The post We challenge Canada & Ontario to produce evidence of “genocide” in Sri Lanka appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
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BY SHENALI WADUGE · 21ST JANUARY 2023
We challenge anyone & any country accusing Sri Lanka of “genocide” to place their facts first.
These facts should give a good background knowledge of what LTTE is & what LTTE did to not only Sinhalese, Muslims, foreigners but also Tamils.
- LTTE emerged not after the July 1983 riots but in 1972 as TNT and thereafter in 1976 as LTTE.
- LTTE only hijacked the separatist objective from separatist Tamil political leaders to justify their militancy & used 83riots as a smokescreen to create an “ethnic” label to a separatist quest.
- LTTE is an international proscribed terrorist organization banned by 32 nations & continues to be banned even after LTTE ground force was militarily eliminated in May 2009.
- LTTE killing began in the 1970s killing initially Tamils – first the Mayor of Jaffna, then Tamil policemen on duty & thereafter Sinhalese soldiers on duty.
- LTTE killed Sinhalese, Muslims, Tamils even foreigners (an entire British family was killed when LTTE bombed a Sri Lankan plane) & killed even on foreign soil
- LTTE was banned by Sri Lanka in 1978, in 1998 and thereafter since 2006.
- Sri Lanka’s military offensive was against Terrorists not Tamil civilians – any Tamil civilian engaged in hostilities either by force or volunteering for LTTE loses his/her status as a civilian. Any deaths arising as a result of cannot claim to be civilian. The laws of war is clear about this.
- Sri Lanka does not need to reconcile with terrorists – Sri Lankan Army are not Sinhalese though LTTE were all Tamils but All Tamils are not LTTE. Only pro-LTTE Tamils seek a separate state not non-LTTE/TNA Tamils. LTTE were supported by non-Tamils that include Sinhalese, Muslims, foreigners, NGOs, Civil Society, diplomats, UN officials & even the Church.
- There have been countless ceasefires, 5 failed peace talks, negotiations in Sri Lanka & overseas but LTTE killings, assassinations, bombings, suicide missions did not stop & only in 2006 that Sri Lanka decided to militarily defeat LTTE. The infamous Norway brokered ceasefire saw over 3000 violations by LTTE that went on paper only.
- NO UN – NO WESTERN GOVT – NO FOREIGN ENVOY – NO HR GROUPS came forward to STOP LTTE throughout 30 years of LTTE terrorattacking villages, killing villagers, chasing them from their homes, shooting unarmed civilians worshipping, cutting pregnant mothers & babies, planting bombs on roads, trains & buses. But now these entities are screaming ‘accountability’
- So-called International Community DID NOT STOP LTTE kidnapping Tamil children turning them into child soldiers inspite of compiling reports/statistics about them
- So-called international community knew about LTTE illegal networks run by Tamils living on their soil and operating from their countriesmanipulating their systems and even duping their citizens (credit card scams, illegal human smuggling, illegal arms trade, money-laundering, hawala system) etc but did very little to stop them.
- UN/Western Govts continue to do nothing against the woman (Adele Balasingham) who not only trained Tamil children to killbut instructed them to bite cyanide capsule & commit suicide.
- Decision to defeat LTTE militarily came after enduring 30 years of terror & over 300 suicide attacks & failure of 5 peace talks, negotiations, ceasefires.
- Sri Lanka would not have endured LTTE terror, had India allowed the capture of Prabakaran in May 1987 when cornered in Vadamarachchi. India not only threatened action against Sri Lanka but whisked Prabakaran & family to Delhi in helicopters. There would have been no war in Sri Lanka after 1987 had India not given a lease to Prabakaran to continue his terror.
What prompted the decision to militarily defeat LTTE?
- In 2006 LTTE made its biggest blunder by closing the Mavil Aru anicut committing a war crime by denying water to farmers. The military was called into open the sluice gates, LTTE attacked, the armed forces retaliated, LTTE attacked villages & military was called to action resulting in the liberation of East Sri Lanka in July 2007 & liberation of North from LTTE in May 2009.
Opportunity was given by the GOSL to foreign govts / diplomats/ NGO heads via Consultative Committee meetings held twice weekly enabling them to put their issues and questions on the table.
From the Govt side the invitees were briefed on the food, medicines sent to the conflict areas – if there were any shortcomings the invitees should have posed the questions at these meetings.
Why are they posing questions years after the war ended?
Here’s some questions for Canada to answer.
First it is important to picture the groups inside the conflict zone.
- The Sri Lankan Armed Forces – carried arms & ammunition
- The LTTE in LTTE uniform (men / women & child soldiers) – carried arms & ammunition
- The LTTE in civilian clothing (men / women & child soldiers) – some carried arms & ammunition
- Civilian Men (adults & elderly) – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
- Civilian Women (adults & elderly) – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
- Male Children below 10 years – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
- Female Children below 10 years – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
- Male Children 11 to 18 years – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
- Female Children 11 to 18 years – some carried arms & ammunition (by force/voluntarily)
Therefore, if everyone had some form of arms & ammunition we cannot be certain who shot whom & who died as a result of whose shooting.
This was an armed conflict. There are casualties on both sides. It is against armed warfare to subject civilians to risks. It was LTTE that took Tamils to be used as human shields & hostages. Had LTTE not taken Tamil civilians the armed conflict would have been between LTTE & Sri Lanka’s Armed Forces. It was LTTE that put civilians in harms way. LTTE must be accountable for subjecting civilians to risks by keeping their armour amongst civilians & shooting from amongst civilians. In an armed warfare, it is the right of the other party to fire back. LTTE cannot fire keep civilians among them.
When even the UN Secretary General, diplomats also requested LTTE not to shoot at Tamil civilians, it is clear that LTTE were shooting at civilians who were trying to flee LTTE.
If LTTE was their hero, would civilians wish to flee LTTE?
LTTE shot Tamils attempting to flee to prevent them leaving LTTE as that would have reduced the people LTTE had to use as hostages & human shields.
Let’s figure out
- How many Tamil civilians tried to flee LTTE
- How many LTTE combatants also tried to flee & got shot by LTTE (injured LTTE put inside buses and blown up by LTTE)
- How many succeeded to flee LTTE
- How many failed to flee LTTE & got shot dead or injured for doing so?
- How many LTTE in uniform died during the final phase of Sri Lanka’s conflict?
- How many LTTE in civilian clothing died during the final phase?
- How many Tamil civilians in civilian clothing took part in hostilities & died?
- How many Tamil civilians in civilian clothing without taking part in hostilities died from LTTE firing?
- How many Tamil civilians in civilian clothing without taking part in hostilities died from Sri Lanka Army firing?
Without knowing these details – UN/UNHRC CANNOT make any allegations against Sri Lanka.
People came to the Sri Lankan Forces not fled from them.
People fled LTTE & they faced LTTE fire. There are plenty of witness accounts to prove this.
Can those making allegations, please quote the numbers!
If they can quote the dead, they should be able to quote the number of people who tried & failed to flee & got shot dead.
How many Tamils did LTTE kill?
Those that came to the armed forces were taken to the camps set up to feed and shelter them. It was also inside one of these camps that a LTTE posing as a civilian blew herself up killing 20 soldiers include 3 female soldiers & 8 civilians while injuring over 40 civilian refugees.
It is also to be noted that close to 12,000 LTTE terrorists surrendered in civilian clothing to the Armed Forces including 584 child soldiers. All were put through rehabilitation. The child soldiers were given a presidential pardon, returned to school, given vocational training & the armed forces even arranged marriage ceremonies for the LTTErs who had fallen in love.
While no one is able to give figures as to how many Tamil civilians or LTTE terrorists, LTTE killed – all these deaths are being conveniently credited to the Sri Lanka Armed Forces.
Sri Lanka Armed Forces are a professional army. They have followed the laws of war but during the height of hostilities no one can expect them to be flipping through law books when the enemy is dressed in civilian clothing, holding a gun and about to fire. Do people want the soldier to be a sitting duck to an enemy that doesn’t care too hoots about the laws of war & but happy to seek refuge as there are bunches of people unfairly placing soldiers on part with terrorists. LTTE are armed non-state actors.
They were given several chances to lay down arms & surrender. They refused & accepted their fate. No one can be shedding crocodile tears for a terrorist movement & demanding restorative justice to terrorists & retributive justice for a national army that was called in to protect the citizens of a nation.
If Canada or Ontario or anyone else is alleging war crimes or even genocide, there has to be dead people, the dead people must have names & addresses, there has to be relations, they must have some form of ID to verify if they were even born. Those that claim anyone is missing or dead should have filed complaint with the local police – where are these complaints, they also had chances to file names with the UNHRC investigation (OISL) – where are these 40,000 names? Then there was the Sri Lanka Missing Persons Commission – that list had only 20,000 names of which 5000 were soldiers and majority of missing were before the final phase of the conflict.
Canada recently banned 4 persons – 2 former Presidents and 2 soldiers. One soldier was not involved in the final phase of the conflict which leaves just 1 soldier accused of committing war crimes.
Canada by now should be wondering how the hell can 1 soldier kill 40,000 while both sides were fighting it out in a small strip of land near a lagoon. Just visualize the scene & see if it is even possible.
Next imagine 40,000 or even 200,000 dead bodies – how the hell can the armed forces dig mass burial sites bury these people while rescuing some 300,000 Tamils? Even the US satellite images captured only 3 graves 2 of which were LTTE grave sites.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon & a foreign contingent arrived 3 days after the conflict ended & flew over the conflict zone – surely, he & others would have seen freshly dug graves & 3 days cannot produce skeletons, so there should have been visible corpses. Where were these supposed to be dead bodies?
Canada & Ontario if they have a semblance of common sense must realize that without dead bodies or even skeletons, no one leave alone a national army can be accused of war crimes or genocide.
By all means, commemorate a bogus genocide – no one can stop Canada from doing so, but eventually Canada will become a laughing stock in history and the history books will eventually declare that there was never 40,000 dead or killed, if there were by now we would know the names of at least 500 dead. We have been challenging all those who drum the genocide charges to come out with the list of names & details – but they are all mum & prefer to simply drum genocide and commemorate dead LTTE claiming these dead terrorists to be civilians.
There is certainly something amiss in the manner Sri Lanka is being hounded. The UNHRC resolutions themselves are legally questionable – from an initial resolution that congratulated Sri Lanka for defeating terrorists on 27 May 2009, since 2012 Sri Lanka has been facing successive resolutions based on a personally commissioned report that was never tabled in the UNHRC/UNSC or UNGA. UNHRC has failed to follow due process and there are many procedural lapses at play creating legally questionable precedents.
It is curious why the 6 reports of international terrorist experts who took up the UNHRC/OISL allegations & negated them by concluding that the Sri Lanka Armed Forces did not commit war crimes is being intentionally ignored.
No country can be accused of genocide without dead bodies, without skeletons, without names of the dead or even proof that they were even born! It is preposterous to be drumming war crimes or genocide allegations without these fundamental facts. If people had phones & were taking videos – why didn’t they video soldiers digging graves & dumping dead people inside?
Sri Lanka Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission Report
LTTE dead = 22,247
LTTE dead identified with names = 11,812
LTTE dead without names = 10,435 (why did families not identify them)
This LTTE dead are not Civilian dead
This LTTE dead cannot be used by Canada/NGOs/LTTE Diaspora or quoted by UN/UNHRC.
If Canada, US, UK, EU, LTTE Diaspora are making wild allegations, they must back it up with evidence & ensure that the dead they present are not LTTE.
We would like to know if Canada’s leaders want to commemorate LTTE Terrorist dead and why?
Canadas Truth & Reconciliation Commission was advised not to use “genocide” inspite of incriminating evidence against Canada of committing colonial & cultural genocide against Native Indians. In 2016 the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal accused Canada of racially discriminating 163,000 indigenous children. In 2019 Canada was declared guilty by the Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing & Murdered Indigenous women & girls. The Commission accused Canada of ONGOING genocide too. Before accusing other countries – Canada best get its house in order first & deal with the real genocide, Canada is accused of.
