|
Tamils - a Nation without a State
Canada -
கனடா
- an estimated 300,000 Tamils live in Canada -
Canadian Tamil Youth Fast for Internally Displaced in Vanni[
TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2008]
35 Canadian Tamil youths on Friday launched a fasting campaign
named '30 Hour Famine' at the Richmond Hill Temple community
hall in the province of Ontario in an effort to create awareness
regarding the sufferings of the displaced civilians deprived of
basic amenities in Vanni, whose plight has worsened after the
Sri Lankan government ordered the International NGOs and UN
agencies to withdraw aid workers from the region.
The organisers said that their campaign was launched at 4:01
p.m., paying tribute to Thileepan, a medical student who emerged
as a political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in
the Jaffan district in early 80's.
Thileepan sacrificed himself in a fast-unto death campaign on
September 26 in 1987.
"It is a symbolic expression of hope and reassurance that the
diaspora youth would stand behind the suffering masses and
the Eezham
cause," they said.
10 adults also joined the fasting campaign with the youths as
hundreds of Tamils visited them expressing their solidarity.
The '30 hour famine campaign' commenced with the lighting of the
Lamp of Sacrifice by Ms. Sugunam Pararajasingham, the wife of
the late Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from
Batticaloa, Joesph Pararajasingham.
The campaign was concluded at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday. Tamil
radio stations operating in the province converged at the site
of during the fast and gave live broadcast.
|
