Declare Vaharai a safe zone ­-Trinco MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 December 2006, 00:23 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Trincomalee district, K. Thurairetnasingam, urged the International Community and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to convince the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), to demarcate a safe zone in Vaharai where thousands of Internally Displaced People (IDP) from Trincomalee district who had fled their homes due to SLA onslaught are currently trapped.

Mr Thurairetnasingham condemned Colombo for engaging in a provocative military offensive to drive out the entire Tamil population from the Vaharai region, and added that the Sri Lanka military while refusing the freedom of movement to the Tamil civilians in Vaharai, is assisting the Sinhala population in the same region to set up new bunkers.

"I understand that the starving Tamil children in Vaharai are digging bunkers with bare hands and aluminum plates donated by Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to save them from shells and aerial attacks while funds and machineries are channeled to the Sinhala civilians living in Kallar in Trincomalee district, near the SLA artillery positions," the MP said.

"Furthermore, the starving refugees of Vaharai were forced to walk several kilometers and brave the seas for medical treatment and humanitarian assistance," the MP added,

"In Trincomalee, we have witnessed in the past that many Tamils were chased away from their traditional villages from time to time by Sri Lankan Armed Forces and Sinhala extremists, and none of the displaced were later allowed to return home. What we witness today is ethnic cleansing.

"Hence, we appeal the International Community not to support the GoSL's agenda of driving Tamils away from Vaharai area and urge to work with SLMM jointly to find ways to demarcate a safe zone for poor people in Vaharai," he further said.

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