KAMALIKA PIERIS

The Tamil Separatist Movement appears to have started its   Genocide charge in 2014. 28 Members of the Northern Provincial Council and 5 members of the Eastern Provincial Council sent a joint letter on 17^th August 2014, to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay.

The letter said, The Tamil people strongly believe that they have been, and continue to be subject to Genocide by Sri Lanka. The Tamils were massacred in groups, their temples and churches were bombed, and their iconic Jaffna Public library was burnt down in 1981 with its collection of largest and oldest priceless irreplaceable Tamil manuscripts. Systematic Sinhalese settlements and demographic changes with the intent to destroy the Tamil Nation are taking place. We request the OHCHR investigative team to look into the pattern of all the atrocities against the Tamil people and to determine if Genocide has taken place”.

P. G. Ravindra Nirosha of Nugegoda wrote to the Court of Appeal saying that the IGP and the Attorney General has failed to enforce provisions of the Penal Code against the 28 members of the Northern Provincial Council and five members of the Eastern Provincial Council who had written to the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights, that the Sinhalese are committing genocide against the Tamils and that Sinhalese settlements are being set up in Tamil areas.

The petitioner had requested the Court of Appeal to issue a mandatory order on the IGP and the Attorney General, to take action under Provision 120 of the Penal Code. The respondents included IGP, Attorney General, K.  Shivajilingam, a member of the Northern Provincial Council and 32 others.

 The public of Sri Lanka must be thankful to Ravindra Nirosh for coming forward in this manner, said Shenali Waduge. TNA and LTTE propaganda machine have escaped the law till now. Ravindra Nirosha has issued a Writ of Mandamus against authorities demanding that they take action using Section 120 of the Penal Code.

In February 2015, Northern Provincial Council unanimously passed a resolution saying that there has been continuous genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka since 1948, and that the UN must investigate and submit a report at the next session of the UN Human Rights Council and refer its findings to the International Criminal Court for further action. The Resolution was tabled by Chief Minister Justice CV Wigneswaran, and adopted by the Council unanimously.

This is a lengthy Resolution of 5241 words. It is a rambling, sometimes nonsensical statement, more like a lament than a Resolution. It is based on material from Human Rights Watch. One source cited is the film maker Callum MacRae. This Resolution has examined the five activities that qualify as Genocide and have made claims for three of them.  Excerpts from the Resolution are given in Appendix 1.

In 2016, ‘Tamils for Obama’ and ‘American Tamil Forum’ two major Tamil Diaspora groups, in the USA, alleged that around 70,000 Tamils were killed in the six months of 2009 and that this could amount to Genocide.  

In 2019 a Private Member’s Bill (Bill no104) titled An Act to Proclaim Tamil Genocide Education Week was placed before Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada   by Vijay Thanigasalam, MP for Scarborough-Rouge Park. Vijay Thanigasalam is a LTTE supporter.  The move had been facilitated by the Committee on Regulations and Private Bills coming under the purview of Logan Kanapathi also of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. The Bill claimed that 146,679 were killed in the final days of the Eelam War that civilians were starved and Tamil children were forcibly taken away from their homes.

The progress of this Bill was closely watched by the anti-Eelamists in Canada. . Several Sri Lankan organizations strongly opposed the Bill. Submissions were made in writing to the Standing Committee on regulations and Private Bills. 

The Bill stalled at the second reading, Chandre Dharmawardene said. Only 59 supported it. 66 either refrained from voting or said ‘No.’ The Bill was then referred back to the relevant committee for want of required support.  In the meantime anti-Sri Lanka resolutions were passed in Brampton, Pickering and Toronto Municipal Councils, though the matter was outside local politics.

On May 6, 2021   Ontario Legislative Assembly, Canada, voted in favor of the Bill. It was carried through without a vote taking advantage of the Covid-19 pandemic which had restricted the participation of the majority of members. Vijay Thanigasalam declared the passage of the Bill ‘a historic event for Tamil people in Ontario and across the world.  Ontario is the first government worldwide to pass such a law.

