Sri Lanka in "catastrophic" situation, says Red Cross

A leading humanitarian institution based in Geneva expressed grave concern over the ongoing civil war in Sri Lanka terming the situation of thousands of trapped civilians as "catastrophic".

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Tuesday said it was worried of thousands of civilians who are trapped in the north-western war zone areas of the country.

"We are extremely worried about the tens of thousands of civilians who are trapped in this rapidly-shrinking no-fire zone," said Pierre Kraehenbuehl, the IRCRC Head of Operations. "We consider their situation to be nothing short of catastrophic."

The ICRC also noted that hundreds of people had been killed in the past 48 hours. It has evacuated over 10,000 civilians since February.

UN and other aid agencies estimates are that there could be anywhere up to 200,000 people trapped in the No Fire Zone. They say the current military offensive has resulted in thousands of casualties in the country's north over the past week.

On Monday, a record 39,081 civilians fled by land and sea routes while the Sri Lankan government issued deadline for rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his cadres.

As the fighting intensifies, several Christian organisations in India as well as abroad has called for peace and relief efforts to extricate thousands of trapped civilians.

The civil war between the Singhalese government and the extremist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), one of the world's deadliest ongoing armed conflicts, has killed some 4,500 noncombatants in the last three months.

Even the Indian government voiced its concern asking Sri Lanka to halt the war hostilities to enable civilians trapped in the conflict to leave for secure areas.

"India is deeply concerned about the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka. The continuing conflict has taken a heavy toll on Tamil civilians," Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said.

The 25-year-old civil war since 1983 has killed over 70,000 people. The military said it is in the last phase of a drive to crush the LTTE

The Christian Post on April 9 said religious freedom groups called on Christians around the world to pray for humanitarian efforts to reach uprooted Sri Lankan civilians.

This was addressed in "The Toronto Statement" signed by 17 non-government organizations from around the world including: Open Doors International (Holland), Christian Solidarity Worldwide (United Kingdom), The Voice of the Martyrs (Canada), All India Christian Council (India), China Aid (USA), and the Religious Liberty Commission of World Evangelical Alliance (representing 128 countries).

Plans are meanwhile underway to organise a massive rally by end of this month. The rally will be organised by the Ecumenical Clergy Forum for Human Rights on April 29. All mainstream churches in India are expected to participate in the event.