The hostages must be released immediately
Extend the humanitarian hands to those who
have escaped.
We
are deeply concerned and saddened by the current humanitarian crisis created by
the ongoing war in Sri-Lanka’s Vanni region. Without
further delay and excuses, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE) should release all civilians from the No-Fire Zone. More than one
hundred thousand civilians are held against their will in that small piece of
land, declared as the No-Fire Zone. This action by the LTTE is
shameful and should be condemned unequivocally.
The Canadian government should publicly denounce the barbaric act of detaining
civilians to be used as human shields by a psychopath terrorist leader and his armed gang, for their own protection and survival. Canada should use all its
powers to put pressure on LTTE to release the civilians unconditionally from
the No-Fire Zone.
The civilians trapped in the No-Fire Zone are not only deprived the basic needs
of food, clothes and shelter, but also denied the fundamental rights such as
the right to live and right to move to safe places to protect their own lives.
Canada as well as the humanitarian agencies should demand from LTTE that it
should allow the free movement of the Tamil civilians.
The
civilians trapped in the No-Fire Zone are under tremendous hardships due to
aerial bombardments and artillery shelling and by the lack of food, health and
medical facilities. When these civilians try to escape from the misery to
safeguard their own lives, they are fired upon by the armed cadres of the LTTE.
There are several confirmed reports and first-hand accounts of LTTE cadres
firing upon and killing civilians, including children, elderly men and women
who fled the war zone
The Sri Lankan government and its armed forces have to understand and accept
that the civilians trapped in the no-fire zone may or may not had supported the
LTTE in the past, but now are detained and held as hostages against their will
by the LTTE. Therefore, the government should stop aerial bombardments and
shelling in the No-Fire Zone that would result in indiscriminate killing. We
ask the government of Sri Lanka to continue the humanitarian assistance and
medical facilities rendered by them to the traumatized Tamil civilians trapped
and forcibly held in the no-fire zone by the LTTE.
LTTE never recognized the dignity of human life. The group’s past record of
politics is based on the death and destruction of civilian lives. Even at this
stage at the verge of their defeat, LTTE is trying to gain political
mileage over dead bodies of civilians. The government of Sri-Lanka should
understand LTTE's sinister motives and give highest priority to the safe
evacuation of civilians. We ask the Government of Sri-Lanka to accept any
genuine assistance from the international community to
safely evacuative trapped civilians from the No-Fire Zone.
Some
pro LTTE Canadian Tamil organizations are openly labeling the Tamil civilians
who escaped from the war zone as ‘traitors’ and calling against any help to
those traumatized Tamil civilians, just because they escaped from the LTTE
control. This statement, coming from those who took to the streets in
Ottawa and Toronto, clearly shows that the ulterior motives of the protest
rallies and marches in the Canadian soil are to safeguard the LTTE from defeat
not the concern for the Tamil civilians’ lives. The rallies and protest
marches are held by LTTE operatives in Canada is the desperate attempt
to save the lives of the LTTE leaders who got trapped and on the verge of
defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan armed forces.
We
humbly request the humanitarian organizations and individuals to provide as
much as help and assistance to fleeing civilians. There are many refugee
camps in Vavuniya, Jaffna, Mannar,
and Batticaloa districts, and the basic needs are
looked after by the authorities. However, many of the civilians are with severe
bodily injuries and mental traumas and
need much more assistance to get back to their normal lives. We request
individuals and humanitarian organizations in Canada to extend the help to
these civilians.
Coordinator
Tamils
for Human Dignity (Canada)