Tamils - a Trans State Nation..

"To us all towns are one, all men our kin.
Life's good comes not from others' gift, nor ill
Man's pains and pains' relief are from within.
Thus have we seen in visions of the wise !."
-
Tamil Poem in Purananuru, circa 500 B.C 

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CONTENTS 
OF THIS SECTION

04/06/09

Tamils: a Tran State Nation - Australia
Australia & Terrorism

Australia's Expansive Asian Security Footprint: Richard Tanter in Japan Focus, 12 July, 2007

Request for Parliamentary Resolution to Stop Genocide in Sri Lanka by Australian Tamil Organisations, Queensland, June 2006
Australian Tamils call for end to military occupation of Tamil homeland, May 2006
International Commission of Jurists, Australia Expresses Serious Concern over ASIO Raids on Sri Lankan Tamils in Melbourne, 27 November 2005
An Australian Tamil stands up for that which he believes... - 31 May 2001
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations to Australia's Foreign Minister - 13 December 1998
Australasian Federation of Tamils - 'Peace with Justice' - Canberra, 1996
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations submission to International Commission of Jurists - Australian Section, 11 December 1995
Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations to Australian Foreign Ministry - 15 November 1995
Australian Foreign Ministry to  Swiss Federation of Tamil Associations - 6 October 1995
Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations to Australian Senate Standing Committee on Finance & Public Administration - 1 December 1991
 

australia &
the Struggle for Tamil Eelam

Chance for Kevin Rudd to change Sri Lanka policy - Bruce Haigh, former Deputy Australian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, 16 April 2009
Australian MP Calls for Ceasefire, 26 June 2008
Australasian Federation of  Tamil Associations Meet Australian Greens Senator Kerry Nettle - "Australian Tamils Seek a Principled Approach to the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka" 6 August 2007
Request for Parliamentary Resolution to Stop Genocide in Sri Lanka by Australian Tamil Organisations Queensland, 10 June 2006
International Commission of Jurists, Australia Expresses Serious Concern over ASIO Raids on Sri Lankan Tamils in Melbourne, 27 November 2005
Ms Virginia Judge MP (Strathfield) speaks out on Sri Lanka: Civil, Political and Economic Rights, 15 September 2005
"The Tamils are a resilient people. I observed that in a remarkable three year period the Tamils developed a virtual state within the north and north-east of Sri Lanka. I visited their judiciary and court, school of law, police station, police academy, medical and technical colleges and small industries, a community bank plus a children's home housing 278 children left orphaned by the war and the recent tsunami. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) runs a variety of development, relief and reconstruction projects as well as assisting several non-government organisations with their projects. All this is a tribute to the spirit and resilience of the Tamil people.
Australian Member of Parliament calls for an independent Tamil Eelam - 1 June 1999, http://www.aph.gov.au/hansard/index.htm

Hansard Reference : 01 June 1999, Page reference P4624

"I strongly urge this parliament to support the independence of the Tamil people from the state of Sri Lanka. It is foolishness for us to ignore this 15-year bloody conflict that sees no end in sight because the Tamil and Sinhalese people cannot peacefully coexist under one government. Our immediate regional history has shown that Sri Lanka is one clear example where the demographic reality requires a separation of states...."


John MurphyMr John Murphy, (Federal Member for Lowe) speaking in the Australian House of Representatives on 1 June 1999 at  10.48 p.m declared:

"I rise tonight to speak about the plight of Tamils in the war-torn country of Sri Lanka. The Tamil community constitutes one of the most significant cultural entities in my electorate of Lowe. It is widely acknowledged that the Lowe electorate is the Tamil 'capital' of Australia.

On 4 August 1998, the Sri Lankan government extended its state of emergency to the whole of the country. This measure was in force in the capital Colombo and in the north and east of Sri Lanka, where separatists belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have been waging a bloody struggle for independence.

Today, the civilian Tamil population continues to be a target of  military operations by the Sri Lankan armed forces. As a consequence, disappearances, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, arbitrary arrest and indefinite detention are continuing to occur regularly within the Sri Lankan army-occupied regions of the Tamil homeland. There are more than 825,000 displaced Tamil civilians living under appalling conditions that include acute shortages of water, food and medicine. In the northern Vanni region of the Tamil homeland there is an embargo of essential food and medicine in violation of humanitarian law.

At the present time we are hearing so much about the horror of war in Kosovo. Why are we not hearing about Sri Lanka's war? Because it is a hidden war due to the strong ties between the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan government and the major Western powers.

monk1a.JPG (36335 bytes)(Photo alongside: Buddhist Monk inspects Sri Lanka artillery at the war front in 1998 ) Both scenarios depict a racially dominated military oppressing an ethnic minority. Both have resulted in massive displacements, sightings of mass graves and evidence of genocide. Both situations have resulted in two of the gravest disasters and crimes against humanity. Multiple massacres have occurred in townships in the east and north of Sri Lanka. An attempted democratic mandate proved by a 70 per cent vote by Tamils to separate from Sri Lanka in 1977 has been systematically denied.  

I have the greatest respect for the Tamil community. They are perhaps one of the best organised ethnic communities in Australia. Since I was elected to this House in 1998 I have received representations from several Tamil organisations and individuals. These and other associations form an international network of Tamil community organisations seeking a peaceful solution to the ongoing bloodshed in Sri Lanka.

What then is the solution to the 15-year civil war in Sri Lanka? In fulfilment of this drive towards a peaceful solution, the Tamil community is asking for a withdrawal of security forces from the occupied Tamil homeland, a lifting of the embargo on essential food and medicine and a political solution to the conflict with the Tamil people that would enable the Tamil people to choose their own political and national status.  

The Tamil people call on Australia to assist them in their appeal for negotiations to take place under the auspices of a neutral third party acceptable to the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil leadership under the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

I strongly urge this parliament to support the independence of the Tamil people from the state of Sri Lanka. It is foolishness for us to ignore this 15-year bloody conflict that sees no end in sight because the Tamil and Sinhalese people cannot peacefully coexist under one government. Our immediate regional history has shown that Sri Lanka is one clear example where the demographic reality requires a separation of states.  

The alternative to this course of action is for Australia to participate in the grave destabilising influence of Sri Lanka melting down into a further 15 years of protracted civil war that may threaten to further destabilise our immediate region. Like Kosovo, a political and peaceful solution to the conflict can be achieved only in the absence of ongoing-armed conflict. The Tamil people cannot negotiate under the auspices of military oppression.

I call on the Australian government to take urgent action to press the Sri Lankan government to  

(1) withdraw its security forces from the occupied Tamil homeland;
(2) lift the embargo of essential food and medicine;
(3) seek a political solution to the conflict with the Tamil people that would enable them to choose their own political and national status; and
(4) recognise the Tamil right to self-determination as stipulated in article 1 of the International Covenant on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states :   All people have the right to self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.  

I call for negotiations to take place and to be overseen by a third party acceptable to the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil leadership, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Australia has an obligation to play a role in bringing about a lasting and plausible peace for Sri Lanka and the achievement of a peaceful Tamil homeland-a dream shared by the million Tamils world-wide."

 
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