Meeting With Tamils in Toronto to Report on your Visit to Sri Lanka
Posted on December 9th, 2013

Ira de Silva London, Ontario

Hon. Deepak Obhrai

Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign AffairsHouse of Commons

Ottawa, Ontario
 
Dear Sir:
 
 You have made a statement claiming the Government of Sri Lanka did not provide you with air transport to go to Jaffna. You repeated this at your meeting with the Tamils in Toronto on November 30. It is strange that Mr. J. Kenney on his return from Sri Lanka  “reported back” (his words, not mine) to these same Tamils. Now you are doing the same – your government seems to represent only a small group of Tamils, the very same people that funded terrorism in Sri Lanka. By your actions you demonstrate that, in your view, it is a “core value” of democracy Canadian style to discriminate against the Canadians who are non-LTTE supporters. It also confirms the premise that your government is acting on behalf of and are beholden in some way to this small group of Tamils who supported and still support the LTTE. Do you consider it one of the core values you talk about?
 
During your meeting on November 30 with the Tamils who you hope will vote for your party and on behalf of whom you are criticising Sri Lanka, you repeat the claim that you were not given air transport. Could you confirm when and who made the request? Your Canadian mission in Colombo is silent when asked this question. In the interest of truth and transparency, which incidentally is also a core value, perhaps you could respond. You keep repeating about the value Canada places on these core values of the Commonwealth but are violating them by your questionable statements and actions.  Surely being honest and truthful  is paramount. In the interests of accountability and transparency, which are the catch phrases used by the west in criticising other countries, please provide the details to prove the accuracy of your account. Mr. Cameron was provided air transport because he asked for it. He had access to the ordinary people of Jaffna and his meetings were televised. You had access but chose not to publicise your meetings. Why did you not do as Mr. Cameron did?  Based on Mr. Cameron’s antics you fell far short in your efforts to appease the Tamil diaspora so this looks as if it is but an excuse for your dismal performance. It is a sad situation, but politicians can not be taken at their word and the current scandals regarding members of your party leave room for people to question your motives, statements  as well as your honesty.
 
On November 30, you again stated that you laid the wreath for all innocent victims who have been killed in the conflict. You repeat that it was all Sri Lankans . That was the message in English. I understand that of the three languages on the wreath, English is the only language you know, however if you take responsibility for laying that wreath why was it that you did not take a minute to ask what the messages were in Sinhala and Tamil? You did not acknowledge that the message in Sinhala and Tamil were different. As you were addressing a Tamil only audience why did you not state the message as it was in Tamil i.e., that it was for the minorities who died in the war and not lie about it being for all Sri Lankans?  This again indicates your dishonesty and a poor understanding of the core values you keep trotting out at every turn. Are you not aware that truth is a universal core value?  Your dishonesty has diminished Canada.
 
You state that you went to “Jaffna where a terrible civil war has taken place”.  Your ignorance and superficial knowledge and understanding of what took place in Sri Lanka once again is evident. For your information, it was not a “civil war”. It was a war against a terrorist group. It was not Jaffna where the war took place because the terrorists killed indiscriminately all over the island. Are you not aware that it is the duty of any responsible government to protect it’s citizens? When one person was killed in Canada by those called terrorists, martial law was declared and the army was on the streets. Sri Lanka’s war was a legitimate war against Tamil terrorists in Sri Lanka. Thousands were killed by Tamil terrorists,  not just one person. Unlike Canada, Sri Lankan forces did not go to other countries to fight against so-called terrorists as Canada is currently doing and in the process killing thousands of innocent civilians.  When do you plan to go to these countries and lay wreaths for these innocent civilians killed by Canada?   
 
You refer to Elephant Pas as a “neutral place” which merely emphasises your ignorance and subterfuge. Elephant Pass was the scene of heavy fighting between the LTTE terrorists and the Sri Lankan forces. There were three battles there. The most loss of life was in 2000,  when 758 Sri Lankan soldiers lost their lives and 349 went missing due to an attack by the LTTE.  This and previous “victories” by the LTTE were broadcast and celebrated by those you met in Toronto.  In Tamil it states that you were placing that wreath for the “minorities who died in the war” not all Sri Lankans so the Sinhalese majority is ignored and you are commiserating with the LTTE Tamils. This again illustrates that you discriminate against Sri Lankans who are not Tamil but have the dishonesty to talk of upholding “core values of the Commonwealth”. To keep stating that it is a “neutral place” indicates that you either do not know the meaning of the word neutral, or that you are being deliberately offensive and insulting to the Sinhalese. Do you regard being ignorant and offensive a core value?
 
That your actions and statements regarding Sri Lanka are a sop to your LTTE supporters in Canada is clearly evident. That they are supportive of your efforts on their behalf at the summit in Colombo is evident as they broadcast your interview of November 30 with them on their program Kalaapam on Channel 14.  You promise them that you will continue your campaign against Sri Lanka. I wish you luck in your party’s tussle with the Liberals and NDP for the votes of those who supported the LTTE in the Toronto area. Those Canadians who can see through your lies and dishonesty will have to do their best so that your party will not get elected at the next election.
 
Yours truly,
 
Ira de Silva
London, Ontario

2 Responses to “Meeting With Tamils in Toronto to Report on your Visit to Sri Lanka”

  1. Mr. Bernard Wijeyasingha Says:

    12/9/13

    Hon. Deepak Obhrai

    Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign AffairsHouse of Commons
    Ottawa, Ontario

    Dear Sir:

    Considering that your nation has fought a political war where the French speaking people demanded a separate land in the Canadian province of Quebec and had they achieved it they would have formed a province of 7,744,530 square miles out of 14, 264,580 square miles, leaving Canada with 6,520,050.
    You sir would have been in a worse situation than Sri Lanka since Quebec at over seven million miles would have been more than half the size of your largely protestant English speaking provinces. As in Sri Lanka, language and religion played a key role in the war. Your nation was divided by a French speaking Catholic population who wanted their own administration and here in Sri Lanka we have a Tamil speaking Hindu population with the same aspirations.

    Under this situation you must perfectly understand the divisive forces you are more than willing to engage against Colombo on issues outside of your voting bank, has no value. If it does then I strongly suggest that you first and foremost handle the overdue human rights violations across the world including the human rights violations inherent in the Caste system currently practiced in Canada and in India for over three thousand five hundred years. Secondly that you take the issue that India has been reported to have half the world’s slaves or 14 million slaves in the conventional sense out of 29 million. Currently there is a blood bath taking place in Syria, the Coptic Christians in Egypt are being systematically being exterminated and the Muslims in Bangladesh are being pushed into the ocean. If you will not state it then I will. These are issues that need addressing right now and not for further discussion.

    I sincerely hope that the next time we meet you would have at least given the semblance of civility and have addressed these issues or we will have the same right as you do to bring up the rights of the French speaking Canadians to a right to their own homeland.

  2. Mr. Bernard Wijeyasingha Says:

    correction: …and the Bangladeshi Muslims in Myanmar being pushed into the ocean..

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