Tamil community activists set off on a grueling 17 days bicycle ride today: taking their grievances from Downing street to the United nations Geneva ,Switzerland all to contest the genocide of the Tamil population , Tamil Eelam (Tamil: தமிழீழம் tamiḻ īḻam, generally rendered outside Tamil-speaking areas as தமிழ் ஈழம்) is a proposed independent state that Tamils in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka. Tamil Eelam has no official status or recognition by world states though sections of the Eelam were under de facto control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for most of the 2000s.[5][6][7] The name is derived from the ancient Tamil name for Sri Lanka, Eelam.