Tamils Petitioning White House to Act on Sri Lanka

Hope to collect 100,000 signatures

by PRWeb, January 11, 2009

Tamils for Obama will petition the Obama White House to take a prompt and muscular position to end the civil war in Sri Lanka. They hope to gather 100,000 signatures for the petition.

The letter explains why the Obama administration should act:

1.    The war that has been initiated by Sri Lanka on the Tamils in its territory is a genocidal war. Its purpose is to uproot all the Tamils from the northeast of Sri Lanka. It has provoked a mass exodus and dispersal of Tamils from the island, analogous to the Roman dispersal of Jews from Palestine in the first century or any other ethnic cleansing meant to remove an entire population.

2.    The war began almost the day Ceylon gained independence from Britain in 1948. It has involved grabbing lands from Tamils and resettling these lands with Singhalese convicts and/or Sri Lankan armed forces; discriminating against Tamils in employment and education; renaming Tamil areas with Singhalese names; and (for the last 25 years) bombing, shelling, and disappearing Tamil civilians.

3.    The government made Buddhism the state religion and has bombed Hindu and Christian places of worship, frequently replacing them with Buddhist temples.

4.    All efforts at mediation, negotiation, compromise, or peaceful resolution have failed due to stubbornness and insincerity by the Singhalese-dominated government.

5.    All international efforts at bringing peace and humanitarian assistance have ended with refusal of the Sri Lankan government to cooperate and the expulsion (and sometimes killing) of international observers and helpers.

They hope that the new Obama administration will act promptly and forcefully to end this ongoing genocidal war.

To sign the petition, the link is: http://www.tamilsforobama.com/sign/letter.html

Tamils are an ethnic group living mainly in the northeast of Sri Lanka and southern India. They are a minority population in Sri Lanka, and are currently engaged in a civil war they regard as genocide. Tamils for Obama is comprised of Tamils who have settled in the U.S., or who were born in the U.S.

To contact the group, call at (617) 765- 4394 and speak to or leave a message for the Communication Director, Tamils for Obama.

Tamils for Obama
www.TamilsForObama.com

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Tamils For Obama
(617) 765- 4394
E-mail Information
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