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]]>The post The Ontario Government is repeating it’s history of using scare tactics to bullying a minority group using it’s financial strength, when citizens attempts to question its “Tamil Genocide Education Week Act aka Bill 104” appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
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The Ministry of the Attorney General (MAG) is responsible for providing a fair and accessible justice system that reflects the needs of the diverse communities it serves across government and the province. It strives to manage the justice system in an equitable, affordable and accessible way throughout the province. While our legal team was busy preparing the submission of the factum for the appeal to the Superior Court verdict on TGEWA, MAG dropped a bombshell; going back on it’s claim of “not asking for costs in public interest cases”. It threatens to ask for cost if the appeal is not withdrawn.
According to the attached letter, the MAG is calling the threatening letter a “SETTLEMENT”!
Whether the MAG is in fact acting to ensure a justice system that is equitable and affordable to diverse communities, or whether it acts errantly to protect the interests of the Ontario legislature can be judged from the actions of the MAG in a case affecting two minority communities living in Ontario.
Two main immigrant groups originating from Sri Lanka are resident in Ontario. They are the Sinhalese Canadians and the Tamil Canadians, the latter being approximately three times larger than the smaller Sinhalese community. Tamil Canadians are well known to have deep pockets and a powerful political lobby both at the provincial level and at the federal level. Both group, Sinhalese and Sri Lankan Tamil, have immigrated to Canada mostly during the last four decades when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), deemed a Terrorist group by Canada, fought a war against the Sri Lankan government. LTTE used suicide bombers and child soldiers to kill thousands of innocent civilians and terrorized the island nation for 30 years. The LTTE hoped to carve out an independent state to be known as Tamil Eelam. The LTTE was militarily defeated and its leaders were killed on 18th May 2009 during the last phase of this war. Many carried blood money to countries like Canada, Nederlands, Malaysia and Germany. The UN Human Rights commissioner, as well as the main political parties of the Tamils have ruled that no genocide was committed by the Sri Lankan government, according to the currently available data. An investigation by the UK House of Lords, led by Lord Naseby also reached the same conclusion. But the TGEWA has legalised that the Sinhalese Buddhists (centric government) as COMMITTED A GENOCIDE. Without ever hearing both sides of the story or even expert investigations before enacting the law!
Nevertheless, the Ontario legislature passed a “Tamil Genocide Education Week Act” (TGEWA) implying that a genocide has occurred, ignoring the opposition of the Sinhalese Canadians who found themselves “tar brushed” as perpetrators of a genocide. In Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition & Sri Lanka Canada Association of Brampton, and members of Ontario’s Sinhalese diaspora brought applications seeking a declaration that the Tamil Genocide Education Week Act (Bill 104) is unconstitutional. In particular, the applicants argued that since no Tamil genocide has been recognized under international criminal law standards, Bill 104 was ultra vires and breached their rights under ss. 2(b) and 15 of the Charter. In its decision, the Superior Court dismissed the applications and found that Bill 104 was not ultra vires and did not violate the applicants’ rights under ss. 2(b) and 15 mainly because the politican’s made statements in the court.
The Sri Lankan groups that mounted the challenge, being dissatisfied with the court’s ruling that a claim or a finding of genocide perpetrated by a government or a state “does not tar individuals who may be members of the same nationality, ethnicity, or religious affiliation as those people who dominate the government or state in question”, have sought to appeal the decision. The Appeals Court has three judges who will hear the case.
Given the MAG’s mandate to provide a justice system which is equitable and affordable to diverse communities, a very reprehensible move has been made by the MGM in attempting to suppress the capacity of these dissatisfied litigants to seek remedy is seen in a letter sent to them by the Attorney General (AG), dated 3rd November 2022.
By invoking the “Rule 49”, the AG proposes the dissatisfied groups to renounce their right to appeal, or face the imposition of having to bear the legal cost of the appeal, over-riding a waiver by stating that “Despite Ontario’s waiver of costs set out in para. B. 1 above, if this offer is accepted by the Coalition after December 16, 2022, the Coalition shall pay to Ontario its reasonable costs of the Coalition’s appeal on a partial indemnity basis incurred from December 17, 2022, until the date of acceptance of this offer”.
While the MGM specifically stated that it seeks no costs at the first hearing, it is changing now and seeking costs at the appeals stage.
It is no secret that even the legal challenge to the TGEWA act has so far immensely taxed the Sri Lankan community. The ruling has deepened its sense of being politically ostracized by the vote-hungry politicians who have rushed to talk of a make believe genocide in Sri Lanka, while no such discussion in regard to what happened to Canada’s own indigenous communities have taken place, whereas that should have been given priority. The AGM and the justice department are seen not only as rubber stampers who are afraid to rock the boat, but are actively seeking to keep the legislators happy, while sacrificing fair-play, justice, and the mandate to provide justice in an equitable, affordable and accessible way throughout the province. This is a very serious threat since no one knows how much the legal cost would be.
While requesting costs by the MGM and granting costs are two different legal activities, we are hoping that justice will be served for the public interest case brought forward by the two Organisations representing many community members.
We will be continuing our fight!
Please continue to support our funding efforts to continue the fight legally. Here is the link to the Notice of Appeal:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_4QSDZM011dJsud03ySnJ-t48HxXddk6?usp=sharing
Here is our funding options:
1. eTransfer email (Auto deposit enabled):
eTransfer@srilankancanadian.ca
2. GoFundMe Link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-for-fighting-against-bill-104
3. Paypal (one time or monthly donations):
https://tinyurl.com/28ndshwy
4. Cheque:
Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Inc
Suite 401, 900 Greenbank Road, Nepean, Ontario,K2J 4P6,Canada
Thank you!
Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition
Sri Lanka Canada Association of Brampton
The post The Ontario Government is repeating it’s history of using scare tactics to bullying a minority group using it’s financial strength, when citizens attempts to question its “Tamil Genocide Education Week Act aka Bill 104” appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The post Urgent Lessons for Sri Lanka – 2022 appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>THE ISLAND
By CHANDRA FERNANDO
Educational Consultant, USA
The last few months of this year have been a time of great anxiety and much hardship for the people of Sri Lanka. No matter on which side of the political divide one stands, common problems converge into a cloud of nervousness, unease and uncertainty. Sri Lankans have not had this sort of apprehension and discontent in their lives for centuries. They find themselves at a loss for answers.
After the pandemic, the financial disaster faced by the country has been an enormous burden, and is ultimately the Gordian Knot, which nobody seems to know how to entangle. Perhaps, it is time for everyone to take measures, even small ones, to provide the population with new incentives to handle the gargantuan task of finding relief from these insurmountable difficulties.
It is obvious that things must change in Sri Lanka. Citizens need to take some responsibility for changing some habits formed during colonial periods. They need to modernise ways of doing things to reflect the times in which we live. Everyone should bear responsibility for the maintenance and preservation of national and international norms and the cultural heritage of Sri Lanka. We need to start with some basic changes in behavior.
Transportation-the eye
of the storm
Fuel shortage seems to have brought the country to a standstill. This dependency on fossil fuel must be addressed by all consumers of vehicles used in their daily life. According to statistics, the number of cars in the country rose from 672,502 in 2015 to 875,864 in 2019. Perhaps, this is an area that needs attention. How do we use fewer cars? Is it possible to use carpools for office and school transportation? Is it possible to use bicycles for short distance travel? What about walking? Many countries in Europe have adopted these measures. In places like The Netherlands, children ride bicycles to school. This activity improves the social interaction of children and their physical well-being. Speaking of schools, it is a nightmare to travel in Colombo during school hours. This is worse during the morning rush, lunchtime, and dismissal time.
Organisational Structure
The structure of both the public and private organisations needs some revision. Some of them may be top-heavy. With the use of technology, companies in many countries have been able to streamline their operations. The peon to make afternoon tea is no longer necessary. Every CEO can do his own writing and make use of the skills of word, excel, powerpoint and other technical means that could make him independent. Traveling expenses could be reduced, and time could be better utilised through online communications such as Zoom. These are some things to consider in order to make businesses more effective. Government departments may be the first places to make these changes.
Role of Women
I firmly believe women have an important role to play in the life of a nation. The lack of women parliamentarians, in a country that produced the first lady prime minister, is an embarrassment to Sri Lanka. It is an indignity to those thousands of educated, talented, skillful and brilliant women who work hard to make a difference in the life of Sri Lankans each day. The role of women is a major change that must be undertaken seriously in Sri Lanka. Although Sri Lanka has a gender ratio of around 51%, the elected number of women in Parliament is very low and those in decision making positions remain at only about 5%.
Education
Children are the future of any nation. In recent months, Sri Lankan children have been badly affected by the pandemic, civil unrest and lack of resources and teachers. Their young minds have had to deal with a plethora of opinions, an overabundance of political unrest and a deluge of views through social media. It must be stated that children’s mental health must be protected, just as much as their physical well-being. For the first time UNICEF has declared children in Sri Lanka as being malnourished.
George Laryea-Adjei, UNICEF Regional Director for South Asia, made the following observation after visiting Sri Lanka in August 2022:
“Sri Lanka, a country normally known for its rapid economic growth and booming tourism, is experiencing its worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Families are skipping regular meals as staple foods become unaffordable. Children are going to bed hungry, unsure of where their next meal will come from – in a country which already had South Asia’s second highest rate of severe acute malnutrition.
“Almost half of children in Sri Lanka already require some form of emergency assistance. The education of 4.8 million children, already severely hampered by two years of interrupted learning, is at risk, as school attendance continues to be jeopardized. Children’s education is being hindered by the current crisis in many ways—children no longer get the warm and nutritious meal that they used to have before the crisis, they lack basic stationery, and their teachers struggle with transportation.”
This is the ultimate tragedy. Sri Lankans must wake up and take care of the children. The need for medicine, food and education must be on top of the list of all essential requirements. People need to make sacrifices for the sake of children. All politicians, educators, religious leaders, and ordinary citizens should unite to save the children.
Nourishing the body of a child is not nearly enough. Mental, emotional and social nourishment are equally important. During this time of a great upheaval in Sri Lanka, we need to stress the importance of educating the young with a focus on reforming the educational process. In addition to academic work, young people need to learn the value of kindness, empathy, and peaceful co-existence. They need to be stewards of the environment.
Dr. Maria Montessori, the quintessential educator once remarked, “….it follows that, if we wish to alter the habits and customs of a country, or if we wish to accentuate more vigorously the characteristics of a people, we must take as our instrument, the child, for very little can be done in this direction by acting upon adults. To change a generation or nation, to influence it towards good, to reawaken religion and add culture, we must look to the child, who is omnipotent. The truth of this has been demonstrated of late by Nazis and Fascists, who changed the character of whole peoples by working on children.”
At another level, it is not too late to seek the support of all citizens of Sri Lanka to join in a national chorus of the words made famous by President John F. Kennedy when he articulated his famous saying: “Do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country!”
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]]>The post Delisting of former proscribed entities appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The Island Online
By Neville Ladduwahetty
A media release issued by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) says, “The ban was lifted after a study was conducted by a committee consisting of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General’s Department, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies, and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.”
The report also states: “According to the Ministry, 577 individuals, and 18 organizations, had been blacklisted, in 2021, for financing terrorism, under the United Nations Regulations No. 01 of 2012. However, following lengthy considerations, it was decided to delist 316 individuals, and six organisations as they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities, the Ministry said” (Daily FT, August 17, 2022).
According to the above statement, by the MoD, the reason for delisting some individuals and organisations on the basis that “they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities”. However, United Nations Regulations No. 01 of 2012, referred to in the MoD release, is based on “the Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgating the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001) designating individuals, and entities, related to terrorism and terrorist financing, in national level. Accordingly, Institutions are obliged to have measures, in place, to identify and freeze funds, financial assets or economic resources of such designated persons, and entities, upon order by the Competent Authority who is Secretary to the Ministry of Defence. The Secretary to the MoD is appointed as the Competent Authority for the implementation of UNSCR 1373 and its successor resolutions in Sri Lanka.
