Sri Lanka: Former Canada’s Prime Minister Brian Mulroney’s comment
Posted on October 22nd, 2013
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
21 October 2013
The Editor (Letters)
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Dear Editor:
Your news item -Don-â„¢t boycott Sri Lanka: Mulroney -” Canada can do more at meeting, former prime minister says-, confirmed one thing to me.‚ That there are sane individuals among the Conservative political community of‚ Canadian Prime Ministers.
Canada sending a down graded delegation to the Commonwealth Summit headed by Deepak Obhrai, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs most definitely has lost the opportunity to engage with Sri Lanka and influence decisions at the Summit, whatever they will be.‚ ‚ Prime Minister Harper got it wrong with his myopic vision thinking that Canada would punish Sri Lanka for eliminating the Tamil Tiger terrorists, to gain support from their Tamils sympathizers in the Greater Toronto Area trying to cash in to their bloc vote at the next federal election.
The former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney was absolutely right when he said, –If you were going to boycott the Commonwealth because of illustrations of improper government of abusive treatment of people within some of the member countries, some days you wouldn-â„¢t have too many people around that Commonwealth table for tea.- ‚ ‚ You bet, with our abysmal record on the treatment of our Aboriginal women, Canada too would not be invited for the Colombo-â„¢s Commonwealth Ceylon Orange Pekoe Tea Party in November. ‚ And I would hazard a guess, that there would only be three people at the table, the Queen-â„¢s representative, the Commonwealth-â„¢s Secretary-General and the host of the Summit as there would be human rights violation skeletons in the cupboards‚ of other Commonwealth‚ nations back home.‚ ‚ That should be amply clear to Prime Minister Harper and his government.
Asoka Weerasinghe‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚
October 22nd, 2013 at 7:10 pm
Very well said Sir
October 23rd, 2013 at 12:15 am
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Leader R. Sampanthan demands Indian BOYCOTT of CHOGM at Tamil Nadu wants! Clearly … he does not think and act as a loyal Sri Lankan citizen but an AVOWED ENEMY of Sri Lanka!
What MORE TREASON does the TA have to commit before the GOSL REVOKES the 13th Amendment and DISSOLVES the Provincial Council System? What are we WAITING for?
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Indian government should listen to Tamil Nadu leaders, Sri Lanka Tamil party leader says
ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Oct 22, Colombo: The Central Indian government should listen to the sentiments of Tamil Nadu political leaders over India’s participation in the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Sri Lanka next month, the leader of Sri Lanka’s major Tamil party has said.
Many Tamil Nadu political parties and even Tamil leaders in the Congress have urged the Indian Prime Minister to boycott the Commonwealth meeting in Colombo.
Speaking to the reporters in Chennai, following a meeting with India’s Bharatiya Janatha Party leaders, leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan has said that he doesn’t think the participation of Indian leaders in the summit would help the Tamil cause despite his party’s divided opinion on the issue.
The newly elected Chief Minister of Northern Provincial Council, C. V. Vigneswaran in an exclusive interview to Times of India has said that the Indian leaders should attend the CHOGM to express their concerns over the Tamil cause and other issue.
“We must have the courage of conviction to tell the Sri Lankan government that it has done this and this and what does it got to say… It is better you say it at the CHOGM rather than keep away,” Times of India quoted the Chief Minister.
However Sampanthan has disagreed with Vigneswaran’s view saying that they might be thinking that the participation of the leaders from India would help the cause of the Tamils but he doesn’t consider that it is the wide opinion.
Sampanthan was in Chennai to hold discussions with the BJP leaders to seek their support on the implementation of 13th Amendment to the Constitution to for power devolution.
“India’s intervention is very much needed for a permanent solution to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. India should help for resettlement of Tamils,” he has said.
The TNA leader, alleging that the India-sponsored rehabilitation projects had not been properly implemented in Sri Lanka, has requested the leaders of various Tamil parties in the state to work together to help the Sri Lankan Tamils.
He has said that Vigneswaran and other TNA leaders would meet the leaders of various parties, especially those in Tamil Nadu, to get their support.