Tamil activists take to the streets over Lankan conflict

Coimbatore, Feb 11 (ANI): Thousands of Tamil activists, belonging to various political parties, marched here on Tuesday to demand the Central Government's intervention in stopping the war in Sri Lanka.

Activists of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), the Congress and other organizations participated in the march shouting slogans against the Sri Lankan Government for what they termed was a genocide.

"Our main wish is that the war in Sri Lanka stops and Tamil people are rehabilitated. This is in contrast to some party's giving support to LTTE, which is not our intention. We are only interested in protecting the innocent people of Sri Lank, the Tamilian population there," said R. Prabu, a Congress MP.

Last month, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, and the two discussed safety measures for Tamils trapped in fighting between the army and Tamil Tigers separatists, and post-war reconstruction.

The visit was also to cool tensions with Tamil Nadu politicians in India's ruling coalition who are sympathetic to the Tigers and demand that India broker a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, the UNHCR on Tuesday said that more than half the 250,000 civilians now trapped in Sri Lanka's war zones may soon flee their homes and require international assistance.

Thousands of people in the past week have fled intensifying fighting between Sri Lankan troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the past week, with the government seeking to end a civil war that has flared on and off since 1983. (ANI)