Canada’s noticeable shift in policy towards Sri Lanka is troubling
Posted on October 3rd, 2011
SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CANADAƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 4 Arkona Drive, Toronto, Ontario, CanadaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
By E-mailƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
October 1, 2001
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, MP. PC
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block, 80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A2
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Dear Prime Minister Harper,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s noticeable shift in policy towards Sri Lanka is troubling
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We are writing to let you know that we are deeply disappointed and troubled by the recent shift in policy of the Conservative Party led government on issues relating to Sri Lanka, which are apparently aimed at making in-roads into the pro-Tamil Tiger diaspora voting blocks in the Greater Toronto area.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The statement made by you to push for a boycott of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit scheduled to be held in Sri Lanka in 2013 as previously decided by the member nations, and CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s failed attempt to seek an interactive dialogue on the findings and recommendations of Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission at the March 2012 session of the UNHRC in Geneva, and a disparaging statement on Sri Lanka made by CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Minister of Foreign Affairs at the UNGA on September 26, 2011 are matters of special concern especially to Canadians of Sri Lankan origin who have been supportive of the Conservative Party for a considerable period of time.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We wish to point out that Sri Lanka made several attempts over two decades to resolve issues relating to the grievances of her Tamil ethnic minority by holding direct talks and international mediation by India, followed by peace talks facilitated by Norway with Co-Chairs consisting of the USA, EU, Japan and Norway overseeing the process from 2002 to 2008. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the self proclaimed sole representative of the Tamil community backed by the Tamil diaspora in Canada and other western countries reneged on the deal negotiated by the former Prime Minister of India, His Excellency Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 whom they went on to assassinate, and thereafter only sought talks when they were militarily weak in order to buy time to rebuild their military capabilities to resume hostilities.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The LTTE violated the ceasefire agreement from its inception in 2002, with the Nordic Monitors registering over 7,000 infractions by the LTTE of which nearly 3,800 were ruled as clear violations including the murder of over 400 political leaders, military personnel and civilians, whilst the Sri Lankan military was faulted for minor infractions numbering around 150 mostly relating to incidents of harassment at check points.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The LTTE did not negotiate in good faith at any point of time and throughout pursued the establishment of a separate state by carving out sovereign territory of Sri Lanka by armed force including suicide terrorism.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was the LTTE which launched its so called final war of liberation in December 2005 by attacking military establishments and cutting off both drinking and irrigating water to 30,000 farming families downstream from Mavil Aru, which compelled the Sri Lankan authorities to retaliate and root out the terrorist forces that had usurped territory in the north and east.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The military action to neutralize the terrorist guns and rescue the Tamil civilians numbering nearly 300,000 that had been herded from the northwest coast to the northeast coast to form a human shield for the Tiger terrorists lasted nearly 34 months from August 2006 till May 2009.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It must be stated that the LTTE did not allow the authorities to carry out a census in the Vanni area controlled by them after 1981.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The highest population figure of 305,000 was that estimated by the Government Agents in the region based on numbers provided by the LTTE for purposes of providing food and other essentials to the residents, which may have been somewhat inflated in order to receive a larger stock for distribution under the direction of the LTTE.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Of this number, 293,800 persons were rescued including 11,000 former LTTE cadres who surrendered at the end of the military operation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is also estimated that about 2,000 had escaped and travelled to India, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia with the intent of being ferried in human smuggling ships to Canada and Australia, with nearly 600 reaching Canada in 2009 and 2010.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ As the Sri Lankan Army alone lost almost 6,600 men in battle, it is reasonable to assume that an equal or higher number of LTTE cadres and combatants would have perished in the armed confrontation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ This leaves roughly 2,600 to be accounted for, many of whom could have been victims of deliberate targeting by Tamil Tigers to prevent civilians from fleeing their control, whilst some unfortunately may have got in the way of cross fire resulting in the loss of life.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We are therefore confounded by the guesstimates of alleged civilian deaths in the latter months of the military action by the UNSGƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Panel on Sri Lanka (which was merely intended to serve as a guideline for the Secretary General as it was initiated solely by the SG without the sanction of the Security Council, General Assembly or the Human Rights Commission), the ICG, HRW, Channel 4 UK, Amnesty, Gordon Weiss former spokesperson of the UN office in Colombo, et al, ranging from 10,000 to 40,000, when none of them had a presence on the ground. They have also come up with various unsubstantiated allegations of war crimes based on third or fourth hand information along with the spin put on by the Tamil interpreter or translator, which Channel 4 has attempted to authenticate with staged and doctored video footage borrowed from the LTTEƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s propaganda arm known as the Tamilnet and other unnamed sources.