Sri Lanka: SOS - Agonising Cry of the People of Wanni

January 19, 2009

A letter from a group of concerned persons to the United Nations Secretary General forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

SRI LANKA: SOS - Agonising Cry of the People of Wanni

13 January 2009.

His Excellency Ban Ki Moon
 The secretary General,
 United Nations

Your Excellency,

The Agonising Cry of the People of Wanni, Sri-Lanka

We the Roman Catholic Priests and Religious serving the people in
Wanni, the theatre of on-going vicious battles, make the following
ardent and urgent appeal.

1. The "uncleared" area of Wanni which consisted of Killinochchi,
Mullaitivu, parts of Mannar, parts of Jaffna and parts of Vavuniya
districts has now shrunken to parts of the Mullaitivu district alone,
as a result of the on-going military operations carried out by the
SriLankan security forces against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE).

2. About 491,000 people from the above-mentioned districts are now
forced to live in the shrunken Mullaitivu district alone. Day after
day, displacements continue unabated, as a result of the aggressive
artillery poundings and aerial bombardments in and around civilian
settlements.

3. In these indiscriminate attacks, babies in mothers’ wombs,
infants, children, women and men, young and old are killed and maimed
and wounded every day. 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.

4. The merciless Economic Embargo imposed on Wanni and the Eviction
of the INGOs worsen the predicament of the innocent civilians. A
shortage in fuel, food supply, medicines, shelter materials and
drinking water weigh heavily upon an already beleaguered people.

5. As the geographical territory occupied by the people keep on
shrinking daily, 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.

6. In times of war, the parties to the conflict, particularly the
Government which is a signatory to the Geneva Convention on the
conduct of war has the bounden duty to uphold the Convention. The
safety and security and human dignity of the innocent civilians
cannot and should not be trampled upon by anyone, particularly by the
Government, waging a war.

7. What is at the root of this ongoing war is the STRUCTURAL
INJUSTICE, a vehement denial of EQUALITY and DIGNITY of the Sri
Lankan Tamils, perpetrated by the successive Sinhala dominated
Governments of Sri Lanka for decades.

8. Therefore, we earnestly urge Your Excellency to take immediate
action to stop this senseless war and put an end to the untold
sufferings of the innocent civilians in Wanni whose life has become a
real struggle for survival. And 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.

Yours sincerely
.................................

(Signed) Rev Fr.James Pathinathar,

(On behalf of the Priests and Religious of Wanni)
 St. Jude’s Church,
 Mullaithivu-Paranthan Road,
 Udaiyarkaddu,
 Mullaithivu District,
 Sri-Lanka,