COTANZ Consortium of Tamil Associations in New Zealand. Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Palmerston North

14th August 2009 Media Release

COTANZ welcomes warning from Robert Blake

Tamils Desire to Freedom The Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka started decades ago when Tamils were discriminated by successive Sinhala Government that refused to democratically share power. This frustration and years of alienation of the Tamil people led to the arms struggle.

After the end of war, in May, the Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake, the Obama administration's point man for South Asia, in an exclusive interview with rediff.com's Aziz Haniffa, has warned that Sri Lanka's failure to share power with minority Tamils after the end of the war could lead to renewed violence.

The Consortium of Tamil Associations in New Zealand (COTANZ) welcomes Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake’s statement. COTANZ also would like to point out the result of the polls held Saturday, 8th August for elected representatives to two councils, on the edge of the area formerly controlled by the Tigers, clearly indicate that Tamils want their self-determination. The Tamil National Alliance, a political party that supported the Tamil Tiger, made a strong showing on Saturday’s polls.

Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, a nonpartisan advocacy group says “The vote in the north was very clearly for Tamil rights and autonomy".

Commenting on 300,000 Tamils detained in the camps, Mr Blake said that the refugees were being held "against their will".

COTANZ kindly requests the international community to pressure the Sri Lankan Government to immediately release the Tamils detained in the camp and the Tamil leaders captured and put in torture chambers. We also request the international community to support Tamil self determination.

George Arulanantham Coordinator Consortium of Tamil Associations in New Zealand ends

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