Puducherry, March 4 (PTI): The Sri Lanka's Tamil parties have requested the Indian Government and the world community to exert "diplomatic pressure" on Sri Lanka to find a political solution to the ethnic crisis in the island nation.

The Sri Lankan MP, Mavai S Senathirajah, the general secretary of Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchi and deputy leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Tamil Nationalist Alliance, told reporters here today that the parties wanted "maximum pressure to be exerted on the Sri Lankan Government by India and the international community to find a viable political solution against its military strategies".

Pressure should also be built to seek the protection of Tamils in the island nation, said Senathirajah, who was here to meet Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy.

"If such a solution cannot be found, we have requested the international community to recognise our struggle and liberate Tamils from Sinhalese chauvinism," he said.

He said Sri Lanka's armed forces were "targeting the Tamils and seeking their annihilation".

The Sri Lankan government, he alleged, was resorting to a "military-based agenda of action".

The parties also wanted India to work with the world community and send sufficient food to Tamil areas of Sri Lanka.

Starvation deaths and malnutrition were rampant among Tamils, especially among children, he said.

After the Mahinda Rajapakse government assumed office, the sufferings of Tamils have increased manifold, he alleged.