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The so called forensic experts hired by the UN Special Rapporteurs, Philip Alston and Christof Heyns have since been exposed as being amateurs with no proper credentials who have had a highly questionable track record. Refer: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Channel 4 News & SL War Crimes…ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ http://pcolman.wordpress.com/2011/08/12/channel-4-news-and-sri-lankan-war-crimes/ .ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ UN Officials’ Channel 4 Video Analysis – ‘Forensic Hoax’ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ http://srilankausa.weebly.com/ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ . Furthermore, Sri Lanka declared two 48 hour ceasefires and provided safe corridors for the displaced Tamil civilians to move out to safety, but they were prevented from leaving by the LTTE which turned their guns on them.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Tamil Tigers were also granted an opportunity to surrender, but they fought on hoping to stop the advancing Sri Lanka Army or in the hope that the western powers would intervene and provide them a safe haven overseas to continue their terrorist war on Sri Lanka.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It appears as though the Government of Canada is formulating policies on Sri Lanka based on unsubstantiated allegations and propaganda on the part of the pro-Tamil Tiger diaspora.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It is not difficult to realize that the Tamil Tiger fronts operating in Canada and other western countries that succeeded in extorting millions of dollars from their diaspora for purchase of weapons and funding the terrorist war in Sri Lanka, had any trouble in getting members of their community to come up with a wide range of allegations of rape, torture, murder, etc., which they sound off even at the outset of pre-war media discussions we have had with their representatives in Canada in keeping with their normal strategy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ There are numerous allegations but no credible evidence that could be followed up and action taken against the perpetrators if any?
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka has had the enormous task of caring for the displaced Tamils who were rescued from the Tamil Tigers who were using them as a human shield, rebuilding homes and infrastructure, de-mining over 800 square kilometres of land to enable re-settlement, providing life skills and livelihood projects plus rehabilitating 11000 former LTTE fighters to resume normal lives in a terror free country.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The right to life of the 21 million citizens who were constantly targeted by the Tamil Tigers including the Tamil IDPs was achieved after three decades of terrorist violence that cost the nation nearly 100,000 lives of persons from every ethnic community and an inestimable amount of damage to valuable property.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We call on Canada to rethink her new stance on Sri Lanka where she is attempting to humiliate and pressure a fellow Commonwealth member country which is a sovereign nation just like herself, based on nothing but unsubstantiated allegations brought forward by groups far removed from the ground situation, merely to win some support of the unprincipled pro-Tamil Tiger diaspora in the GTA who may re-align themselves with one of the other political parties.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Canada would not allow others to hold interactive dialogues on the reports published by National Commissions of Inquiry, and hence she cannot expect Sri Lanka which is a sovereign country with a history of two and a half millennia to agree to such external investigation by whomsoever.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Before Canada intervenes in the internal affairs of Sri Lanka, it may be wise to first see what role Canada played in allowing Canadian funds to flow to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam named an international terrorist movement by UN Security Council Resolution number 1373 of September 2001, resulting in the deaths of thousands of citizens of Sri Lanka.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ We trust you would give due consideration to our concerns and act in a manner that befits CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s role as a peace maker and stabilizer for the world community.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Yours sincerely,
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
October 3rd, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Dear mahinda , As you know the politicians all over the world plays for the MAJORITY. And this is what MR Harper is upto and all other power hungry political parties in Canada. Thers is no honesty in this game. Its a shame.
I never thought that this country will go to that such low levels.
October 4th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Harper has been misled to belive that Tamils vote to the LTTE tune. It is over. LTTE controls only a less than 10% of the Tamils. The rest use their brains.
Harper, wake up to the realities.
Sri Lanka did what it had to do to give freedom to 21M of its people.
You also do the right thing, and stop LTTE in Canada!
October 4th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Canada should but out of Sri Lankan affairs. A country on the other side of the world who have no connection to Sri Lanka except for a left over criminal LTTE rump who are now in Toronto. Also their Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is a terrible politician who the Canadians themselves will have to bear whilst he who cannot hold a candle to someone of the stature of President Mahinda Rajapaksha of which Sri Lanka is indeed fortunate to be blessed with.