When the Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgated UNSC Resolution 1373, it was limited ONLY to “identify and freeze funds, financial assets or economic resources”. This is too limited because it misses the full scope of 1373. The scope of UNSCC Resolution goes beyond to “any form of support, active or passive, to entities”. Therefore, since these provisions cover activities far beyond funding terrorist activities, the comment in the MoD release that those delisted “no longer fund terrorist activities” is too limited a basis for delisting; a fact that is evident from the UNSCR 1373 provisions presented below. This is a serious lapse in the interpretation of UNSC Resolution 1373, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and followed by the MoD, and all those organizations, and individuals, who participated in making the decision to delist some individuals and organizations, however rigorous their investigations were.
PROVISIONS of UNSCR 1373
SC Resolution 1373 states as follows:
1. Decides that all States shall: (a) Prevent and suppress the financing of terrorist acts; (b) Criminalize the wilful provision, or collection, by any means, directly, or indirectly, of funds by their nationals, or in their territories, with the intention that the funds should be used, or in the knowledge that they are to be used, in order to carry out terrorist acts; (c) Freeze, without delay, funds and other financial assets, or economic resources, of persons who commit, or attempt to commit, terrorist acts or participate in or facilitate the commission of terrorist acts; of entities owned, or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons; and of persons, and entities, acting on behalf of, or at the direction of such persons and entities, including funds derived, or generated, from property, owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons and associated persons, and entities;
(d) Prohibit their nationals, or any persons and entities, within their territories, from making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or financial or other related services available directly or indirectly for the benefit of persons who commit, or attempt to commit, or facilitate, or participate in the commission of terrorist acts of entities owned or controlled, directly or indirectly by such persons and of persons and entities acting on behalf of or at the direction of such persons;
2. Decides also that all States shall: (a) Refrain from providing any form of support, active or passive, to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts, including by suppressing recruitment of members of terrorist groups and eliminating the supply of weapons to terrorists; (b) Take the necessary steps to prevent the commission of terrorist acts, including by provision of early warning to other States by exchange of information; (c) Deny safe haven to those who finance, plan, support, or commit terrorist acts, or provide safe havens; (d) Prevent those who finance, plan, facilitate or commit terrorist acts from using their respective territories for those purposes against other States or their citizens; (e) Ensure that any person, who participates in the financing, planning, preparation or perpetration of terrorist acts or in supporting terrorist acts, is brought to justice and ensure that in addition to any other measures against them, such terrorist acts are established as serious criminal offences in domestic laws and regulations and that the punishment duly reflects the seriousness of such terrorist acts; (f) Afford one another the greatest measure of assistance in connection with criminal investigations or criminal proceedings relating to the financing or support of terrorist acts, including assistance in obtaining evidence in their possession necessary for the proceedings; (g) Prevent the movement of terrorists or terrorist groups by effective border controls and controls on issuance of identity papers and travel documents, and through measures for preventing counterfeiting, forgery or fraudulent use of identity papers and travel documents;
This interpretation is amply demonstrated in the judgment given by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Holder v Humanitarian Law project cited below.
According to the Court “material support” to terrorist means “even when offerings are not money or weapons but things such as ‘expert advice or assistance’ or ‘training’ intended to instruct in international law or appeals to the United Nations”.
The United States Supreme Court, in the case of Holder v Humanitarian Law Project, when the “…court voted 6 to 3 to uphold a federal law banning ‘material support’ to foreign terrorist organizations. The ban holds, the court explained, even when offerings are not money or weapons but things such as ‘expert advice or assistance’ or ‘training’ intended to instruct in international law or appeals to the United Nations” (Washington Post, June 22, 2010). Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. in writing the majority opinion said that those challenging the ban “simply disagree with the considered judgment of Congress and the Executive that providing material support to a designated terrorist organization – even seemingly benign support bolsters terrorist activities of the organization… (the law) is on its face, a preventive measure – it criminalizes not terrorist attacks themselves, but aid that makes the attack more likely to occur…” (Ibid).
EFFORTS to REVIVE the LTTE
The Island of January 31, 2022, carries a report that states: “The Indian National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case and launched a probe in connection with the arrest of three Sri Lankan nationals with fake passports who are allegedly involved in raising money to revive the LTT ….”
The amended Prevention of Terrorism (Special Provisions) Act No. 48, 1979 of Sri Lanka that is tabled in Parliament does not adequately address the act of “raising money” by terrorist entities such as the proscribed LTTE. Instead, the amended PTA addresses mainly the rights and entitlements of perpetrators of terrorism, and NOT those who advise and support the many facets of LTTE activities. However, proscribing entities is not a sufficient deterrent to discourage terrorism. Instead, the breadth and scope of the legal provisions that exist need to be strengthened in order to prevent and suppress terrorism.
According to The Island report, the action taken by the NIA is under provisions of “Unlawful (Prevention) Act and Foreigners Amendment Act among others of the Penal Code”. Whether these instruments cover only terrorist acts or are sufficiently wide in scope to cover not only fund raising but also material support, needs to be established if they are to prevent and deter terrorism. If not, they need to be extended beyond, into activities such as selecting, training, fund raising and engaging the perpetrators of terrorism, if the legal provisions are to have an impact. Since the Security Council Resolution 1373 is sufficiently wide in scope to address these issues, it is imperative that ALL Member States incorporate its provisions because they are specifically designed to prevent and suppress terrorism. Since those arrested are now engaged in the revival of the LTTE, it is absolutely vital that Sri Lanka takes immediate action to implement the full scope of Security Council Resolution 1373, if terrorism is not to recur.
CONCLUSION
The press release issued by the Ministry of Defence states: “577 individuals, and 18 organizations, had been blacklisted in 2021 for financing terrorism under the United Nations Regulations No. 01 of 2012. However, following lengthy considerations, it was decided to delist 316 individuals and six organizations as they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities the Ministry said” (Daily FT, August 17, 2022).
This means nearly 55% individuals and 33% organizations were delisted from a list as recent as 2021. According to the press release, this decision was taken after a study was conducted by a galaxy of individuals representing the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Attorney General’s Department, intelligence agencies, law enforcement agencies and the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka on the basis that “they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities”
However, United Nations Regulations No. 01 of 2012 referred to in the MoD release is based on “the Minister of Foreign Affairs promulgating the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373 (2001)”. The promulgation of UNSC Resolution 1373 by the SL Minister of Foreign Affairs is limited ONLY to prohibiting fund raising for terrorist activities. Section 2 of Resolution 1373 prohibits “any form of support, active or passive to entities or persons involved in terrorist acts…”. Therefore, the basis for delisting is NOT in keeping with the provisions of UNSC Resolution 1373. This reflects poorly on Sri Lanka’s obligations to the Security Council.
Despite the fact that the grounds for delisting cannot be justified on the basis claimed that “they no longer continue to fund terrorist activities”, the reason for doing so appears to be a measure adopted by the government to encourage the participation of the diaspora “as it is a strength and source of investment”, as stated by the President. In fact, the President went on to suggest that Sri Lanka should “set up a Special Diaspora Office” (Ceylon Today, August 18, 2022).
While the intention to set up a Special Diaspora Office to attract diaspora funds has merit, by delisting first and hoping the diaspora to respond by way of investments is too much to expect in the absence of a quid pro quo. Therefore, the diaspora is bound to expect a political solution to gain their confidence, as suggested by the TNA (The Island, August 21), before they become a “source of investment”. Under the circumstances, the grounds for investment would become a bargaining chip to extract the most expansive of political solutions such as a federal arrangement as indicated by one of the delisted entities. Since such an outcome would be a certainty, it would have been more prudent to delist only those who invest, instead of opening the flood gates without any assurances in place.
The reason for such caution is twofold. The unhindered access to Sri Lanka by those delisted could present opportunities for them to engage in active and/or passive support to encourage the revival of the LTTE as reported by the Indian National Investigation Agency. No amount of vigilance by the security establishment would reveal clandestine arrangements as took place with the activities that precipitated the Easter Sunday terrorist attack. The other is that the front runner for the Prime Ministerial post in the UK, Rishi Sunak, has at a meeting with British Tamil conservatives stated: “the UK will continue to play a central role to bring about justice and accountability” (The Island, August 21, 2022). “In his statement, he stressed his support for the latest UN Resolution on Sri Lanka, which mandated the collection of evidence that may be used in a future war crimes tribunal” (Ibid).
To delist 55% individuals and 33% organisations from a year-old list in the expectation of attracting diaspora investments against the background of the support of a future UK government, and the expectation of a federal arrangement as a political solution without assured commitments is beyond any sense of reality because it would be too high a price for the People of Sri Lanka to accept. Instead, what the MoD should have done was to delist only those who have shown or show good faith by investing to build a prosperous Sri Lanka.
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]]>Daily News – By Sievalee Wijayawardhana
Since the end of the Sri Lankan Civil War in 2009, numerous Tamil interest groups have sprung up, purporting representation of Sri Lankan Tamils abroad, reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka, and charitable projects in Canada, the UK, the United States, Australia, and other Western nations. One less publicized aspect of some of these organisations is their covert incitement of the objectives of the defeated Tamil militant group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), an organisation that has been proscribed as a terrorist group in most countries of the world….
https://www.dailynews.lk/2022/03/15/features/274799/threat-terrorist-fronts-abroad-grows?fbclid=IwAR1c2osAglfKtMuOZ3NRaChxallu1pCvyAiV3NegNsardclH9MVwcTvNZcw
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]]>The post Councillors ‘shocked’ over cost of Patrick Brown’s failed Brampton University scheme appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>By Isaac Callan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with The Pointer. The Canadian PressPosted March 7, 2022 10:47 am
Consultants with direct ties to Mayor Patrick Brown and Councillor Rowena Santos began working on a Brampton University plan long before a competitive tendering process was launched and long before other members of council even knew about the scheme or approved funding for it, according to angry councillors who obtained internal City documents also shared with The Pointer.
The amount eventually paid under the supervision of former CAO David Barrick, who was recruited by Brown and fired on February 11 (according to new information received by The Pointer), was at least more than twice what was approved by council. It’s unclear how this was allowed.
During Wednesday’s heated council meeting, members repeatedly voiced their anger over the new information they obtained. Interim CAO Paul Morrison vowed to get to the bottom of what took place under Barrick’s watch.
Some of Brown’s allies, primarily Councillor Michael Palleschi, got into yelling matches with some of the six members who pledged in a stunning letter three weeks ago to clean up City Hall, stating “local democracy is under siege” in Brampton.
Councillors demanded a full report from staff and explanations for unusual spending patterns for the university consulting work. They put a freeze on the BramptonU project, with several stating it was already dead.
After consultants were hired in November of 2019 to put together a detailed, cohesive strategy to build the new campus and create the city’s first standalone university, Brown, Santos and Harkirat Singh were the public faces of the BramptonU project throughout much of 2020, appearing in City-produced videos heralding the plan, flooding social media and creating confusion by indicating it was a done deal.
The Pointer reported at the time that the provincial government had been provided with few details for a process that can take decades, did not allocate any funding for the plan and issued no required approvals to move the idea forward.
Despite this, the new documents show Brown and Santos were operating behind the scene, working with outside parties long before all council members were informed that consultants would be engaged.
Brown has links to one of the consultants, Stakeholder Research Associates (SRA), through employee Rob Godfrey (the son of Postmedia Chair Paul Godfrey), who worked closely with Brown when he was a member of the former PC leader’s inner circle, as detailed by the mayor in his own book which chronicles his dramatic fall from the Party in 2018, while Rob Godfrey was one of his most trusted confidantes.
It remains unclear what specifically SRA did for the more than half-million dollars it was eventually paid by Brampton taxpayers. Government relations, seemingly to lobby officials to advocate for the plan, and public engagement were among the activities outlined in a July 2019 draft report. But at least $100,000 was invoiced for “property development” without any clear description of what this work entailed.
Councillors on Wednesday said they did not know a draft report was submitted by the consultants months before they were officially hired through council approval and the only communication they were aware of to any higher level of government was a brief letter through council sent to Queen’s Park mentioning the desire for a new university and the hope for provincial support.
SRA did not respond to questions, stating they should be directed to the City of Brampton.
