/EINPresswire.com/ April 19, 2012
“According to UN over 40,000 Tamils were killed in five months”
In a letter to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak , the Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, urged the South Korean President to raise war crimes and genocide committed by the visiting Sri Lankan President. Sri Lankan President begins his State visit to South Korea on April 23 rd .
“We appeal to you to raise war crimes and genocide committed by the Sri Lankan President against the Tamil people in 2009. Troops under his command killed over 40,000 Tamils in five months and raped Tamil women” said Mr. Rudrakumaran. “Tamils were singled out to face these abuses simply and solely on account of their Tamil nationality.”
The letter to the South Korean President explained that Tamils faced repeated mass killings since 1958 and that the killings in 2009 prompted UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to appoint a Panel of Experts to report on the scale of killings.
The letter also stated that, according to this UN report over 40,000 were killed in five months due to deliberate and intense carpet bombing of areas designated by the government as “no-fire zones”, where Tamils assembled for safety.
“The Sri Lankan Government also restricted food and medicine for Tamils, resulting in large numbers of people dying from starvation and many of the injured bleeding to death.”
According to the UN Panel, the killings and other abuses that took place amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Independent experts believe that there are elements of these abuses that constitute an act of genocide.
The UN Human Rights Council recently looked into this mass killing and passed a Resolution on accountability for these international crimes.
“According to Bishop of Mannar, Dr. Rayappu Joseph, 146,679 Tamils went missing when Sri Lankan forces attacked Tamil people” said the letter.
“Members of the Sri Lankan Security forces are almost exclusively from the Sinhalese community and the victims are all from the Tamil community,” said the letter.
For a copy of the letter or information contact: Mr. J. Jeyaprakash – Spokesperson of the PM Office and a Member of the TGTE Parliament at: (646) 363-6418 or pmo@tgte.org
