FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sri Lankan Government Forces has entered the No Fire Zone
300 Shells exploded in 45 minutes – More than 800 innocent lives lost within the last three days – We need immediate
action from the New Zealand government
Community of New Zealand is running a peaceful protest since 10.00 am today, the Tuesday, 14th April opposite John Key’s
electorate office, 365 Main Road, Hupai to request the government to take immediate action in regards to the Sri Lankan
military having launched its targeted attacks in the safety zone in the Northern Sri Lanka. They urge New Zealand to put
pressure on Sri Lanka to introduce immediate and permanent ceasefire in the conflict zone. The Tamil Diaspora is
exhausted, and frustrated that the International community is not actively stopping the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The Sri Lankan Government had earlier announced that there are only about 70,000 people living in this “Safety zone”,
however independent sources such as the UN, Human Rights Watch, etc have said that there are more than 200,000 civilians
trapped without basic facilities. The government is trying to hide the high number of civilians’ death. The Sri Lankan
Government has banned all media and NGOs from the conflict zone. With the recent attacks in the “safety zone”, it is
obvious that the Sri Lankan Government is preparing to mask the massacre of the Tamils without any evidence.
The Sri Lankan government has used chemical bombs and other unconventional banned weapons (e.g.: cluster bombs, chemical
weapons) on the civilians to cause mass casualties. Root cause of this 61 year old struggle has been forgotten by Sri
Lankan Government and is now staging the genocide of Tamils for their temporary political benefits.
Tamil community’s Appeal to the Prime Minister right now is:
1. To push for an urgent and permanent ceasefire using coordinated diplomatic pressure.
2. To call upon the UN to intervene and arrange for stationing of UN Troops in Vanni area till the situation
becomes normal and the civilians are settled in their homes and their lands
3. To facilitate resumption of unconditional peace talks with the LTTE with a view to addressing the National
question of the Tamils.
ends