A summary from Brampton City staff in December showed that SRA had received $505,399 for its work on the BramptonU project between 2019 and 2021. Documents obtained by The Pointer show the initial contract, awarded in November 2019, was valued at $170,000 (as part of the $300,000 approved by council, along with the amount paid to the other consultant). However, the financial documents, which include invoices and payment records, show the amount eventually paid to SRA was far more than the original contract value. Two separate increases led to later payments that increased the cost for SRA’s work to a total of $531,100, according to the City of Brampton financial statements included in the documents.
They also show that the original amount was charged to Barrick’s office, but the later payments were charged to two different City departments. The account used to pay SRA was also changed to another account.
Santos is linked to the other firm that worked on BramptonU, the Academy for Sustainable Innovation (ASI). It was co-founded by David Wheeler, who in a blog post had written about the idea of a new university in Brampton. Wheeler taught Santos as a post-secondary business instructor and told The Pointer in December he had been her “occasional mentor” in the years since. Santos also helped Wheeler when he sought political office in Nova Scotia in 2017, flying to Halifax to help with his campaign. ASI was paid $101,381 for its work on the project, which was undertaken, at least in part, by Wheeler.
Neither Brown nor Santos responded to questions from The Pointer.
On November 25, 2019, Brown, Santos and Singh all appeared in a video promoting the concept of a new university in Brampton _ they called it BramptonU. “We don’t have a full university of our own in Brampton,” Santos said.
Brown explained the plan. “We’re proposing a new, innovative solution: BramptonU, a City-led effort with the goal to get provincial approval to launch our own, fully accredited university,” he said.
The video was released the same day the rest of council took part in a workshop run by Wheeler explaining how BramptonU might work. It came exactly one week after ASI and SRA won contracts to develop a university plan for Brampton and lobby for its creation.
But the real work on BramptonU began around eight months earlier, long before tender documents were drawn up and promotional videos filmed.
An email sent by Santos to several people, including former CAO Joe Pittari and Brown’s chief of staff, Babu Nagalingam, explained that, on March 14, 2019, David Wheeler planned to fly from Halifax to Brampton. The email, seen by The Pointer, explains he was going to be in the city to elaborate on a blog post pitching a plan to bring a new university to Brampton. “I had been reminding folks about this for a few weeks now,” Santos wrote.
The Pointer cannot confirm if this meeting took place but a few months later, on July 8, 2019, an 82-page document was submitted to the CAO. Councillors have told The Pointer they were never informed of the draft report, which was produced by the two consultants months before the bidding process for the job closed.
“Councillor Medeiros and I met with Mr Wheeler on July 3rd, 2019 to discuss the idea of BramptonU,” Councillor Jeff Bowman told The Pointer Thursday. “I do not remember being shown the 82-page draft that was submitted to the CAO’s office only a day later. This was the first and only meeting I had with Mr. Wheeler.”
Bowman said he is also concerned after learning about the connections between the firms and Santos and Brown. “At no time when we were considering the proposal from ASI/Stakeholder Research was there any declaration from any councillor or the Mayor that they knew or had any association with the proponents. We were informed at council yesterday that a councillor had checked with and received clearance from any pecuniary interest by the IC (integrity commissioner) in August 2019, well after the agreement was already in place.”
He also said the eventual cost for the consulting came as a big surprise. “I found the totals of the invoices presented yesterday for BramptonU shocking.”
The document Bowman never saw is titled “A draft strategy for the Development and Establishment of Brampton University” and has two company logos on the front: Stakeholder Research Associates and the Academy for Sustainable Innovation. The document references Wheeler, including meetings he had with City officials and certain councillors long before others were informed of their communication.
Wheeler is no longer listed as an employee of ASI and there is no mention of him on the website. The company does not have anything to do with launching universities and is involved in helping businesses reduce their carbon footprint. It did not respond to questions about Wheeler and his work for Brampton under the ASI banner.
“I would refer you back to the Council and the staff who placed and then managed the ASI and SRA contracts and the reporting and other accountabilities associated with them,” Wheeler told The Pointer. “I was simply a sub-contractor on these contracts until the Council asked for the work to stop around February 2020.”
In response to follow-up questions, including whether he had been paid for work prior to November 18, 2019, when contracts were awarded, Wheeler repeated his stance. “You really will have to take these contractual issues up with the Council,” he said. “It’s their project.”
The methodology section of the draft development strategy lays out work that took place in the spring of 2019 ahead of the BramptonU launch. It is unclear if ASI (and Wheeler) were under contract with the City of Brampton at the time; council did not approve requests for proposals (bids) for the project work until September, 2019.
“A proposal was submitted to the Office of the CAO by Stakeholder Research Associates in late April 2019,” the methodology portion of the document explains. “Following acceptance of the proposal, Dr Wheeler consulted with senior members of the administration of the City Council and their direct reports and did two tours of the City in the week of May 13th (2019).”
It is unclear who “senior” members of City Council might be. Brown is the head of council, but other members do not hold senior or junior titles.
ASI did not respond to a detailed list of questions, including when they first signed a contract to work on BramptonU.
Questions were also sent to SRA where Godfrey works. “SRA was a vendor of the City of Brampton,” Katharine Partridge, the president and managing partner of Stakeholder Research Associates Canada, told The Pointer.
Council agendas, statements from City staff and documents obtained by The Pointer suggest ASI and SRA were first awarded contracts to work on BramptonU on November 18, 2019. Neither company confirmed when they were first engaged.
A Brampton staff report, received by councillors on September 25, 2019, made two recommendations. It asked to “commence a public competitive procurement process” to retain an organization to “undertake advocacy efforts in order to obtain confirmation of support for the establishment of a University in the City of Brampton and to coordinate various public engagement opportunities”. It also sought permission to solicit bids from companies to “work on potential University program offerings that reflect the types of identified and required skills in the future economy and current high-demand skills that employers are seeking, by hiring, a qualified organization, and to make recommendations to Council regarding these matters in the future”.
Ann Bremner, manager of corporate projects, explained to councillors Wednesday that the two requests were labelled request for proposals (RFP) 2019-079 and 2019-080. The procurement process closed on both bids on October 16, 2019 and purchase orders for the work were issued on November 18, 2019, she said. The contracts were awarded to SRA and ASI.
“We didn’t get much of a turnaround to engage in a competitive process,” Councillor Charmaine Williams observed Wednesday. “It’s almost like we knew who we were going with, who we were going to award these contracts to.”
The draft strategy document submitted by ASI and SRA before the November 2019 contracts were awarded resurfaced a year later.
On July 24, 2020, Brampton issued a media release celebrating consultants and staff for laying “the groundwork for future BramptonU”. It referred to three chapters of BramptonU’s green paper as a “preview” of the proposal for a full university. The extracts are taken almost word-for-word, with some minor edits, from the proposal completed in July, 2019, by ASI and SRA.
“Over the past year, the City has worked closely with stakeholders and internationally-renowned educational institutions like Ryerson University, University of Guelph-Humber, The London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, D2L and Algoma University, to help inform a plan for its own university, BramptonU, and a new agile and innovative model being proposed for postsecondary education in Brampton,” the media release claimed.
The work that was published as a preview in July 2020 had been completed more than 12 months earlier.
The September 25, 2019, staff report that planned to begin searching for contractors laid out the budget for the BramptonU project. It proposed $300,000 could be used in approved funding from the Office of the CAO. “Funding and financing requirements for the implementation of a Brampton University will need to be determined through development of a complete business case for Council’s consideration,” the report says.
Purchase orders, invoices and emails obtained by The Pointer show the cost of the project increased dramatically. City staff now peg the total at over $600,000, with the lion’s share of funding awarded to SRA. The decisions appear to have been made by staff without the knowledge or approval of many council members.
Bremner told council Wednesday the total cost could be as high as $1.4 million. It is unclear if that figure includes work on a since-cancelled plan to build a Ryerson University campus.
“I don’t know where to start here, I really don’t,” Councillor Pat Fortini said Wednesday, referring to a collection of receipts he said were left anonymously for him in his neighbour’s mailbox.
Fortini was one of the six councillors that signed an open letter in February blasting mismanagement at the top of City Hall. It alleged, “Some local elected members of Council and certain senior staff hired during the current term have taken a blowtorch to the rules that are supposed to govern our city.”
The six councillors who signed the letter vowed to clean up City Hall and investigate allegations of improper procurements and hiring. Just two days after councillors published the letter, controversial former CAO David Barrick was fired and replaced by the City’s director of bylaw, Paul Morrison.
Now, councillors are demanding Morrison search through old documents and contracts to explain exactly how the BramptonU file was managed under Barrick, who was brought to City Hall by the mayor.
Councillor Martin Medeiros voiced grave concerns. “I think there’s a lot of red flags,” he said. “And I think there is a lot of concerns about relationships, what was the influence? This has been my concern from day one: it seems there was two or three councillors who were in the know and were appointed as chosen ones to speak on education. And, respectfully, I don’t ever recall council making a decision.”
A majority of council members voted on Wednesday to have the City’s integrity commissioner investigate the relationship between Santos and Wheeler regarding his hiring to consult on BramptonU.
The internal documents suggest the initial contract awarded to SRA was valued at $170,000 on November 18, 2019. Combined with the total of $101,381 paid to ASI, the initial contracts appear to be within the $300,000 budget council approved in September 2019.
The contract between SRA and the City of Brampton was changed four times, a change order obtained by The Pointer shows. The first alteration was made on January 17, 2020, modifying the delivery department for invoices from the community services department to economic development (the original invoice was sent to the CAO’s office). A second change, on February 12, 2020, replaced the contract administrator.
The third change came on August 24, 2020, adding $240,000 plus tax to the previously approved agreement with SRA, raising the contract from $170,000 to $410,000 plus taxes. The change represented an increase of 142 percent. On January 14, 2021, a fourth and final change was made to the contract through the purchase order. The mailing address was moved to the CAO’s office and a further $60,000 plus tax was added to the contract.
A December 4 email from Partridge, SRA’s managing partner, to the City of Brampton shows the final $60,000 charge was to fund 150 hours of work by “two senior consultants” billed at $400 per hour. The note explains: “Over the final weeks of 2020, SRA will continue to liaise with relevant stakeholders within the government of Ontario to establish agreeable terms that will form the basis of the City Of Brampton’s request for the establishment of a Special Purpose Vehicle that will act as the proponent for the establishment of Brampton University? It is SRA’s hope that Brampton will be in a position to submit a formal letter to Ontario in the coming weeks that will include notional approvals and feedback currently being gathered.”
SRA sent invoices to the City of Brampton in a steady stream.
Between November 28, 2019 and February 28, 2020, an invoicing schedule shows payments almost weekly. On November 28, 2019, for example, just 10 days after Brampton awarded SRA its contract, an invoice was sent for $20,000 in government relations and property development, $15,000 for public polling and $10,000 for community engagement. Including tax, this invoice came to a total of $50,850.
SRA did not respond to questions asking to explain what work it had done for “GR, property development”. This work cost Brampton taxpayers $100,000 between November 2019 and February 2020.
Over the same period, SRA invoiced Brampton $30,000 for public polling.
A slide presentation shared with The Pointer by City of Brampton communications staff shows that Mainstreet Research conducted a poll for SRA between December 5 and 11, 2019. “The survey was conducted using automated telephone interviews (Smart IVR),” the slide deck explains. “Respondents were interviewed on landlines and cellular phones. The survey is intended to represent the adult population in Peel Region.”
It’s unclear what the need for the survey was.
A motion passed Wednesday, forwarded by Councillor Medeiros, aims to bring answers.
It demands a full report from interim CAO Paul Morrison investigating the ill conceived BramptonU project managed under his controversial predecessor, who was fired three weeks ago. It also puts a freeze on a project that seemed doomed before it was even started.
