Protest against the killings and kidnappings of Tamils in Sri Lanka

For immediate use: 19 October 2006

PO Box 24697, London E11 1YD Tel: 020 8988 8777

Socialist Party councillors to hand in letter of protest to the Sri Lankan High Commission

Monday 23rd October. From 4.30 to 6pm. Sri Lankan High Commission, 13 Hyde Park Gardens, W2 2LU

Sri Lanka has experienced the bloodiest few months since the beginning of peace talks in 2002. On top of the horrendous killings and poverty all over the country, extra-judicial killing and the collection of ransoms, especially in the city of Colombo and its suburbs, has kept increasing with no attention being paid by the Government or by the police.

More than half a million poor people in the North-East are starving and struggling to live a normal life, while Sri Lankan Government continue to bomb civilian areas. The prices of food products in the north are unaffordable to all. People also have to queue for more than 12 hours to get a half a kilo of rice that will not feed the family for even a couple of days. The major route of the food supply is under the control of the army (more than 40,000 soldiers). They are charging extra and refusing to let food lorries pass to the North-East areas.

Meanwhile the government turns a blind eye to the kidnapping and killing of Tamils in the North. Legal and other workers have brought to light more and more horrific examples of Tamils being abducted, tortured and in many cases, murdered. In a list of 18 cases for which they have given details, there is one particularly gruesome report of five headless bodies being found dumped on an estate 25 miles outside Colombo.

The statement released at a press conference held on October 2nd of the Civil Monitoring Committee accused the government of trying to protect these abductors. The Statement also condemned the Government-appointed 'one-man commission', rejecting it as a total fake and as an attempt to fool the people.

The Civil Monitoring Committee is a concerned group of political parties and social activists who have been raising the issue of abductions, involuntary disappearances. It is headed by Siritunga Jayasuriya, the secretary of the United Socialist Party. The USP is the Sri Lankan section of the Committee for Workers International, who organise workers around the world in more than forty countries. The Socialist party in England and Wales is also an affiliate of the CWI.

The Socialist Party in England and Wales is organising a picket of the Sri Lankan High Commission on Monday and will hand in a letter of protest from our London councillors.

Stop the killings and kidnappings

End the war

Resume the peace talks with the involvement of working people's representatives.

Email: info@socialistparty.org.uk or kensmith@socialistparty.org.uk

Web: www.socialistparty.org.uk

Source: Socialist Party
Date: 23 October 2006