Standing Room Only at MPs meeting with Tamils

8.07.00am GMT Sat 14th Mar 2009

There was standing room only on Friday night at Wallington High School for Girls at a meeting organised by the local Tamil community to lobby Tom Brake MP and Paul Burstow MP about the war in Sri Lanka.

The hall was packed, with over five hundred people, mainly from the London Borough of Sutton but also Merton, Croydon and a couple of other Boroughs.

Following a very disturbing video about the deaths of civilians during the war, a series of Tamil speakers, including an Old Girl from Wallington High School for Girls, Piolin Don Bosco, described their own experiences of the war and the impact it had had on their families and friends. Sutton's MPs then spoke, before taking part in a short question and answer session.

Speaking after the meeting, Paul Burstow said, ""There needs to be a ceasefire, independent monitors, access for relief and human rights organisations and free unfettered access for the press. Our Government must take the matter to the UN Security Council."

Tom Brake added, "The death and destruction inflicted on the Tamil community, described in horrific by the speakers, must be brought to a halt immediately. There will be no peace in Sri Lanka until the senseless murder of both Tamils and Sinhalese stops."

Tom Brake and Paul Burstow will be seeking a meeting with the Foreign Secretary and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to press for an immediate ceasefire, substantial humanitarian aid and the beginning of a dialogue which could leave to a peaceful resolution of this 25 year old conflict. They will also be seeking to raise the matter in a parliamentary debate.

ENDS