About 2,000 people staged a peaceful protest rally yesterday outside the Indian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur calling for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

They also demanded that New Delhi intervened on behalf of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

srilanka_protest_kl_1_06022009 Led by the Global Peace Initiative (GPI) movement, the protest lasted over two hours with representatives from non-governmental organisations as well as prominent politicians taking part.

The rally was fuelled by the ongoing onslaught by the Sri Lankan government against the separatist movement, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been in dispute with the government over the establishment of an independent Tamil state in that island.

Protesters assembled along the pavements along Jalan Duta opposite the high commission and carried various placards with slogans such as 'Stop genocide of Tamils' and 'Stop the killings'.

Under strict police observation, the protesters called for the Indian government to stop the "genocide attack on the Sri Lankan Tamils".

srilanka_protest_kl_2_06022009 The police who were initially trying to disperse the crowd from the gates of the high commission finally gave in around 1pm and allowed a small delegation of nine people to enter and submit the memorandum.

The delegation was lead by S Pasupathi (GPI president), K Arumugam (Suaram chairperson) and CM Elantamil (deputy director of the Tamil Foundation) as well as Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, members of Parliament Gobind Singh Deo (Puchong), S Manikavasagam (Kapar) and M Monagaran (Teluk Intan).

Measures for India to take

"We are constrained to state that we have been shocked at the total inhuman onslaught on the civilians of the Tamil home land by the Sri Lanka armed forces, killing and maiming men, women and children in thousands.

"Of all countries in the world, India, the home of Lord Krishna, Lord Buddha, King Asoka and in our time Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, has been working hand in glove with the racist Sri Lankan government to destroy the Tamil homeland," said the memorandum which was submitted by GPI.

srilanka_protest_kl_0_06022009 The four page memorandum also listed measures for the Indian government to take in order to halt the crisis in Sri Lanka, with orders of ceasefire and negotiations between the LTTE and Sri Lanka government topping the list.

Indian High Commissioner to Malaysia Ashok K Kantha who received the memorandum assured the gathering that he would submit the memorandum to Indian government in New Delhi.

After various failed ceasefire in the past, the civil war reached its peak in January after president Mahinda Rajapaksa announced that the army troops had captured the Eelam's de facto administrative capital Kilinochichi.

Over 30 civilians death have been reported last month due to the ongoing fighting.