Mr Sivakumarave has now suspended his fast after Bermondsey MP Simon Hughes arranged for a delegation to travel to the UN, while Mr Subramaniyan is drinking water but still refusing food. They are two of a number of Tamils who have publicly committed suicide, or tried to - generally by setting themselves alight, although there are other hunger strikers in Canada and Australia - to raise awareness of the war in northern Sri Lanka, where the Tamils want an independent state.