The newly passed Tamil Genocide Education Week Act establishes a week each year, May 11 to 18, during which Ontarians are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history. However, the Bill would not become law until Ontario Lieutenant Governor General gave her consent on behalf of the Canadian Government.

Analysts saw this Ontario move as very   significant. This Bill is an attempt to legitimize the claim that a Tamil Genocide happened in Sri Lanka. Such projects intended to legitimize war crimes accusations, should be nipped in the bud they said.

It would be a serious mistake, on Sri Lanka’s part, to consider the genocide rap as a project of the Ontario Legislative Assembly instead of a Canadian move. The Canadian move is severely inimical to Sri Lanka. The Ontario project would further strengthen the Geneva-led campaign meant to weaken Sri Lanka, said Shamindra Ferdinando. The Geneva onslaught will take a new turn with this Genocide charge.

Sri Lanka acted promptly. The Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa protested. Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena   conveyed Sri Lanka’s deep concern over the adoption of Private Member Bill 104 on ‘Tamil Genocide Education Week’ by the Ontario Legislative Assembly on 06 May 2021 to Canadian High Commissioner David McKinnon.

Anti Eelamists in Canada also responded. Dr. Neville Hewage[1]    went to Supreme Court against the Act. He said that Ontario Legislative Assembly did not have the jurisdiction to pass Bill 104 and the facts presented in Bill 104 were completely false.

Mahinda Gunasekera sent an open letter to^. Prime Minister, Ministers, Premier of Ontario, Members of the Federal Parliament/ Ontario Legislature and GTA Mayors on the matter [2]He pointed out that Eelam war IV was a civil war not a genocidal one and its was initiated by the LTTE not the government, that the UN has not declared the Eelam war to be genocidal and that Ontario Provincial Legislature does not have the authority to determine Genocide

The Ontario Centre for Policy Research organized a webinar on LTTE Terrorism and Alleged Tamil Genocide in June 2020 to discuss the Ontario Bill. The panel consisted of Neville Hewage, Sarath Chandrasekera and Chandre Dharmawardana.

On June 3 2021, those who opposed Eelam issued a joint statement. We are pleased to announce that the following Sri Lankan-Canadian organizations have joined as a united front to fight a Superior court case against the Ontario law on Tamil Genocide Education Week. Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) Canadian Sri Lankan Center for Social Harmony (CSLCSH) Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA) Sri Lanka Canada Association of Brampton (SLCAB). A 12-member steering committee will address aspects of the proceedings and fundraising campaigns, we hope to draw attention to the misinformation contained in the Act, and see that Tamil Genocide Education Week Act is repealed, they said.

 Canada has this image internationally of a great defender of human rights violations, the protector of human rights throughout the world, but in its own backyard it has ’ violated the rights of   the indigenous inhabitants, said critics. Canada’s ugly record of Genocide is described in Appendix. 2

Appendix 1.

The Resolution said that Sri Lanka’s genocide against Tamils began with the island’s independence. This Council is of opinion that during the period extending from 1948, successive Sri Lankan governments have perpetrated genocide against Tamils. Extensive evidence demonstrates that acts have been committed that constitute four of the five enumerated genocidal acts in the Genocide Convention:

A series of anti-Tamil pogroms, fueled in part by fabricated rumors about Tamil violence against Sinhalese, began with the passage of the Sinhala Only Act, or the Official Language Act, in 1956 In Gal Oya, from June 11–16, Sinhalese mobs, who were galvanized by false rumors about Tamil-initiated violence, killed around 150 Tamils, injured about 100 more, and destroyed many Tamil-owned properties

 \In May 1958, Buddhist monks and other Sinhala nationalists organized anti-Tamil pogroms throughout Sri Lanka from May 22–27 estimates indicate that 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 200 women were raped

.From August 12–20, 1977, Tamils were attacked on the train from Jaffna to Colombo, through the country from Anuradhapura to Colombo, and in the Hill Country. About 300 Tamils were killed, over 1,000 were injured, and 25,000 were displaced.

