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Tamil suicide protest in UN Headqurters in Switzerland
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by Sanjay Jha | February 18, 2009 at 11:27 pm
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Shattered by events in his native land Sri Lanka, A young tamil man doused himself in Geneva and set light to his body outside the United Nations complex in the Place des Nations. Despite immediate intervention from Swiss police officials 26 -year-old Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, resident of Harrow in UK, couldn't be saved and he was too badly burnt.
Murukathasan Vanakulasingam left his family last Tuesday to fly to Switzerland and take part in a mass protest against the attacks on Tamils by the Sri Lankan government.
But on Thursday night, hours before he was expected to fly home and return to his job, the 27-year-old computer science graduate set fire to himself outside the gates of the United Nations headquarters in Geneva.
He left a letter ten metres away, explaining he had sacrificed his life to draw attention to the plight of his fellow Tamils who are caught up in an increasingly bloody civil war.
Murukathasan's family found out about his death when it was reported on websites, and they spoke to the Harrow Times about the anguish of finding out he had taken his own life.
His sister Arumdevi, 24, said: “All he did for the last few weeks was watch television and get angrier and angrier that nobody was doing anything about how many people are dying. He was very sad.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 08:26 on February 20th, 2009
why was he so upset about the sri lankan government trying to control the rebel LTTE group. The govenment has not destroyed the tamil. They are mearly trying control the subotages for the guerrila LTTE group. I am sadned by his death. But this is what the LTTE make use of in PL. they employ tamils as suicide bombers. Why did he not think about the lives lost from the LTTE.
at 22:08 on March 20th, 2009
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Don't give this crap.
You exactly know why somebody will kill themselves to see LTTE defeated, because LTTE is the only force fighting for Tamils and their freedom. Tamils living far away from the war are deeply saddened by what is going in Sri Lanka right now, because they know the atrocities the Sri Lankan Government can deploy on them easily and act as innocents to outside world. In order to do this, first they will ban media from Sri Lanka.
If you actually care about Tamils, go ask your Government to bring in outside observers to explain to them what they are doing wrong; Why it is wrong to kill Tamils civilians, Why it is wrong to deny peace talks to LTTE, Why it is wrong to destroy the one and only representatives of Tamils - LTTE, Why it is wrong to marginalize and oppress Tamils for last 60 years, Why it is wrong to torture, rape and kill Tamils civilians in the name of fighting terrorism, Why it is wrong to ban Free media, Why it is wrong to ban independent monitors, Why it is wrong to use forced disappearances everyday to kill Tamils, Why it is wrong to redirect foreign aid and supplies to Sinhalese areas, Why it is wrong to do propaganda only news, Why it is wrong to kidnap and kill media members, Why it is wrong for the Sri Lankan Government to act as the worst terrorists in the world.
Just get somebody who can to tell you and your government why they need to get their act together, because the Indian Army might be able to help Sri Lankan Army to weaken LTTE. However, Tamils struggle for freedom will never stop. Even if you manage to kill every LTTE, the need for us to fight for our autonomy will never stop. Tamils will win back our regions. Tamils will live in these regions as an independent state from Sri Lanka.
The Tamils autonomy in Sri Lanka will come above and beyond all your deception.
at 09:25 on February 20th, 2009
He was upset at the 2000+ civilian deaths and 5000+ civilian injuries. The Tamils the world over are saddened not by the crush of the ltte but of constantly seeing scenes of death and carnage. This whole thing has left a deep impact on the Tamils and has been very upsetting and I doubt very much they will let this go easily.