Sri Lanka: a response to Kubes Navaratnam
Posted on March 30th, 2012
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario . K1J 6G1 Canada
29 March 2012
The Editor
THE EMBASSY, Ottawa
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Editor
Kubes Navaratnam in his Opinion essay Post-conflict Sri Lanka needs Canadian R2P, seems confused and is unable to see the forest for the trees.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ He says that Sri Lanka has used the notion of sovereignty ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-to shield a state from fulfilling its obligations to its citizens.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
Perhaps he may want to reassess his statement in lieu of the fact that it was Sri LankaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s obligations to its citizens that made them determined to eliminate the most ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorists in the world on 19 May 2009, who had hijacked the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”right-to-lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ of its 22 million peoples during theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 27 year bomb-blasting bloody war, and gave back the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”right-to-lifeƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ to these 22 million peoples..
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was the Sri Lanka governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that made them liberate 300,000 Tamils who were herded as a human shield for 30 hot months from the west coast to the east coast by the Tamil Tigers and shot at them when they tried to escape from their clutches.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was the Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that these 300,000 Tamils were kept healthy by feeding one million meals a day, a hearty breakfast, lunch and a dinner each day until they were sent back to their homes within 30 months after demining the terrain, rehabilitating the infrastructures, rebuilding their war ravaged houses, together with seed money and utensils to renew their lives after a miserable 27-year existence under that Tamil Tigers.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And it was the Sri Lanka governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligationsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ to its citizens that these 300,000 liberated Tamils were well looked afterƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and did not have to live in squalid conditions in welfare camps thus escapedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ outbreaks of cholera andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ malaria.
ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It was the Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that they rehabilitated 8,300 former Tamil Tiger terrorists of the 11,000 who surrendered andƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ were captured.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Having trained them in vocational skills they were sent home with a concessionary loan of 275,000 rupees to help them begin their self-employment projects and reintegrate into society.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ And it was Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that got the 6,000 rescued Tamil Tiger child soldiers back into special schools to renew their education, and 19 of them will be entering University in a few months perhaps to become doctors, engineers and lawyers.
It was the Sri Lanka governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that gave back the democratic rights to the Tamil people in the North and East who used the ballot and not the bullet to elect their councillors at local and provincial elections.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A former Tamil Tiger child soldier was voted in as their Chief Minister in the Eastern Provincial Council and the Tamil Tiger Commander in the East is now a Deputy Minister in the Rajapaksa GovernmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s cabinet.
And it was the Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s sense of obligations to its citizens that they have spent 425 billion rupees for the development of the North and East provinces since the defeat of the Tamil Tigers on 19 May 2009, which had been devastated byƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the 27 year war.
The Canadian government should not confuse the Sri Lankan governmentƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s obligations to its domiciled Tamil peoples living in the north and east of Sri Lanka, who decided to stay back and refused to seek refugee status in the west, especially in Canada, and their obligations to those Tamils who entered the west as refugees and now living in luxury as foreign country citizens.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ To these foreign country Tamil citizens, the obligations of the Sri Lankan government are none.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚
Canada should not join the bleeding hearts of the West, the pretend moral majority of the world when they are killing innocent civilians in scores of thousandsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan while chasing terrorists, and admonish Sri Lanka for doing just that and what is right, by upholding the Rule of Law and exercising their sovereign right to free its citizens from harassment and death from Tamil Tiger terrorists.
With the above facts in place, I am stymied by Kubes NavaratnamƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s assessment that Post-conflict Sri Lanka needs Canadian R2P.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ All what I can say to Kubes Navaratnam is, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-DonƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢t be so silly. The Sri Lankan Tamils in the North and East are doing fine, and have better lives than the Canadian First Nation peoples in remote reservations who may want to move heaven and earth to change places with those 300,000 Tamils who were liberated from the Tamil Tiger clutches in the North and East of Sri LankaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ and now enjoying a somewhat comfortable life.
Asoka Weerasinghe
March 30th, 2012 at 9:52 pm
Canadian natives still talk about the lack of reconciliation.
They never became suicide bombers or none of what Tamils did in order to win their rights.
March 31st, 2012 at 9:03 am
Asoka – Thank you. At least you have taken the trouble and valuable time to reply this letter in Ottawa Embassy.
While we are in debt to S/L Government for the eradication of this terrorist menace, it must also be pointed out the negligence of ignoring the responsibility of combating the LTTE diaspora spread throught the world. After two years of winning the war, we find ourselves in a bigger struggle to combat the LTTE propaganda machinery than perhaps the war itself. These rump organizations spread throught the world have succeeded in “brain washing” the foreign Governments with false information to such an extent, that they have completely forgetton all the attrocities committed by the LTTE and ultimately the Government of Sri Lanka has been depictied as the “accused”. The Government has failed miserably to combat this outside LTTE propaganda machinery.
Fortunately we have some persons like Asoka from abroad, who work hard voluntarily to combat this menace. I hope Sri Lanka Government will recognize these persons and appreciate what they are doing from these foreign countries. Incidentally, we would like to hear the response from the Sri Lanka High Commission in relation to this writing in Ottawa publication.