"The Sri Lankan Government has long tried to portray the Sri Lankan civil war as a Government campaign against terrorism but the truth is that the Sri Lankan Government has carefully engineered the Genocide of Tamils on the island. Beneath the veneer of a picture postcard image of Sri Lanka that the government provides, lies a country that has increasingly become a brutal society in which the fundamental rights of Tamil people are denied. These human rights abuses against Tamils are committed by the Government of Sri Lanka.

On the 18th of May, the war in Sri Lanka ended but the suffering of the Tamils continues in the Government Welfare Camps which are more similar to the Nazi Concentration Camps during the Holocaust, than Welfare Camps.

During the war without witnesses, the Sri Lankan Army used illegal weapons, deprived innocent Tamil civilians of food and medicine; and bombed government assigned safety zones.

Currently, nearly 300, 000 Internally Displaced Peoples are trapped in barbed-wired internment camps without access to food, medicine and water. Reports of sexual harassment including raping of young women by the military personnel and torture and killings continue to emerge rapidly from these IDP camps. There are continued reports of extra-judicial executions and forced "disappearances," and the fate of thousands of disappeared Tamils remains unknown. On May 7th, reports emerged of over 13,000 Tamil youth that went missing from these camps.

There are over 80,000 children in these camps, some of which have been left orphaned.
To add, there have been many reports of children being separated from their parents and the Times newspaper has reported that Paramilitary groups with links to the Sri Lankan Army are abducting Tamil children as young as 12 from state-run internment camps.

Sri Lanka prides itself as a functioning democracy. Yet media freedom, a vital pillar of democracy is non existent. Sri Lankan media is self-censored and national/international media are not allowed into the war zone. All International NGOs, UN Organisations and International Aid Agencies are banned from the war zone and now in the camps.

The atrocities of the Sri Lankan State over the last 30 years have resulted in the deaths of more than 170, 000 Tamils, forced nearly a million Tamils to flee Sri Lanka and internally displaced 800,000 Tamils

There are no witnesses to the ongoing genocide and there is a complete blackout of information so the world is mostly oblivious. Sri Lanka is disguising its Genocide of Tamils as the War against Terrorism. For years, the Sri Lankan Government has tried to cover up its genocide of Tamils using cricket and for years, they have succeeded. This year, they plan to disguise its atrocities by entertaining cricket-loving nations in their own backyard. " courtesy Priyaksha and Premisha Pathmanathan New Zealand Tamils Campaign Against Sri Lanka New Zealand Tour August 2009

Sri Lankan Cricket Facts:

The Sri Lankan cricketer known as Tillakaratne Mudiyanselage Dilshan, infact is a Muslim who changed his name from Tuwan Mohamad Dilshan. So he changed his name from a Muslim sounding one to a Sinhala sounding one? Why? It seems because Sinhalese cricketers have a better chance of selection.
 
The club that Murali played for, Tamil Union Cricket & Athletic Club, has virtually no Tamil players! As ironic as it sounds, it�s true. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Union_Cricket_and_Athletic_Club
  
Even more so, no Eelam Tamils have ever been selected into the Sri Lankan Cricket Team. Murali is from Kandy and Russel Arnold is from Colombo. No-one at all from the North or East. No-one from Jaffna, Killinochi, Batticaloa, Mullaitivu or Mannar.
 
All of these players have met and shook hands with Mahinda Rajapakse. They have all wined and dined with him This is the man who is directly responsible for the genocide in Sri Lanka.

Ajantha Mendis, one of the Sri Lankan Cricket Players was in the Sri Lankan Army! He was actively serving in the Army, as a Gunner in the Artillery regiment. Ajantha has fired shells on Tamils! After playing cricket he is now a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army. 
 
Sri Lanka generates a large amount of funds from their cricket team. Sponsorships, other teams touring Sri Lanka, it all ends up with millions of dollars for the Sri Lankan Government.
 
England, refused to let South Africa tour in 1970, because of their apartheid policy. This led to the International Cricket council also banning them, until 1991, when they were re-instated after apartheid was abolished.
 
By preventing South Africa from playing cricket and isolating them, it actively played apart in breaking down the apartheid regime there. The same can happen in Sri Lanka! 
 
New Zealand has also postponed their tour to Zimbabwe. So Zimbabwe cannot come to England because of their country�s human rights record, but Sri Lanka can?
 
In 2008, England refused to let Zimbabwe come play cricket here on �moral grounds�. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/cricket/7471238.stm
 
We are fortunate to have the opportunity to live in a land that gives us the freedom to choose our own lifestyles, and proudly display who we are. It is now our duty to save our people from this Nazi-Paradise, and work hard to ensure them these same basic, yet crucial freedoms.
 
Boycotting Sri Lankan Cricket and bringing awareness will save a lot of lives of many Tamils; Therefore, please take the time to write a few letters to the agencies provided above. We have added some links and some examples of letters, which you are more than welcome to use as a guide to help write yours.  
 
Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice. True peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights. -- Ronald Reagan
 

---