Fr 26.01.2007
To the Embassy of the Republic of Sri Lanka
Rainerg. 1
1040 Vienna
We, the undersigned, view with grave concern the growing threat in the Republic of Sri Lanka to the safety and lives of opposition parliamentarians, social activists and members of socialist and democratic political parties. This is a direct result of their principled stand against both the apparent intention of the Sri Lankan Government and President Rajapakse to engage in war and against the individual terror tactics of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam).
How dangerous the situation has become has been illustrated in recent
times by:
* The daylight assassination on November 9, 2006, in Colombo of Nadaraja Raviraj a member of Parliament for the Tamil National Alliance
* The violent action taken by armed thugs on Tuesday January 9th, 2007, in Colombo to stop an anti-war public rally called by the United Peoples Movement. The UPM is a broad coalition of groups and individuals whose aim is to prevent the slide into civil war in Sri Lanka which would be a disaster for the ordinary people on the island whether from the majority Sinhala population or the minority Tamil speaking people;
* The dozens of death threats to the Convenor of this meeting, Siritunga Jayasuriya of the United Socialist Party.
The attack of 9 January was particularly significant as the gang of thugs, armed with guns and batons, was led by the Deputy Minister of Labour Mervyn de Silva who is an associate of Rajapakse.
We note that President Rajapakse has enacted Prevention of Terrorism legislation that suspends civil rights and democratic freedoms and allows citizens to be “disappeared” by the police with virtually no recourse to legal representation.
We demand President Rajapakse and the Sri Lanka Government take immediate action to:
* Stop all threats to the safety and lives of anti-war activists;
* Halt attacks on democratic freedoms, human rights and the right of oppressed minorities;
* Take immediate action against Deputy Minister Mervyn Da Silva for his actions on 9 January.
We demand that the LTTE stops all terrorist attacks on the civilian people of Sri Lanka and declares their preparedness to restart the peace talks.
We further call on President Rajapakse and the LTTE to immediately halt military action and attacks against Tamil-speaking people and to enter negotiations for a just, democratic and peaceful resolution to the Sri Lanka national conflict.
Name
Organisation
Protesbriefe bitte senden/mailen/faxen an die folgenden Adressen:
An Präsident Mahina Rajapakse (gleichzeitig Innenminister Sri Lankas):
Office of Mahinda Rajapakse
Telefon: ++ 94 11 25429-31 (bis -41)
e-mail: gosl@presidentsl.org
Fax: ++ 94 11 2321404
Botschaft in Wien:
Botschaft der Republik Sri Lanka
Rainerg. 1
1040 Wien
Telefon: 01-503 79 88...-0
01-503 24 65
FAX 01-503 79 93
Botschafter direkt 01-503 79 91
Kopien bitte auch
"United People"s Movement" c/o Siritunga Jayasuriya: usp@sltnet.lk
Spenden können an die folgende Verbindung überwiesen werden:
Konto: PSK 72620353
Kennwort: Sri Lanka