing the terms of the agreements reached at such talks.


• Finally in 2002 a ceasefire agreement brokered by Norway was signed between the militants, via the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka. This ushered in a period of peace until Mahinda Rajapakse took over as President.


• Soon after he came to power there were peace talks at Geneva and that too did not bring peace as the government did not honour the promises it made at the Geneva talks. Consequently militancy continued and the government of Sri Lanka abrogated the ceasefire and started a military campaign purportedly to wipe out the militants.


• Militancy of youth is only a symptom of the problems faced by the Tamils and not a problem in itself. Mahinda Rajapakse decided to deal with militancy without putting forward any political solution to the problems of the Tamils.


• Following the abrogation of the ceasefire Tamils living all over the country became victims of harassment, abductions, detentions, killings and disappearances and other grave human rights violations. Indiscriminate bombing of the areas where the Tamils lived led to large scale displacement of civilians. Many were killed or maimed. Food, water, medicine and other essentials were denied to those people. Most of the Tamils are trapped in the North with their freedom of movement restricted. It is estimated that about 300,000 Tamils have been displaced and 20,000 killed since Mahinda Rajapakse came to power.


• The non-governmental and UN organizations providing relief and assistance to these people have been denied access. Recent floods have made conditions much worse. Even then the UN Agencies were prevented from going to the help of those affected. Supply of food and other essentials became restricted. All these clearly showed the government wants to allow the people to suffer and die.


• The representative of the World Food Programme issued a statement recently indicating that the situation of the Tamils in the North is worse than the situation in Somalia.


• A censorship of news of the war and situation of the people is strictly enforced. Consequently the gravity of the situation is not known to many.


• The law and order situation in the country has deteriorated to the extent that many have described Sri Lanka as a failed state.


• The move by the UN Human Rights Commission to have a UN monitoring mission in Sri Lanka has been blocked. The International Independent Group of Eminent Persons, who were in Sri Lanka to ensure international human rights norms are followed in conducting inquiries into human rights violations, aborted their mission after declaring that the government does not have a will to conform to human rights norms.


• A recent statement made by the Army Commander to the effect that this is a land of the Sinhalese and the other races living in Sri Lanka have no rights confirms the intention of the Government in pursuing this war. There are also indications that the country is moving towards becoming a military state.

There have been instances where the international community had stepped in and gone to the rescue of the victims when such atrocious incidents took place in certain other parts of the world. Therefore we humbly beg of Your Excellencies to intervene in Sri Lanka and bring about an amicable settlement. The Tamils of Sri Lanka have no other option and shall be ever grateful to Your Excellencies for any assistance you could provide in this regard.