The most horrific anti-Tamil pogroms, known as Black July,” occurred July 23–30, 1983, and involved state-sponsored Sinhalese mobs attacking Tamils and destroying their properties across the country, beginning in Colombo.. Over 3,000 Tamils were killed, 500 women were raped, 8,000 homes and 5,000 businesses were destroyed, and about 500,000 Tamils fled the country.

The Vanni genocide of 2008-09 had previously been rehearsed in the Eastern Province. On 28 August 2006, the Sri Lankan military began a multi-pronged offensive against the LTTE- administered region stretching from Sampoor to Vaharai. According to UN estimates, 60–100,000 Tamil civilians were killed over the course of the 27-year-long war.

The Sri Lankan government intentionally corralled Tamils into the so-called No Fire Zones in 2009, in a calculated and deliberate attempt to destroy as many Tamils as possible. .

At the end of January 2009, government forces were killing approximately thirty-three Tamil people each day, with these casualties increasing to 116 people per day by April 2009. According to the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka, this toll surged, with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19, 2009.”

 In a submission to the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission, the Bishop of the Mannar Catholic Diocese, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, stated that according to the Government Secretariats, the population in the Vanni region in early October 2008 was 429,059. However, only 282,380 people emerged from the Vanni into government-controlled areas, according to UN OCHA 2009 statistics. Thus, over 146,679 people in the Vanni are not accounted for after the 2009 atrocities.

The obligation to prevent and punish genocide under the Genocide Convention is not a matter of political choice or calculation, but one of binding customary international law. This Council urges OCHRC to comprehensively investigate and report on the charge of genocide in its submission to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2015.

 The UN Security Council should refer the situation in Sri Lanka to the International Criminal Court for prosecutions based on war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Alternatively or concurrently, domestic courts in countries that may exercise universal jurisdiction over the alleged events and perpetrators, including but not limited to the United States, should prosecute these crimes.

The case of genocide in Sri Lanka is unique among genocides in history because it occurred over several decades and under different governments before intensifying into a no- holds-barred war for nearly three decades and culminating in the mass atrocities of 2009.

It is accordingly vital that Sri Lanka’s historic violations against Tamils, in addition to the 2009 attacks, are addressed through an international mechanism in order to combat Sri Lanka’s institutionalized impunity.

This international intervention, coupled with action to promote the respect of human rights, is necessary to ensure a sustainable future for self-determination, peace, and justice, in Sri Lanka and for the Tamil people.  (End of Resolution.)

Appendix 2.

Canada has its own ugly record of Genocide. Canada destroyed the indigenous people of Canada. There was forced sterilization. Canada created a special school system for the indigenous children, the Resident or Industrial School system run by the Federal Government and the Church. Residential Schools were part of a policy to eliminate Aboriginal people as distinct peoples and to assimilate them into the Canadian mainstream against their will.”

This school system removed children from parents, who were not permitted to visit their children. They in fact never saw their children again. The result was children, who lacked family love, and parental guidance.

Over 70% of children were tortured, sexually abused by school teachers, priests, and nuns. When they left school after 10 years, their level of knowledge and education was at the level of a Grade 2 child. They did not receive higher education or skills. They often resorted to larceny, drug and alcohol addiction, ending up as urban poor.

Five generations of children went through this school system. Between 1890-1970 over 100,000 children were forced to attend 139 resident schools. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015 released its final report, documenting the tragic experience of at least 150,000 residential school students.

Canada’s genocide was camouflaged as state policy and it was carried out with state patronage and blessings.  In 2008 Prime Minister of Canada, Steven Harper, apologized to the indigenous people. (Continued)

---