Catholic priests appeal to UN to intervene in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 06:55 GMT]
Catholic priests and other religious leaders in Vanni, in an urgent letter appealed to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to "take immediate steps to stop the senseless war and put an end to the untold sufferings of the innocent civilians," and said that the "root of the on going war is the Structural Injustice, a vehement denial of equality and dignity of the Sri Lanka Tamils..."

"Displacements continue unabated as a result of agressive artillery poundings and aerial bombardments in and around civilian settlements," and nearly half a million people are forced to live in Mullaitivu district alone, the letter said.

"Even schools, hospitals, places of worship, civilian settlements etc., the security and safety of which are guaranteed in the Geneva Convention on the Conduct of War, are not spared in this aggressive war," the letter said.

With shrinking geographical territory "it is becoming almost impossible for the people even to move towards "safer" areas, away from the battle fields. A great human tragedy has exploded in Wanni. Such a gruesome experience is unprecedented in the recent history of these people," the Priests said in the letter.

The Priests urged the Secretary General to "kindly take the necessary steps to bring the parties to the conflict to the negotiating table in order to find a humane and just and lasting political solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka."

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