Letter sent by Hon. Dan McTeague,
MP, re Opening a Consulate Office in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
SRI LANKA UNITED NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF CANADA
Box 55292, 300 Borough Drive, Toronto, Ontario M1P 4Z7
Canada
Website: www.sluna.org ; E-mail: sluna@idirect.com
By E-mail July 7, 2007
Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, PC, MP
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block, 80 Wellington Street
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0A2
Dear Prime Minister,
Letter sent by Hon. Dan McTeague, MP, re Opening a Consulate Office
in Jaffna, Sri Lanka
We refer to the letter dated June 27, 2007 sent to you by Hon. Dan
McTeague, PC, MP, which has received a great deal of publicity in the
Tamilnet and other websites supporting the banned terrorist group known
as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
In the very first para, Mr. McTeague attempts to show that the Sri
Lankan government continues to marginalize the Tamil population. He
could not be further from the truth, as the Tamils who lived mainly
in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have moved to the capital
city of Colombo and other areas in order to get away from the extortion
and harassment meted out by their self-declared sole representative
and liberator, the LTTE. Today, there are more Tamils residing outside
the north and east, with the Tamil community becoming the second largest
ethnic group in the capital city outnumbering the majority Sinhalese
community as well. Far from marginalizing the Tamils, those wanting
to move to predominantly Sinhalese areas are being freely accommodated,
even though the Sinhalese have been driven out of the predominantly
Tamil northern areas and barred from returning under threat of physical
harm.
Mr. McTeague refers to the recent action taken by the Sri Lankan Police
to remove some 376 Tamils from the north and east staying in low rental
lodges in the capital city without valid reasons, where the LTTE’s
cadres that infiltrated the city took shelter pending orders from the
terror group’s central command to plant claymore mines or unleash
suicide bombers, in order to prevent any such serious incidents that
could cause extensive death and destruction, as a novel approach to
ethnic cleansing. There are said to be over 30,000 such temporary lodgers
from the Tamil community staying in the city without any means of supporting
themselves, some of whom are suspected to be in the pay of the LTTE
to provide safe places for their cadres on terror missions, who pose
a grave security risk to both the defence personnel and civilian population
who are regularly targeted by the LTTE. These temporary lodgers have
to be distinguished from the other Tamil residents of the city with
a permanent interest, who number 117, 510 out of a total population
of 377,396 city dwellers. Despite the security concerns covering the
removal of the 376 temporary lodgers back to their normal places of
residence in the north and east, the country’s Supreme Court ruled
that it was in violation of the fundamental right to freedom of movement
guaranteed to all citizens by the constitution, requiring the authorities
to bring back those who were so removed from the city. Approximately
half of those removed opted to return to Colombo while the rest preferred
to get back to their normal place of residence.
It is apparent that the Member of Parliament for Pickering-Scarborough
East is not aware of the real ethnic cleansing carried out by the Tamil
militants and the LTTE when they drove out the 27,000 Sinhalese residents
of the north between 1971 and 1981, and later evicted 100,000 Muslims
in 1990 giving 24 hours notice allowing them to take only what they
had on their person, who are yet lingering in refugee camps with no
hope of returning. He is also probably not aware of the systematic ethnic
cleansing carried out by the LTTE by the massacre of Sinhalese villagers
and Muslims in the east, killing thousands, in order to drive them from
this region claimed for their mono-ethnic Tamil racist state of “Eelam”.
It is clear from his statement that he is reaching conclusions based
on tales related by Tamil Canadians in his constituency, which is no
doubt part of the massive propaganda campaign carried on by the pro-LTTE
lobby in Canada. Does he also know that the same Tamils who have his
ear are funding the murderous truck bombs, claymore mines and suicide
bombers of the LTTE? Recently, the police were lucky to detect a truck
packed with 1400 kg of explosives at Nikaweratiya , on the outskirts
of Colombo, deceptively hidden beneath the floor boards carrying regular
merchandise. Yet another truck concealing 1007 kg of explosives between
the driver’s compartment and the large freezer filling up the rear
part was detected in Trincomalee before it set off for Colombo with
a load of fish. These trucks were all wired and ready to be blown up
in the densely populated capital city. Several claymore mines too were
discovered in the city in time due to the vigilance of civilians and
police personnel. These two truck bombs carried 5 to 6 times more explosives
than the one that brought down the Central Bank building in January
1996 killing 114 and injuring over 1400 persons, which contained about
400 kg of the 60 tons of explosives paid for by Canadian Tamils who
transferred $7.2 million for the shipment purchased by the LTTE with
forged documents from the Ukraine. The removal of the 376 Tamils from
Colombo should be viewed in the context of the fact that they were being
manipulated by the LTTE, and the serious security risks faced by the
people from an unending series of terrorist acts being perpetrated by
the LTTE.
There is no marginalizing of Tamils, as the government which recently
liberated the Tamil civilians from the clutches of the terrorist LTTE
in the eastern province are busy re-settling them after de-mining operations
and setting in motion a development program to assist them. Mr. McTeague
who wants a Canadian Consulate office opened in the predominantly Tamil
Jaffna, ignoring the other ethnic communities who are also far removed
from the High Commission Office in Colombo, is probably unsure of re-election
after his Liberal Party government failed to act on the advice of Canada’s
intelligence services to proscribe the LTTE under Canada’s Anti-Terrorism
Laws, now wants more Tamil voters to boost his chances and that of his
Liberal colleagues in the GTA area. Mr. McTeague has a responsibility
to rise above his personal ambitions for re-election, and base his comments
after a proper study of the issues at hand.
Yours very truly,
Mahinda Gunasekera
Honorary President
Copy to : Hon. Dan McTeague, PC, MP
“ “ Hon. Peter Mackay, PC, MP, Minister of Foreign Affairs
“ “ Hon. Diane Finlay, PC, MP, Minister of Citizenship &
Immigration
“ “ Hon. Stephane Dion, PC, MP, Leader of the Opposition
“ “ Hon. Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP
“ “ Hon. Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Quebecois
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