“It seems dead in the water; it seems done,” Medeiros told his colleagues.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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]]>Please to donate TODAY to help fund to repeal TGEWA:
a. etransfer for Canadians only: etransfer@srilankancanadian.ca
b. https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=HX9JJNMQSZFJG
c. https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-for-fighting-against-bill-104
The post “Canada is brainwashing children to follow LTTE terrorism” appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The post Is “Tamil Genocide Education Week” a blessing or a curse to the Tamil Eelam separatists ? appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>By R. Sundaralingam
Ever since the end of the arms conflict in Sri Lanka in May 2009, actions such as rehabilitation, resettlement, reconciliation and peacebuilding has been the fore front of headlines in all corners of the world. Sri Lanka militarily defeated one of the most ruthless terrorists organisations (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam-LTTE) in the world successfully. Their propaganda engine with multi-million dollars of blood money successfully painted the Eelam victim card while the LTTE used suicide bombers and child soldiers to kill innocent civilians. LTTE were responsible for ethic cleansing of Sinhalese and Muslims from the North-East of Sri Lanka from 1948-2009 and also eradicating any Tamil political parties that did not adhere to LTTE ideology. (see ref article by V. Anandasangaree)
Some Tamil diaspora who arrived as refugees to Canada, had some experiences of losing a family or friend during the arms conflict, had not experienced any social connection to Sinhalese culture or had personal friendships or relationships with Sinhalese. LTTE’s propaganda machine had indoctrinated hatred towards Sinhalese. LTTE had destabilized and over time eradicated the inter-group relations of Tamils-Sinhalese in the North-East of Sri Lanka.
The Eelam struggle is about ethnic cleansing Sinhalese and Muslims from the north-east of Sri Lanka and establishing a state solely for Tamil eelam. How is this not infringing on sovereignty of Sri Lanka? How is this not interfering with the tremendous post war rehabilitation effort? We have seen many politicians speak about Eelam struggle without verifying facts. Eelam struggle is a racist separatist movement.
In Canada, several groups of effected persons gathered and mourned their losses since the 1980s at various dates usually celebrated by LTTE in the north-east provinces and imported into Canada. It was a political capitalization that a new movement of identifying the Tamil lives lost (mostly LTTE comrades) as a “genocide” for risky polarized political exposure. Even Tamil political parties and many scolars in Sri Lanka rejected this claim. United Nations alsong with Canadian government does not recognize the end days of the conflict as “genocide”.
The political lobbyists used political exposure and pressured various Tamil groups to work to get Bill 104 drafted. The risk assessment likely had included what-if scenarios of what-if the bill gets challenged in court and the big lie exposed? If the Tamil genocide narrative gets defeated in court what will this serve the purpose of those actually mourning the loss? What if the Tamil Genocide narrative gets defeated, what will it do for all the politicians that rallied? Who will be ultimately be blamed for making all those effected look like fools? It will likely fall on those that helped draft the Bill 104 or those that actually raised their hand to approve it?
Please to donate TODAY to help fund to repeal TGEWA:
a. etransfer for Canadians only: etransfer@srilankancanadian.ca
b. https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=HX9JJNMQSZFJG
c. https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-for-fighting-against-bill-104
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]]>The post Tamil Homeland, Tamil Nadu police on high alert over probable regrouping of LTTE appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The Central agencies and the elite ‘Q’ branch of the Tamil Nadu police are on high alert after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) used the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against three people in a fake passport case which was registered in the state in October 2021 by the ‘Q branch.
The NIA registered the case after intelligence inputs regarding former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) trying to raise funds to support the activities of the now-defunct movement in Tamil Nadu, the PTI reported.
A few former operatives of the banned terror outfit based out of Europe were trying to withdraw the unutilized funds of the LTTE from several accounts in India.
The ‘Q’ branch had arrested a woman, Mary Francisco (51), who is a Sri Lankan national settled in Canada and who was used by the LTTE operatives from Denmark and Switzerland to withdraw the money from a Mumbai based bank using fake identities. The police had arrested her after a tip-off from central intelligence agencies with a fake Indian passport at Chennai airport.
The police also arrested a Sri Lankan national from Tiruchi airport and another person from Madurai airport and on questioning they tried to pass it off as just fake passport cases. However, acting on tip offs from the central agencies, the NIA took over the case in January 2022 and registered a case under the UAPA against the offenders as they were specifically deployed to withdraw unutilized funds of the LTTE and to try and revive the movement in Tamil Nadu.
Several organisations with a Tamil identity including NGOs were under the watch of the central agencies after they tried to conduct webinars and public programmes against the Chinese investments in Sri Lanka. Sources in the central agencies told IANS that these organisations could possibly provide a cover to get ground support for Tamil nationalism in the rural areas of Tamil Nadu at the expense of the Chinese expansion. The construction of a new port at Hambantotta in Sri Lanka with Chinese funding was becoming a matter of concern for Indian agencies.
Mary Francisco had told the intelligence agencies that she was staying at Anna Nagar since the past two years and had obtained a PAN card, Aadhar card, Voter Identity Card and Indian passport with the help of a few agents. She told the interrogators that crores of rupees in unutilized funds were lying in several banks. The modus operandi was to withdraw these funds using people like her with fake identities and to transfer this money to other accounts in India and abroad under the cover of some shell companies.
Sources in the intelligence agencies told IANS that the woman and two of her associates had tried to activate the mobile number linked to an account with a nationalized bank in Fort Branch, Mumbai. However the central intelligence agencies were tracking her movements and she was arrested.
Prior to this, a former intelligence operative of the LTTE, Satkunam alias Sabesan (47), was arrested by the NIA in October 2021 for alleged involvement in the smuggling of drugs and arms from Pakistan. The Tamil Nadu ‘Q’ branch police had said that Satkunam had a close relationship with the Sri Lankan don, Ankola Lokka who died in Coimbatore where he was staying undercover.
The NIA and the ‘Q’ branch had after interrogating Sabesan and his aides Chinnasuresh and Soundararajan found that the proceeds from the sale of drugs from Pakistan to Sri Lanka were routed to India through a hawala network operated by one Jayaprakash, a Tamil person based in Bengaluru. He was also arrested. The accused had informed the investigating agencies that the funds were used to finance LTTE activities in India.
With the LTTE setting up its network using hawala transactions and drug money, and with some NGOs and political organizations acting as a front, a revival of Tamil nationalism is being planned in Tamil Nadu with the LTTE as the key focal point. This is a worrying factor for the Indian intelligence agencies as the government does not want any banned organization working against a foreign government from its soil.
Sources in the Indian agencies told IANS that there would be a strict crackdown on the sympathizers and supporters of the defunct LTTE and other Tamil national movements if they try to create an atmosphere of support for the cause on Indian soil against the Sri Lankan government.
Original article:
https://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/TN-police-on-high-alert-over-probable-regrouping-of-LTTE/108-230113
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]]>The post Ontario’s Bill 104: ‘Tamil Genocide Education or Miseducation Week? appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>THE ISLAND
By Dharshan Weerasekera
In May 2021, the Legislative Assembly of Ontario adopted Bill 104. The stated purpose of the Bill is to, a) designate the week following May 18 each year as ‘Tamil Genocide Education Week’ and b) educate Ontarians about ‘Tamil Genocide and other genocides that have occurred in world history.’ The crucial question is, whether the charge of ‘Tamil genocide’ is true.
To the best of my knowledge, there has been very little substantive discussion of the above question in Sri Lankan or Canadian newspapers or academic journals in recent years and it is in public interest to begin such a discussion. Otherwise, there is a danger that the proposed ‘Tamil Genocide Education Week’ would turn out to be an exercise in mis-education of Canadians, most of whom are relatively unfamiliar with Sri Lanka.
In my view, there is absolutely no factual basis for anyone to claim that Tamils have been subjected to genocide in Sri Lanka. In this article, I shall briefly summarise the arguments made in a case filed in the Court of Appeal in September 2014, Polwatta Gallage Niroshan v. Inspector General of Police, Members of the Northern Provincial Council and others, CA/writ/332/2014. It is a public document. I was the Counsel in the case. The petitioner sought a writ of mandamus to compel the Attorney General to take action against members of the then Northern Provincial Council who had signed a letter (forwarded to the UN Human Rights High Commissioner) alleging genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Unfortunately, the Court declined to take up the case on technical grounds, namely, that the petitioner had failed to file a police complaint. The petitioner, a humble three-wheeler driver, did not have the financial wherewithal to pursue the matter further, but the case is very important in the present context because of two reasons: First, it shows that Sri Lankan citizens have rejected the allegation of Tamil genocide and even gone to the courts with regard to this matter.
Right of reply
Second, and more importantly, since the provincial legislature of a foreign country has asserted that Tamil genocide has happened, it is incumbent on the said legislature to provide a right of reply to all concerned Sri Lankans who reject the charge. Otherwise, one cannot expect the stated purpose of the Bill, education, to genuinely take place. In this regard, it is well to recall that natural justice, which includes the injunction “hear the other side” is an overriding principle (jus cogens) of international law.
Furthermore, one could argue that any funds allocated by the Ontario legislature, to advance the goals of the Bill, should be made available to members of Sri Lankan origin living in Ontario as well, who wish to tell their side of the story during the week in question. For all these reasons, the Sri Lankan case is important as a starting point for a substantive discussion of the charge of Tamil genocide. I give below the relevant portion:
“The 3rd – 35th Respondents, 28 of whom are members of the Northern Provincial Council and five are members of the Eastern Provincial Council, are signatories to a letter sent to the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navinetham Pillay, titled, “Joint letter by members of the Northern Provincial Council and Eastern Provincial Council, 17 August 2014.” In the said letter the 3rd – 35th Respondents request the former UN Human Rights High Commissioner to acquaint her successor, as well as the investigating panel presently investigating Sri Lanka, with the matters contained in the letter.
Petitiner’s contention
The Petitioner contends that the said letter contains explicit statements capable of causing disharmony, ill-feeling and discord among the different ethnic groups of Sri Lanka, particularly the Sinhalese and the Tamils, that the 1st and 2nd Respondents have not taken any steps to investigate or prosecute the 3rd – 35th Respondents for the said statements under Section 120 of the Penal Code (raising discontent or disaffection or feelings of ill-will and hostility among the people) and therefore the Petitioner has a right to request the court for a writ of mandamus to compel action.
The letter makes three requests of the High Commissioner, the second of which is: “The Tamil people strongly believe that they have been, and continue to be, subjected to genocide in 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 that the OHCHR investigative them to look into the pattern of all the atrocities against the Tamil people, and to determine if Genocide has taken place.”
The Petitioner respectfully draws the attention of the court to two matters in the above passage:
i) The assertion that Genocide has been practised against the Tamils in Sri Lanka.
ii) That “Sinhalese settlements and demographic changes” are being carried out with the “intent to destroy the Tamil Nation.”
The Petitioner is of the view that, the above two assertions are demonstrably false, and, as a citizen of Sri Lanka, is personally offended and angered by them, and considers that thousands of other citizens of this country feel this way also.
The Petitioner further considers that, false accusations regarding highly sensitive issues made directly to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urging her to investigate the purported offenses constitute an attempt to “raise discontent or disaffection amongst the People of Sri Lanka, or to promote feelings of ill-will and hostility between different classes of such people” for the following reasons. The crime of genocide has a technical meaning in international law, and one can assess objectively whether or not that crime has been committed. The definition of genocide is set out in the Convention on the Prevention of Genocide (1948) and is as follows:
“[Article 2] In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
a) Killing members of the group;
b) Causing serious bodily harm or mental harm to members of the group;
c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.”
From the above, it is clear that the crime of “Genocide” has two components: the intention to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, and also the committing of one or more of the acts enumerated under points a – e. It is possible to objectively assess whether, in a given set of circumstances, each of those components is present. Similarly, the accusation regarding settlements and the claim that the intent behind these settlements is to destroy the “Tamil Nation” can be objectively assessed.
The Petitioner asserts that, the Sinhalese people have not committed genocide against the Tamil people, or imposed settlements to destroy the Tamil People, or any “Tamil Nation” within this country, and that facts exist to prove these matters. In particular, the Petitioner wishes to draw the attention of the court to the following points: With respect to the accusation of genocide, the following facts are relevant:
Statistsics
Firstly, if the charge of ‘Genocide’ is with respect to the period from Independence to the start of the war, roughly 1948 – 1981, then statistics are available regarding key economic factors such as income, production assets in agriculture and manufacturing, employment, access to education, and access to health services. ((The most recent island-wide census was in 2012 which is after the war. But there is a census for 1981.) If discernible discrepancies exist between the statistics for the Sinhalese and the Tamils with regard to the above factors, a reasonable inference can be drawn that the Tamils have been systematically discriminated against, which would support the contention that the Tamils have been subjected to a genocidal campaign.
