Sri Lanka targets aid workers to block humanitarian work in Tamil homeland
-LTTE Spokesperson for human rights and humanitarian affairs
Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith aged 40, the Mannar district coordinator of Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) was killed in a Claymore attack launched by the Sri Lanka Army Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) while he was riding his Hiace van on Mankulam - Vellankulam Road, at Kalvilan. The assistant of the priest, Christopher Julin, was injured and transferred to Kilinochchi hospital in a serious condition.
Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith, was bringing infant milk food and other humanitarian essential supplies to the recently displaced people in Mannar District. The killing of Rev. Fr. Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was the latest in a series of killings of aid workers in the Tamil homeland. Hundreds of Thousands of people are displaced from their own habitats due to continuing military offensives in the Tamil homeland. The Non Governmental Organizations which were permitted by the Government of Sri Lanka to work in the Tamil homeland face many difficulties in bringing relief items and other humanitarian supplies to these areas. Government of Sri Lanka continues to target aid workers who are engaged in humanitarian activities in the Tamil homeland. More than 45 aid workers from various Non Governmental Organizations were killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces and its allied paramilitaries in the last 21 months. Also many aid workers in the Tamil homeland were either arrested or abducted and then disappeared. Those aid workers who were killed include employees of the Action Contre La Faim (ACF), Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Halo Trust, ICRC, SLRC and DRC. The targeting of aid workers on humanitarian missions that help the people, who already suffer from continuous military offensives, is a gross violation of international humanitarian laws. We condemn the killing of the aid workers by the Government of Sri Lanka and urge the international community and other human rights organisations to take relevant actions regarding this unlawful act.
27 September 2007
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Europe which has a total population of 800 million is made up of 45 language based nation states. South Asia which has a total population of one billion, (1000 million) is comprised of four states. Who is preventing and therefore benefiting by limiting new nation-states in South Asia?
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