76 years old Former Tamil MP on hunger strike - 7th day

Mr. M.K.Eezhaventhan, former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka is on hunger strike for the seventh day in South Africa, demanding the international community to take immediate action to stop the war against Tamils in Sri Lanka. He commenced his fast on Thursday, 9 April 2009 at 8.30 am at the Mariamman Temple , Mt. Edgecombe , South Africa. He is only taking liquids.

Mr.Eezhaventhan, a moderate politician fought for many years in a democratic way within the parliamentary system for the recognition of the political aspirations of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
 
Mr. Eelaventhan said, that the inaction of the international bodies and their failure to recognize the genocide committed against Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government, has led him to question the purpose of his life at the age of seventy six when toddlers and even unborn babies are being brutally murdered by heavy weaponry of the Sri Lankan Army even within demarcated safe zones. Therefore, he is acting on the sentiments of the Tamil nation in Sri Lanka and around the world by undertaking this sacrifice. By initiating this effort on the soil from which the freedom struggle of the South African people was won, he hopes to urge world leaders and freedom fighters like Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Tutu to recognize the plight of Tamils and take an open stand against it.

He urge the international community to demand for immediate and permanent ceasefire from the Sri Lankan Government with. His other demands are, sending humanitarian aid to reach the affected Tamil people under supervision of INGO's,Unrestricted access to the detention camps be granted to independent local and international NGO's and to resume peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to resolve the political question of Tamils based on right to self determination.