The Petitioner is of the considered view that a comparison of the aforementioned factors will show no discernible differences between the Sinhalese and the Tamils, and draws support for this contention from the assessment of Professor G.H. Peiris, one of Sri Lanka’s most respected scholars, who analyses the said factors in a chapter titled “Economic causes for ethnic conflict” in his book, Sri Lanka: Challenges for the new Millennium (2006). The said assessment is as follows:
“To generalize, the overall impression conveyed by these conclusions is that, except when the “Indian Tamils” of the plantation sector (who still suffer from various deprivations compared to other groups) are taken into account, up to about the third decade after independence, socio-economic stratifications—variations in wealth, income, power and privilege, or dichotomies such as those of “haves versus have-nots” or “exploiter versus exploited”—did not exhibit significant correspondences to the main ethnic differences in the country. And, there was certainly no economically “dominant” ethnic group.” (p. 436.)
Secondly, if the charge of “Genocide” is with respect to the period of the war, census data exists which indicate that between 1981 and 2001 (the period of the war) there was a substantial increase in the Tamil population in the Sinhalese-majority areas due to the migration of Tamils from the North-East to that area. Such a movement of Tamils could not have occurred if the Tamils were being subject to genocide.
Also, one can consider the fact that throughout the 30-year civil war, the salaries of government workers in the North and East, large parts of which were under the de facto control of the LTTE, were paid by the Government. Medicine, food, and other essentials were also sent to those areas throughout the conflict. All this does not bespeak an attempt at genocide, rather, the exact opposite.
Finally, if the charge of “Genocide” is with respect to the last phases of the war, i.e. January 2009 – May 2009, the undisputed fact that the security forces were able to rescue approximately 350,000 Tamils who were held hostage by the LTTE indicates the absence of “Genocide.” The Petitioner therefore draws the natural inference suggested by all of the facts set out above, namely, that the Tamils have not been subjected to genocide in this country.
Settlements
With respect to the accusation about settlements, the following facts are relevant. Firstly, if by “Tamil Nation” what the signatories mean is a territorial unit, what are the boundaries of this unit, and by what law is it recognized? If answers cannot be provided to these questions, then no “Tamil Nation” exists. If the existence of such a territorial unit cannot be established, the assertion that the intent behind the settlements is to destroy the “Tamil Nation” cannot be sustained, since that which does not exist cannot be destroyed.
Secondly, if by “Tamil Nation” the 3rd – 35th Respondents mean the areas of the island where Tamils comprise the majority ethnic group relative to the Sinhalese and the Muslims—i.e. the Northern and the Eastern Provinces—it is true that a certain number of Sinhalese settlements were established in the course of various development projects. Nevertheless, statistics exist in the public domain that show Tamil settlements were established along with the Sinhalese settlements, and that, taken as a whole, the distribution of the settlements, when considered in terms of area, as well as development project, was done in an equitable and fair fashion. (See for example, Professor K.M De Silva Separatist Ideology in Sri Lanka: A Historical Appraisal, 2nd ed. International Center for Ethnic Studies, 1995).
Thirdly, if the 3rd – 35th Respondents are claiming that settlements are being systematically established at present, it is incumbent on the 3rd – 35th Respondents to name what those settlements are, and to address the following matter: the Sri Lanka Constitution guarantees to every citizen, “Freedom of movement and of choosing one’s residence within Sri Lanka” (Art. 14(h)) which means that anyone who claims that Sinhalese settlements are illegal or wrong must show that those settlements are being established in excess of, or in ways that contravene, the aforesaid right.
The Petitioner repeats that, facts related to the points enumerated above are in the public domain. Therefore, the claim by the 3rd – 35th Respondents, that the Sinhalese are committing genocide against Tamils, and also imposing settlements to destroy the “Tamil Nation” are deliberate falsehoods, unless they can present some evidence to justify and explain their claims.
The Petitioner is of the view that, deliberate falsehoods such as the ones mentioned above can have only one result: the promotion of feelings of ill-will and hostility between different groups in this country, in this case the Sinhalese and the Tamils, and that if the signatories cannot produce evidence to justify and explain their claims, those claims show an ex facie intention to promote the said feelings of ill-will and hostility between Sinhalese and Tamil people.”
Conclusion
The stated purpose of Bill 104 is to ‘educate’ Ontarians about Tamil genocide. However, there is a grave danger that this will result in ‘mis-education’ of Ontarians along with Canadians in general, about the issue in question leading to a possible break-down in good relations between Canadians and Sri Lankans which should be a matter of concern for the Canadian Federal Government. Therefore, a substantive public discussion about whether or not Tamil genocide has occurred is urgently needed and this must necessarily involve giving Canadians a chance to ‘hear the other side’ of the story. Polwatta Gallage Niroshan’s case offers a good starting point from which to offer Canadians and other foreigners a glimpse into that ‘other side’.
(The writer is an Attorney-at-Law and consultant for the Strategic Communications Unit at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute.)
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]]>The post Toronto Police falls asleep while flag weaving supporters of the banned LTTE Tamil Terrorists group disrupt meeting! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>LTTE supporters disrupted a meeting attended by TNA MPs M.A. Sumanthiran and Shanakiyan Rasamanickam on Saturday (20), demanding a separate State for the Tamil people, and rejecting the Tamil party’s push for a political settlement to Sri Lanka’s ethnic question.
They demanded to consider Tamils not as a minority community, but as rightful inhabitants of the North and East and that they are the majority in those provinces.
Protesters gathered outside the venue of a public meeting organised by TNA Canada and even managed to break into the hall and disrupt proceedings. Both TNA Spokesman Sumanthiran and TNA Batticaloa District MP Rasamanickam were addressing the meeting.
The meeting was to brief members of the Tamil community in Toronto about ongoing diplomatic efforts to push for a political settlement that devolves power to the island’s Tamil minority. Sumanthiran led a TNA delegation to Washington, D.C. last week to brief high-ranking officials at the US Department of State. Toronto Police were called to the scene after the demonstrators, waving LTTE flags, stormed the meeting hall and disrupted the discussion.
The protesters claimed they did not want a political settlement and insisted that a separate State of Tamil Eelam was the only solution to the Tamil national question. Focusing their anger on MP Sumanthiran, who has faced similar protests from Tamil extremists overseas in the past, the demonstrators held banners accusing the TNA Spokesman of being a “Sinhala patriot” who wanted to live with the Sinhalese people in Sri Lanka.
See full video here.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=936092323686260
Credits to article by Sulochana Ramiah Mohan:
https://ceylontoday.lk/news/ltte-supporters-disrupt-tna-meeting-in-toronto
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]]>SUNDAY OBSERVER
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) last Tuesday arrested a former LTTE intel operative on charges of playing a crucial role in reviving the defunct outfit. In this backdrop, the Sunday Observer spoke to Prof. Rohan Gunaratna who continues to study developments with the LTTE. He believes the terror group is much active in the international front, although it was decimated militarily in Sri Lanka in 2009.
Professor Rohan Gunaratna is Director General, Institute of National Security Studies and Senior Advisor to the Faculty of Defence and Strategic Studies at the Sir John Kotalawala Defence University. A former Senior Fellow at the United States Military Academy at West Point, he received his PhD from St Andrews University where he was a British Chevening Scholar.
Excerpts
Q: An LTTE member was arrested this week in Chennai with a haul of arms. He was a senior intelligence operative of the LTTE and is trying to revive the defunct group, the Indian security officials have revealed. Do you believe the LTTE is in a revival state?
A: The LTTE is entering a renewed phase of threat. The South Indian based LTTE operators are engaging in criminality smuggling weapons and narcotics. West based LTTE functionaries are using votes and donations to move resolutions against Sri Lanka.
The threat diminished after the LTTE organisation in Sri Lanka was dismantled in May 2009. Today, the LTTE strategy has shifted from propaganda, fundraising, procurement and shipping in the pre-May 2009 era to lobbying, litigation and law making. The investigations revealed that the LTTE international network was behind the “genocide” resolutions in Ontario, Canada in May 2021 and New South Wales, Australia May 2021 and the “genocide” protocol in Palermo, Italy in September 2021. Using constituency pressure, LTTE front, cover and sympathetic affiliates taking the face of human rights, social, cultural and welfare organisations seek to influence and infiltrate political parties. The plans by LTTE fronts in the US to move a resolution in the US Congress to declare the North and the East as “Tamil homeland” were prevented.
In parallel to political and diplomatic efforts by the LTTE, its intelligence operators in Europe and North America directed 16 LTTE attacks on Sri Lanka. They were disrupted with the flow of information from members of the Tamil community that does not want the return of the LTTE.
Q: Who is this 47-year-old operative Sathkumam? Is he living in India with his family? What is his background?
A: Tamil Nadu based LTTE member Sathkumam alias Sabesan was serving a LTTE network engaged in smuggling narcotics and weapons to Sri Lanka. Before he travelled to India, he served the LTTE rank and file. After he was injured in the shoulder, Sathkumam served in the LTTE intelligence wing under Pottu Amman. In 2004, the LTTE stepped up its secret program to smuggle drugs to raise funds and to introduce drugs to Sri Lankan youth in the South. The LTTE trafficked heroin and marijuana from Rameshwaran and Danushkodi to Mannar and Peshali, Nachchikuda and Wedithalathivu. To support LTTE operations in Tamil Nadu, LTTE intelligence wing deputy leader Kapil Amman sent Sathkumam to India in 2007. The Indian authorities arrested him for drug trafficking and was jailed in Madurai from 2009-2019.
After Sathkumam’s release, he relapsed and reengaged in trafficking drugs. In addition to relocating Sathkumam’s family to the UK, Indian investigators reveal he transferred proceeds of crime to fund the LTTE’s revival.
Q: Do you think the LTTE’s drug, crime and people smuggling operations continue uninterrupted despite the group’s military defeat in May 2009?
A: The LTTE did not stop the fight for separatism in May 2009. Operating in the shadow, the LTTE intelligence wing and its international network continued the campaign. Since its inception, the LTTE was funded through criminal enterprise and coercing the Tamil businesses and intimidating the community. From bank robberies to bank and cheque fraud, and people smuggling to drug trafficking, the LTTE raised funds worldwide. The LTTE front in France, the Tamil Coordinating Committee (TCC) came to the attention of Interpol for its role in trafficking drugs. The French police arrested V. Manoharan, the head of the TCC and subsequently head of the LTTE International Secretariat, for possession of heroin.
The courts jailed him for two years. He had to pay a fine of 120,000 francs as well. As his operation was authorised by the LTTE, Manoharan’s family received his salary from the LTTE, while he remained in French custody. The money from criminal proceeds was laundered to buy weapons from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and from North Korea, the procurement hubs of the LTTE.
According to the LTTE international chief and its international accountant, the LTTE also paid to human rights activists to lobby the UNHRC in Geneva including a nongovernmental organisation accredited by the United Nations Economic and Social Council. With the remnants of the LTTE international network lobbying Western Politicians with votes and donations, host governments are concerned of the commingling of funds. That is the fusion of funds between LTTE criminal proceeds and diaspora individual and business contributions.
Q: Do you think the assistance by foreign governments to Sri Lanka to prevent a revival of the LTTE is adequate? There is an allegation that the LTTE has penetrated the British and Canadian parliaments? What is your take on that?
A: The Sri Lankan authorities continue to work with their foreign counterparts on security matters. The LTTE will remain a proscribed organisation in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, the LTTE will continue to engage Western politicians and officials including diplomats in its effort to delist the LTTE for two purposes. First, to start operating again and second, gain access to frozen LTTE funds. According to the US law enforcement authority, the FBI, in the past, “Pratheepan and defendant Murugesu Vinayagamoorthy were also involved in the attempted bribery of purported U.S. State Department officials to remove the LTTE from the list of designated foreign terrorist organisations. In addition, Vinayagamoorthy participated in laundering LTTE money through a Swiss bank account to covertly fund a U.S. Congressman’s trip to the LTTE-controlled territory in Sri Lanka.
