Sydney: Close on the heels of the London protest, three youths went on a hunger strike and several hundred Sri Lanka Tamils gathered in front of the Parramatta Town Hall in Western Sydney in protest against the ongoing ‘genocide’ by the Army and appealed to the Australian Government intervene.
Banners put up around the enclosure where the three men were sitting on hunger strike, called upon the Rudd Government to appeal to the Sri Lankan Government for a cease in the hostilities against the Tamils. The protestors were playing ‘patriotic’ songs throughout the day with sprinkling of speeches. Mr. Myles Thanapak, an accountant by profession told this correspondent that one of the protestors on hunger strike had lost his entire family in the offensive against the Tamils.
“We are not demanding any money or charity; we just want our rightful land. These boys just on a call organised this protest without the support of any organisation. All the people gathered here have come in voluntarily,” he said.
Volunteers distributed flyers stating the four demands of the three youths Sutha, Theepan and Mathi that include immediate ceasefire; allow food, medicine and aid to the conflict zone; allow medical and other vital services into the conflict zones and allow the Tamil people, both in the conflict zones and those indefinitely confined in the concentration camps in government held areas to decide independently where they wish to reside.
The youths through this protest exhort the Australian Government to use diplomatic powers to push the Sri Lankan Government in meeting their demands.
48-hr ceasefire: Meanwhile, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday ordered government troops to halt their offensive against cornered Tamil rebels over the two-day Sinhala and Tamil new year period.
Mahinda Rajapakse’s office said in a statement that the move would allow thousands of Tamil civilians trapped in the fighting to celebrate the New Year.
“With this objective in view, His Excellency has directed the armed forces of the state to restrict their operations during the New Year to those of a defensive nature,” the statement said.
It reiterated a call to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to lay down arms and surrender to security forces that have pushed the guerrillas into a narrow strip of coastal jungle in the island’s northeast.
“In the true spirit of the season, it is timely for the LTTE to acknowledge its military defeat,” the statement said. “The LTTE must also renounce terrorism and violence permanently.”
There was no immediate reaction from the Tigers, who reject charges that they are holding tens of thousands of Tamil civilians as a human shield.
“The President is deeply conscious of the need to give the civilian population entrapped as hostages by the ruthless actions of the LTTE the opportunity to celebrate these festivities,” the statement said.
The brief ceasefire is also aimed at allowing more civilians to escape from the remaining rebel-held territory and seek shelter in a government-controlled area, officials added.
Rajapakse has insisted that the troops would push on until they have secured the complete surrender of the Tigers, whose decades-long armed campaign for an independent Tamil homeland appears almost over.
Sri Lanka’s military stepped up attacks against the Tigers after withdrawing from a Norwegian-arranged truce in January last year.
The guerrillas, who at the height of their power controlled about a third of the country, have now been confined to an area less than 20 square kilometres (eight square miles), according to the military.
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