See below a great article by David Costello in the Courier Mail on why we need to put pressure on the Australian Government to be more humane to Tamils refugees. You can start my writing a letter to the editor and starting some debate.
Send to: cmletters@qnp.newsltd.com.au
Greenleft – Tamils vote for separate homeland
by Pip Hinman
Over April 17-18, Tamils across Australia voted overwhelmingly in favour of the formation of an independent and sovereign homeland — Tamil Eelam — in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
In what was described by organisers as “the most successful political event for the diaspora in Australia”, 99.38% of participants voted “yes”.
Australia is the 10th country has held a referendum on a separate homeland — the principle behind the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution of 1976. It involved more than 8000 people, out of 10,000 who registered. Around the world, about 200,000 people have voted “yes” — a clear indication of the views of the Tamil diaspora.
Tamil Referendum Council of Australia spokesperson Adrian Francis told TamilNet on April 22 that the mass turn-out of voters showed the Tamil diaspora is still very concerned about its people. “It shows that the fate of our brethren and our nation is an issue that burns at the forefront of the conscience of millions of Diaspora across the world”, he said.
Tamils at a polling booth in Homebush in Sydney’s west told Green Left Weekly on April 18 the referendum process had re-engaged the community after the shock, despair and anger that followed the Sri Lankan government’s massacre of Tamils last year. More
ABC Radio Connect Asia : Australian Tamil referendum polls support for independent homeland
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Dr Sam Pari, Australian Tamil Congress
Economic recovery after thirty years of civil war and the Tamil question will hover like ominous rain clouds over over Sri Lanka’s new Parliament. President Rajapakse and the military may have defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels, but the aspirations of Tamils on the island are by no means ended. And it would seem Sri Lankan Tamils have the support of their relatives overseas. Preliminary results from a referendum held last weekend in Australia show an overwhelming majority of Australian Tamils support the creation of an independent Tamil homeland.
SBS TV News : Tamils vote in referendum
Australian Tamils cast their votes in a referendum on the creation of an independent Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka
ABC Radio Australia interviews Dr Sam Pari on the UNHCR Report
Listen to interview here
ABC TV News : Lawyers question Asylum policy
Listen to interview from source here
ABC Radio PM : Opposition, Tamils and refugee lawyer say asylum suspension won’t stop surge of boats
Listen to interview and read transcript from source here
Download interview here
SL’s rigged elections & Oz to deport Tamils
SBS News – Sri Lankans go to the polls
ABC Radio Australia PM – UN Refugee Agency may change some protection guidelines
The United Nations Refugee Agency is looking at changing its international protection guidelines for Sri Lankan and Afghan asylum seekers. The changes would pave the way for Australia to send many more of the detainees on Christmas Island back to where they started. The Tamil Association is urging against any change to the guidelines, saying it’s no safer for Tamils in Sri Lanka. From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.
“There is still 100- to 150,000 Tamils being held in military run camps in the north and the fact that there’s about another 10- to 15,000 Tamils being held in undisclosed areas where there are allegations of rape and torture that have been continuing for more than a year. I do not believe that the guidelines should be relaxed. Sri Lanka is still a very dangerous country for Tamil civilians regardless of whether they’re from the north, whether they’re from the east or anywhere on the island.” – Dr Sam Pari, National Spokesperson, Australian Tamil Congress
The Wire – Sri Lankan opposition leader arrested
Produced by Jacinta Patterson
In Sri Lanka, the main opposition leader has been arrested after the government accused him of what it termed ‘military offences’. Sri Lanka held its general election last month – the first since the end of the country’s lengthy civil war. Former military leader General Sarath Fonseca ran an unsuccessful campaign against his former commander-in-chief, President Mahendra Rajapaksa. His arrest came just hours after he told reporters he’d be willing to give evidence about war crimes he alleges took place during the conflict. Featured in this story: Dr Sam Pari, spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Congress; Dr Jake Lynch, director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at Sydney University.
ABC – PANEL: the Tamil factor in Sri Lankan polls
Thousands of Tamils in the north of the country will be voting for the first time in many years.
Ironically, the minority Tamils – who’ve suffered discrimination under successive governments – may decide the outcome, if the majority Singhalese vote is split. While both incumbent President Rajapakse and the former military chief General Fonseka actively courted the Tamil vote during campaigning, many observers say it remains to be seen if the lot of the Tamil minority will improve in Sri Lanka.
Presenter: Sen Lam
Speakers: Sisira Jayasuriya, Singhalese-born Professor of Economics at LaTrobe University in Melbourne; Dr Sam Pari, Sydney-based spokesperson for the Australian Tamil Congress
PARI: I think the fact that the two main candidates, one of whom was a commander-in-chief who ordered the war against the Tamil people, and the other, the former head of the military who executed that order, the fact that it’s these two individuals who are the main candidates running for presidency, I think that is of deep concern to the Tamil population. Both these gentlemen have given speeches and have said many things that are staunchly nationalistic and very pro-Sinhalese and quite inconsiderate of the Tamil population. For the Tamil people, the absence of war does not equal peace. The history of Sri Lanka has shown several pacts, several agreements made between Tamil leaders and the Singhalese president that have only later been abrogated by the Sri Lankan government. It’s been more than six months since the end of the war and we still see about 150-thousand Tamils being interned in camps. There are about ten to 12-thousand young Tamils who are still arrested, jailed and kept in undisclosed areas. There are allegations of rape, of torture, of abductions still continuing, people are disappearing. I don’t believe that the Tamil people really are much more free today as compared to say a year ago. More