The LTTE international network, especially the LTTE Canada and Europe has been lobbying their host country politicians incessantly. However, the LTTE suffered a setback when the Manchester High Court in 2020 ordered the British Tamil Forum (BTF), the LTTE front to cease operations under the Insolvency Act 1986. Through a judgement delivered on July 20, 2020, the BTF was ordered to pay compensation to Roshini Sivagurunathan, the petitioning creditor, together with legal costs out of the assets of the Tamils Forum UK Limited. The BTF served as the Secretariat of All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPGT). To lobby the UK politicians, the Tamils for Conservatives and the Tamils for Labour have been infiltrated by LTTE members and their second generation. In return, British politicians have mounted pressure on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and made representations against Sri Lanka at the UNHRC in Geneva.
Q:The Government is being pressurised by the international community – European Union on one side and the UNHRC on the other – to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). In this backdrop, what do you suggest, should it be repealed or revisited?
A: The global threat of terrorism has evolved since the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) was enacted by the Sri Lankan Government as a temporary measure in 1979 and made permanent in 1982. In the fight against terrorism, there are times when one cannot wait till a person who has energised himself to commit terrorist acts in fact commits such an act.
Having taken into consideration his antecedents and propensities, with the view to protecting national security and the imminent likelihood of his committing an act of terrorism, there is a need to detain him as a preventive measure. The Emergency Regulations provided for preventive detention.
The Supreme Court has viewed it and concluded that preventive detention is not inherently unconstitutional, provided the decision to detain a person is taken upon an objective consideration of relevant material and the need for continued detention is reviewed periodically. Although it is very important to keep jobs and the inflow of foreign currency, retaining GSP+ is only an incidental outcome of enacting an effective counter terrorism law which is compatible with human rights norms.
What does the State achieve by having a good counter terrorism law? The ability to give effect to criminal justice response to terrorism. It would entail effective investigation of acts of terrorism, identification and arrest of perpetrators, their detention, prosecution, punishment and rehabilitation. Why should we not merely stop at attending to the requirements indicated by the EU? Because, we must make use of this opportunity to develop a better counter terrorism law for our country. We need a new law that will give rise to a fine balance between the need to efficaciously counter terrorism, while adhering to the rule of law which will not lend itself to human rights violations.
The PTA is archaic and needs updating. Terrorism is not defined and not criminalised in the PTA. Only certain specific crimes generally committed by terrorists and reflective of the nature of terrorism perpetrated in the late 70s are captured in the PTA. Killing of civilians is not captured in the PTA unless they were witnesses to the killing of ‘specified persons’. The PTA does not capture the manifestations of contemporary terrorism. For example, the killing of civilians in large numbers such as the mass slaughter during the Easter Sunday attack by the Islamic State is not captured in the PTA.
The revised law needs safeguards to prevent it from being abused by law enforcement authorities. The human rights law has evolved during the past 30 years and the PTA remains dated. The PTA is no longer compatible with the evolved internationally recognised counter terrorism norms and standards, including certain UN counter terrorism conventions and resolutions. The revised law should be compatible with human rights standards to which Sri Lanka by international law is required to adhere to. The revised law should provide for registered rehabilitation programs as an alternative to prosecution.
The revised law should provide for suspension of the institution of criminal proceedings, which can be used to achieve a political settlement to the overall issue of terrorism by a group, if the need arises. The revised law should provide all the necessary investigational tools required by law enforcement to investigate acts of terrorism. While the PTA does not provide for arrest of suspects by the armed forces, the revised law should.
Q: Adele Balasingham who was behind LTTE child soldiers and women suicide cadres, is living in London with her three children, and the LTTE is said to be building a cemetery for their dead in Oxford. How detrimental are these developments for peace in Sri Lanka? Shouldn’t the Sri Lankan Government raise these issues with their counterparts in Britain?
A: The LTTE remains a proscribed organisation in the UK. However, the LTTE UK remains active largely in the political and diplomatic domains. The Sri Lankan Government should work with the British Government to address the geopolitical concerns and security challenges.
Since the LTTE International Secretariat was located in London for three decades, it is correct that the UK remains a hub for LTTE activities. One of the active LTTE front in the UK, the World Tamils Historical Society Community Centre in Oxford commemorates the LTTE events including its suicide bombers. There are over 100 key LTTE functionaries including Adele Balasingham living in London.
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]]>Newswire
One more Sri Lankan national, alleged to be a former member of the intelligence wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was picked by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in connection with the Vizhinjam arms case.
The arrested has been identified as Satkunam alias Sabesan, who was residing at Valsaravakkam, Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The investigation has revealed that the accused had arranged conspiracy meetings of sympathisers of LTTE in India. He had played a crucial role in routing the proceeds of drug trafficking to former LTTE cadres in Sri Lanka for the revival of the LTTE, the agency said in a communication.
Satkunam, according to the NIA communication, was arrested for his involvement in arms and drugs trafficking from Pakistan to Sri Lanka, and utilising the proceeds of the crime for furthering and supporting the revival of the LTTE.
The agency had earlier arrested nine persons, including some Sri Lankan nationals, from a fishing vessel Ravihansi in March this year.
The NIA took over the investigation in the case after a complaint from the Narcotics Control Bureau against the Sri Lankan nationals. The Coast Guard had intercepted the fishing vessel off Minicoy coast on March 18 and recovered AK-47 rifles and one thousand rounds of 9mm ammunition and 300 kg heroin from them. (Hindu)
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]]>SANGADASA AKURUGODA – THE ISLAND
The lead news item in the Divaina of 22 August, 2021 said a foreign organisation has already given Rs 850 million via an NGO, to some political parties and trade unions, etc., to campaign against the current government. The news item revealed how this money had been distributed among the various recipients, including a media team and a popular monk. The money is said to have been given with the intervention of a top official in the relevant foreign organisation. Out of this amount, Rs 500 million has been distributed to the relevant media team, Rs 50 million to the popular monk, and Rs. 300 million to trade unions and political parties.
Use of foreign funding to brainwash the people, for regime change, and to destabilize the country is not something new in Sri Lanka. We have come across several articles and books providing details of how foreign funds were used to achieve such goals of foreign organisations in the past.
We can see that most of the well-known NGOs and trade union activists are getting wide publicity to their statements in the media today, similar to the period we had during the war against terrorism. Like mushrooms and many other fungi, these activists pop up whenever the environmental conditions suit them.
The easiest way to find out what they said and how some of these mushroom activists contributed to the continuation of terrorism in the past is to search their records online. Interestingly, I found a list of names of politicians, so-called civil societies and trade union activists, who were promoting LTTE as an integral part of ‘the solution’ and campaigning in support of the CFA in 2006, in a pro-LTTE website.
Although some of the activists who appeared in the list were very active, when promoting the so-called yahapalana regime during 2015-2019 too, most of them are no more, most likely with time. Those politicians, civil society and trade union activists who promoted the yahapalana regime appear nowhere to go now; as the majority of the general public are aware of their past and the damage they have done to the country. The Covid-19 pandemic appears to be a golden opportunity for these elements, after the disappearance of LTTE terrorism from the country‘s soil, for the so-called activists to raise their heads, once again, to destabilise the country.
How these foreign-funded NGOs, politicians and the so-called activists attempted to brainwash the people of the country and the entire world are well known, and we can imagine the status of our country today, if their motives were successful in the past, by looking at how terrorism grew and gained control in Afghanistan today.
Freedom to involve in political activities were very limited (or not at all) for the government employees prior to 1970. As a result of granting some political freedom to government servants under the United Front government (comprising SLFP, LSSP and CP) elected in 1970, and by allowing politicians of successive governments to interfere with the appointments of various positions within the public service, the government servants and their trade unions are politically divided to an uncontrollable extent today.
Instead of carrying out government policies, some government officials and trade union leaders are fulfilling the needs of their political parties, while criticising the government policies in public. Media statements issued, almost daily, by the two well-known trade unionists attached to the health sector, that are very critical on every action taken by the government to control the present-day pandemic serve as an example. Appearance of the names of these politically motivated trade unionists in the said list found in the TamilNet, is a clear example of their past and to whom they are serving. In addition, we can see that even the politicians rejected by the masses at the last Presidential and general elections, are getting wide publicity in the media to make frequent statements to demoralise the general public mind, against steps taken by the government to control the Covid-19 epidemic and recover the economy at this crucial stage.
We were under foreign powers for centuries due to the acts of saboteurs and traitors. We have witnessed, during our lifetime, how powerful are enemies within, when destabilising regimes. The coming months will be very decisive, as local paid agents of the enemies of our nation will work overtime, and will use the money said to have been distributed among them, to achieve their desired goals; disregarding the extent of hardships caused and loss of lives of the general public. The public must be aware of these enemies, as a priority, and should rally against such elements in order to protect our nation.
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]]>By Somasiri Munasinghe | Published: 2:00 AM Sep 1 2021, CEYLON TODAY
A meeting convened by Sri Lankan associations and six leading Buddhist temples in Canada discussed seeking legal action against a private member’s Bill passed in the Ontario Provincial Parliament to educate the children about a Sri Lankan ‘genocide’.
The meeting coordinated by the Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition (SLCAC) also focused on ways to counter the dangerous effects of the TGEWA (Tamil Genocide Education Week Act) that might lead to bullying and harassment of school children hailing from Sinhala-Buddhist backgrounds.
The class room and school yard bullying has already started against the children and grandchildren of the SinhalaBuddhist parents labelling them as the descendants of ‘genocide perpetrators’. Ontario on 6 May became the first jurisdiction in the world to recognise a genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka as proposed by a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) passed its third reading in the legislature.
The TGEWA, also known as Bill 104, establishes seven days each year, 11 May to 18, during which Ontarians ‘are encouraged to educate themselves about, and to maintain their awareness of, the Tamil genocide and other genocides.’ There is no mention how ‘the other genocides’ will be discussed in schools.
This act obviously targets the Sinhala school children who have no part or knowledge of political issues in a country thousands of miles away, only known as the land where their grandparents or parents were born.
The Bill was launched by Scarborough-Rouge Park Progressive Conservative (PC) MPP Vijay Thanigasalam, who calls the passage of his Bill “a historic event for Tamil people in Ontario and across the world.” Ranjith Galabadaarachchi of the SLCAC said if anybody thinks Sri Lanka defeated terrorism in 2009, it is a misconception. The ideology and vast resources accumulated to achieve a separate homeland in Sri Lanka’s north are still intact, and the diaspora groups are very much active in other disruptive methods.
“Now what they are trying is going to be a credible threat to the SinhalaBuddhists living in Canada. One of their major steps is the propaganda dished out by the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), which is very active in the West and European countries. They have realised that Sri Lanka will never allow a separate State, and now what they are trying to do is to target the Sinhalese in other countries through the help of various governments to achieve their Eelam dream,” he said.
The passing of the TGEWA in Ontario is one major step some groups have taken to harass the Sinhala Buddhists, alleging that they were engaged in the ethnic cleansing of the Tamils since the 1948 independence of Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon.
“That is a complete lie,” said the SLCAC spokesperson. “No independent investigators or the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) has acknowledged the claims of genocide in Sri Lanka. The Tamil groups are also trying to introduce Bills in other Canadian provinces like Quebec. Their next plan embraces a worldwide strategy by trying to implement such Bills in European countries, the US, New Zealand and Australia where there is heavy Tamil presence”. Galabadaarachchi said we have two options.
One is to bring a Motion to defeat Bill 104, ‘which is very, very unlikely.’ The next step is to take legal action against this move. He said it is a costly affair, and the associations need the support of all the Sri Lankans living in Canada and other countries. As a significant move, SLCAC and other Sri Lankan associations have retained a high-profile law firm in Toronto with an impressive track record to file a case to repeal the Bill. The team of five lawyers has assured that there is a strong case and confident of winning it.
A Harvardqualified lawyer who is conversant with Canadian constitutional law leads the legal team. This case might go all the way to the supreme court, and the association is ready for that, the SLCAC treasurer assured. “We have to nip this cancer in the bud because it is directly affecting our children, most of whom were born and raised in Canada,” he added.
