Tamils in Australia demonstrate silently the human rights violations in Sri Lanka:

Tamil Australians held Vigils in their Capital Canberra [TNC]

Australian Tamils living in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra gathered in Canberra on Wednesday (17.09.08), under the leadership of the Australasian federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), the peak body representing the Tamil community that migrated from Sri Lanka, and held vigils in front of the Parliament House as well as the Indian High Commission. They urged the Australian government to break its silence against genocide of Eelam Tamils. AFTA submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister of India through the High commissioner of India in Canberra. While in Canberra, an AFTA delegation also met with the Acting Director of the UN Information Centre for South Pacific Region and submitted a memorandum to the UN Secretary General.

Eelam Tamils from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra started to gather in the Lawns of the Parliament House from 9.30 am and started the vigil at 11 am. Ladies and gentlemen, both old and young, and children, lined up silently at the edge of the lawns next to the main road in between the Parliament House and the Lawns, holding a 1 x 5 meeter long banner which read “Australia ! Break Your Silence Against Genocide of Eelam Tamils”, and many placards carrying pictures of the displaced suffering under trees and on roadsides, with appropriate slogans written on them.

AFTA placed an advertisement in the National news paper “The Australian” to appear on the day of the vigil, publicising the human rights violations of the Sri Lankan government and carrying a demand by the Australian-Tamils for action from the Rudd Government through the UN and the Commonwealth to bring a halt to Sri Lanka’s military aggression and a return to the internationally facilitated peace process. This advertisement covered half the page in the middle section of the news paper. Copies of this page were also distributed to the Australians who were visiting the Parliament house during the vigil.

Speakers after speakers, in both English and Tamil, addressed the gathering, condemning the Rajapaksa government’s action of expelling the UN and other 11 NGO aid agencies. Professor Brian Senewiratne an ardent supporter of the Tamils’ struggle for self determination, who wanted to be there but could not come due to work commitments, sent a message which was read out. In his message Professor Seniwiratne described how the Sri Lankan governments have systematically and slowly involved in the genocide of Tamils. He questioned the Australian government, what has it done about this? “It prefers to take in refugees but not address the problem that has made these people refugees – the brutality of a murderous regime in Colombo” said Professor Seniwiratne.

While this was going on in the Lawns, as both members of Parliament and Senators were busy debating key issues inside the Parliament House, and were not allowed to get out to, come to the Lawns and speak to the protestors. Therefore several delegations of AFTA were received by MPs and Senators, whenever they could find a break, and the members of the delegations explained the situation on the ground in Vanni and urged the politicians to persuade the Australian government to break its silence and act to prevent a disaster. Separate submissions were made to the offices of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Opposition Leader too.

In the submission to the PM, AFTA appealed to the Australian Government to take necessary action to persuade the Sri Lankan State to,

Allow the aid agencies to continue providing valuable emergency relief and help to rehabilitate and resettle these innocent displaced persons End its military approach and negotiate with the Tamil National Leadership, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to restore normalcy in the Tamil homeland and find a political solution to the conflict.

By 2 pm, the protestors wound up the vigil in front of the parliament house and proceeded to the Indian High Commission which is few km away, by bus. Here the protestors changed the banner which read “India ! Stop Betraying Tamils – Your True Allies. Recognise Their Right to Self-Determination”. Protestors used the same placards to show the hardship the displaced Tamil refugees are facing. A 3 member AFTA delegation was received in to the High Commission building by the Personal Secretary to the High Commissioner, Mr. Hari Prasad where the Chairman of AFTA Dr. Raga Ragavan, ably assisted by the Secretary Mr. Murugesu Paramanathan and Executive Council member Dr. Victor Rajakulendran, explained the ground situation that has been created by the recent military operations and the expulsion of the NGOs. The delegation expressed AFTA’s concern over the military assistance, particularly using Indian personal in combat areas. At the end of the discussion the Chairman submitted a submission to the Indian PM, Hon. Manmohan Singh.

In this submission, AFTA have appealed to the PM to respect and recognize

> That the Tamil nation is subject to genocidal oppression by the permanent and hostile Sinhala nation in the island of Sri Lanka.
> Eelam Tamils’ right to self-determination
> Their right to decide who should represent them in any negotiations with the Sri Lankan State; and
> The need to lift the ban on their authentic representatives the LTTE and open the door for direct dialogue with them on issues of common interest.

AFTA also has appealed to halt all military assistance given to the failed state of Sri Lanka and persuade them to end their military approach and negotiate with the LTTE to restore normalcy so that a negotiated political settlement could be achieved to bring lasting peace to the region.

AFTA has pointed out that during the post Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement period, AFTA has been working closely with the Indian High Commission in Canberra to work for justice to bring peace in Sri Lanka and has expressed its willingness to facilitate a frank and constructive dialogue between the Tamil diaspora and the Indian Foreign Policy making apparatus, in an attempt to achieve the above objectives in an expeditious manner without losing many more valuable lives.

This meeting happened in a very cordial atmosphere and Mr. Prasad assured the delegation that he will dispatch their memorandum on that night itself to the PM and convey his response to us. Mr. Prasad accompanied the delegation up to the gate of the High Commission and even posed for a photograph with the delegation.

During the day, an AFTA delegation met Ms. Julia Dean, who is acting for the Director of the UN Information Centre for South Pacific Region (pending a new appointment) and discussed the crisis that has arisen due to the expulsion of NGOs. She was well aware of the situation and handed in to the delegation the latest report on the situation regarding this matter. An AFTA submission to the Secretary General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon was handed in by the delegation. In this submission AFTA has urged the Secretary General to:

1). Take all possible diplomatic measures to ensure that UN has a presence in the conflict regions to ensure humanitarian aid is delivered to the affected population and prevent use of food and medicine as weapons of war in violation of international law governing armed conflicts.

2). Refrain from becoming a party to sinister political and military tactics of expelling an entire population to other regions under the guise of “ensuring humanitarian aid delivery” and “liberating the people” and thereby creating a situation similar to that of Srebrenica, Rwanda and East Timor.

3). Inform the UN Security Council of the gravity of the situation in Sri Lanka and lead international efforts to prevent an imminent disaster

AFTA has also pointed out that the United Nation has recognized the doctrine of responsibility to protect when governments could not or would not protect their citizens, even if this meant intervention that violated national sovereignty. Hence, AFTA has strongly encouraged the Secretary general to apply “responsibility to protect” doctrine immediately and force the delivery of international aid into most affected regions of Vanni to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people without any further delay. AFTA expects a statement from the Australian government and will continue to add more pressure towards this end and awaits the response from Indian PM and the UN Secretary General for further action.
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Will the Tamils be able to get the attention of Australian Partliamentarians?