THOUSANDS of Tamil people in Waltham Forest are fearing for the safety of loved ones caught up in the current conflict in Sri Lanka.

Around 200,000 Tamil civilians have been displaced by the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) which is fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the Asian island nation.

Protestors and politicans have criticised the Sri Lankan government for not accepting a ceasefire sput forward by LTTE.

Chandran Kuhan, works for the Tamil Community Housing Association and also teaches lessons to 200 Sri Lankan pupils at the Waltham Forest Thamil Sangam school in Walthamstow.

He estimates there are about 5,000 Tamils in Waltham Forest and all are affected in one way or another by the conflict.

Mr Kuhan said: "This is a crisis that is happening to the whole of the Tamil community.

"Even if somebody doesn't have a close friend or relative there they know someone else who has been affected."

Mr Kuhan, who has lived in the UK since the 1970s, said the people who lived in his village in Jaffna, were forced to move to Vanni province and he has lost contact with them.

He said: "We are all doing what we can to try and bring a ceasefire.

"But the British Government also has a responsibility, because it was the British who left, giving the nation independence in 1948."

Sremenasiva Sithamparapillai attends the Walham Forest Thamil Sangam school in Walthamstow.

She has not heard from her parents or her sister and her three children for two months.

She said: "They are in Vanni and I am really worried.

"I keep hearing about all these people being killed every day, with chemical weapons and bombs.

"Surely there must be something countries like England and France can do to help prevent this."

Neil Gerrard, Walthamstow MP, spoke in Parliament about the crisis, and condemned the Sri Lankan government for its actions.

He said: "I see people in my constituency who have families, relatives and friends in Vanni, but who do not know what has happened to them, cannot get in touch with them and are afraid that they are dead."

Mr Gerrard called for a permanent ceasefire, and said humanitarian aid needs to get through to the people in the refugee camps.

He said: "No government which claims to be democratically elected should be able to ignore those very clear and simple demands in the way that the Government of Sri Lanka has been doing."

The House of Commons backed a motion calling for a ceasefire.