Mental health expert Dr. Navodhi Hewage said this Bill has a terrible impact on our children and their mental health. “My 17-year-old son says this issue is being discussed widely on Social Media platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. One dangerous result of this Bill is the creation of a lot of divisions in the classroom.
In this age of Social Media, these rifts are created subtly,” she said. The duty of the parents and our religious leaders is to tell the children to bring the problems they face in the classroom or the school ground to the attention of their teachers. Dr. Hewage said that if the children keep quiet when they counter bullying incidents, it can create dangerous repercussions in the long run.
“I have three teenage children, and they tell me that many students of other communities who don’t know anything about Sri Lanka are talking about the so-called Sri Lankan genocide on Social Media.”
Our parents have to be vigilant about the problem, she stressed. It might even grow into a racial issue isolating our children in the classroom. Already there are many divisions in the Ontario classrooms based on colour, religion and gender, and now with this genocide talk, a dangerous racial element is added to the divisions. The parents should educate the teachers who do not know Sri Lanka by talking with them and presenting the actual facts.
A member of the audience said a son of a friend who is in a lower grade is being bullied about the ‘genocide’ and the little boy has gone to the extent of disowning his heritage. “He now introduces himself as a Guyanese,” he said.
The Guyanese Indians look very similar to Sinhalese in their appearance and colour. Dr. Hewage said that bullying might have badly affected the child, but according to Canadian laws, a child’s mental health is very important. “This child has to be given counselling because disowning his roots is a sign of deeper mental issues.
Usually, people have to be proud of their heritage. This child has an internal struggle to determine whether his classmates’ accusations that he is a child of genocide perpetrators are true. A problem like this has to be discussed with the school superintendent, principal, trustees and teachers. A student in Canada has a right to education despite differences in colour, ethnicity or religion. This is the area where the parents have to step in. I know some students who have tried to self-harm them in such instances without being unable to face bullying”.
According to Canadian law, every child has the right to feel safe at home, school, and community (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1990). Research indicates that bullying behaviour doesn’t usually go away on its own and often gets worse when it needs to be dealt with directly. To stop the hurtful behaviour, adults need to support children who seek their help, according to a document issued by the Canadian Government on public safety. Ven. Ahangama Rathanasiri Thera, the Chief Abbot of the Toronto Buddhist Temple, said that every immigrant who comes to Canada wants to raise their children in the peaceful atmosphere of Canada and live happily.
“Unfortunately, we know that some people in the Tamil community are trying to mislead the Canadian Government and certain politicians for parochial political gains. Certain Canadian politicians who have not tried to find the truth behind the allegations of genocide or the real background of Sri Lankan politics have supported passing a Bill detrimental to the peace in Canada.
This act has directly threatened the Sinhala community and the people who believe in the Buddhist faith,” he stressed. “When our community faces injustice, we, as the monks representing the Buddhism, cannot turn a blind eye, and that is why today chief monks from six major Buddhist temples in Canada are participating in this important meeting. Not all the Tamils support this Bill. We appeal to sections in the Tamil community not to spread hate among our future generations.
We are worried that our children born and raised here might become targeted because their heritage is Sinhala. Therefore, every Sri Lankan community in Canada has to cooperate to defeat the attempts of a few trying to disrupt harmony to earn votes to come to power in the next election,” the revered monk added. The Bill 104 was passed within a day by seven out of 124 Ontario MPPs present with absolutely no public or expert consultation.
The Bill does not mention the atrocities perpetrated by the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) nor the fact that LTTE is still a banned terrorist organisation in Canada. According to a news report, the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) congratulated Vijay Thanigasalam for presenting the TGEWA in Ontario’s Legislative Assembly.
The TGTE also thanked Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford, Andrea Horwath (NDP) Leader of the official Opposition, Gurratan Singh MPP (NDP), Doly Begum MPP (NDP), Aris Babikian MPP (PC) and Tom Rakocevic MPP (NDP), for addressing the Legislative Assembly in support of the Bill. The SLCAC mentions that all the details about how to donate to the fund to seek legal help to repeal Bill 104 are in their website www. OntarioBill104.ca.
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]]>The post “3rd Phase is Strategize Eelam Struggle on International Stage!” – TGTE appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>A video made during a Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) on 21st of July focuses on the importance of the so called “3rd Phase – Strategize on the International Stage”
Speaker engages the youth by asking “Will the Tamil Eelam continue on to our generation from young people?”. It is seen from the video that the speaker empowering youth to take on the freedom struggle.
“The Power to shape our freedom struggle lies in your hands. There is an incredible amount of responsibility you have on your hands, no doubt about it! An immense amount of power has been bestowed upon you to carry on this legacy. The position you are in BECAUSE OF THE COUNTRY YOU WERE BORN IN, WHERE THE COUNTRIES COME TO YOU , GIVES YOU THE SPACE TO ADVOCATE FOR A TAMIL CAUSE ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE. You are the first generation to voice, you have the loudest voice than any other generation that has come before you”
The speaker asks the question “Who is your audience to convince that we need a free nation?”, where she received “The International Community” as an answer supposedly by a youth. It is clear that the objective of the TGTE is to educate the international community as the Tamil Community is already aware of it.
The speaker justifies violence with weapons and child soldiers (referred to as forefathers being 15-16 years!) given their demands not being met, thus
brainwashing youth.
According to the speaker:
1st phase – Innocent means
2nd phase – Take up arms and violence means
3rd phase – Strategize on the International stage
The speaker outlined (a strategy):
“Political players that come with their own interest on behalf of their own countries and we need to do the same. We must play the game properly, now its all about the network you have created. We should not let the super powers to manipulate us for their benefit. We must never let that happen”
The speaker requested to “channel all the anger all the
frustration into momentum”. The speaker encourages the youth to get involved in
politics, with a clear vision!
The strategy of highly coordinated international effort of Tamil Eelam struggle is visible with the:
* Introduction of Bill 104 by a Tamil MPP and getting it approved for 3rd reading by another Tamil MPP
* Introduction of US Congress Motion 413
* Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day by New South Wales Government (12 May Australia)
Link to full event:
https://tgte.tv/watch/tgte-public-meeting-in-texas-2021-07-19_pwmoGhg6JnPhyOF.html
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]]>The post Seeking an order to prosecute any living terrorist involved in the 1987 Aranthalawa massacre! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has commenced investigations into the Aranthalawa massacre that took place in 1987.
The Attorney General’s Department briefed the Supreme Court today on the investigation being conducted by the CID.
Ven. Andaulpatha Buddhasara Thera who had sustained critical injuries in the Aranthalawa massacre had filed a Fundamental Rights petition in the Supreme Court last year.
He had sought an order to prosecute any living terrorist involved in the massacre, in which 33 Buddhist monks, most of them young novice monks, and four civilians were killed by the LTTE.
Following the petition, then Attorney General Dappula De Livera had directed the IGP to record a statement from the Thera and commence criminal investigations into the incident. (NewsWire)
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]]>An LTTE supporter who was deported from Qatar has been detained by the Terrorism Investigations Department (TID).
The Police said the suspect was deported from Qatar for promoting the LTTE.
Police Spokesman, Senior Deputy Inspector General (SDIG) Ajith Rohana said that the suspect was detained after undergoing 14 days quarantine at a facility in Mullaitivu.
Investigations have revealed that the suspect had fled to Qatar in 2009 and had aided and promoted LTTE ideologies since then.
The TID had informed the INTERPOL and had obtained a Blue Notice against the suspect, after which he had been deported to Sri Lanka.
SDIG Ajith Rohana said upon the suspect’s arrival to Sri Lanka he had been placed in mandatory quarantine and had been arrested by the TID after the completion of his quarantine process yesterday.
The Police spokesman said the suspect who is a 41-year-old resident of Trincomalee, will be detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for interrogations.
The TID is conducting further investigations into the incident.
(MENAFN – Colombo Gazette)
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]]>The post If Nicaragua could take US to international court & win – shouldn’t Sri Lanka do same to India? appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>BY SHENALI WADUGE
In April 1984 Nicaragua referred the US Government to the International Court of Justice claiming the US violated international law by supporting the Contras. The ICJ ruled in favor of Nicaragua in 1986 & demanded reparations be paid to Nicaragua. The US did not participate in the court proceedings. The US also blocked enforcement of the judgement & thus prevented giving compensation. India’s role and interference in Sri Lanka is well documented and one that demands Sri Lanka should officially put India’s interventions internationally – seek apology & reparations too.
The ICJ held that the US was
- ‘in breach of its obligations under customary international law not to use force against another State’
- “not to intervene in its affairs”
- “not to violate its sovereignty”
- “not to interrupt peaceful maritime commerce”
- “in breach of its obligations under Article XiX of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce & Navigation between the Parties signed in 1956.
The US intervention in Nicaragua goes back to early 1909s. Background reading on the Contras, Oliver North and various US administrations will reveal much.
The case in point & what Sri Lanka can take note of from the charges filed by Nicaragua against the US was that the US was “recruiting, training, arming, equipping, financing, supplying and otherwise encouraging, supporting, aiding & directing military and paramilitary actions in and against Nicaragua” – was this not what India was doing to Sri Lanka via Tamil militant groups that India created. Jain Commission report even gives the locations of where India trained these Sri Lankan Tamil groups.
Nicaragua accuses US of violating international Treaty Obligations:
- Article 2(4) of the UN Charter
- Article 18 & 20 of the Charter of the Organization of American States
- Article 8 of the Convention on the Rights & Duties of States
- Article 1, 3 of the Convention concerning the Duties & Rights of States in the Event of Civil Strife
- US breached customary international law by
- Violating the sovereignty of Nicaragua – armed attacks against Nicaragua by air, land & sea, incursions into Nicaraguan territorial waters, aerial trespass into Nicaraguan airspace, direct & indirect coercions & intimidations
- Using force & threat of force against Nicaragua
- Intervening in internal affairs of Nicaragua
- Infringing the freedom of the high seas & interrupting peaceful maritime commerce
- Killing, wounding & kidnapping citizens of Nicargua
These allegations, immediately call to mind how India forced the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987. A call to the Sri Lankan envoy in Delhi with a subtle threat to not take action, the violation of Sri Lanka’s air with the infamous parippu drop, carrying Prabakaran & family to India by helicopter, the many Sri Lankans raped & killed by Indian Peace Keepers, the violation to Sri Lanka’s marine bed using internationally banned bottom trawlers, the stealing of Sri Lanka’s fish, the illegal immigrants, the interference in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs – the list goes on.
What is noteworthy is that while the US put forward arguments against the judgement of the Court, the countries that sided with US did not challenge the Courts judgement, its findings or the merit of the case. Undoubtedly, all of India’s neighbors will side with Sri Lanka, as these countries have all been victims of India’s intervention too.
The judgement listed 291 points that US was involved in ‘unlawful use of force’ – how many points can Sri Lanka list of India’s interventions in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs using ‘unlawful use of force’?
We can recall the upteen times our officials had to virtually fly every week to Delhi to brief the Indians of the progress of Sri Lanka’s military/humanitarian cause in 2009.Why did Sri Lanka have to report to India, if we are a sovereign nation?
What is poignant is that the Court concluded that even though US made its objections, US was subject to the Court’s jurisdiction.
In November 1986, the UNGA passed a non-binding resolution (94-3 against – El Salvador, Israel & US) urging US to comply with the 27 June 1986 Court ruling.
Points that the judgement gave against US is relevant to India’s interference & interventions in Sri Lanka (past and present/ongoing)
The Court rejected US justification of collective self-defense – this is similar ot the eternal parroting by India justifying interference in Sri Lanka to maintain India’s security concerns! When by the very assistance to Sri Lankan Armed groups, India has virtually invited and opened its borders for its own balkanization by this act.
Just as the Court found US guilty of training, arming, equipping, financing & suppling the Contras against Nicaragua – India by its own self-admissions via Indian diplomats, Indian military personnel, Indian journalists etc self-confess to arming LTTE and other Sri Lankan armed groups since 1970s as documented even by foreign think tanks like Council of Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/sri-lankan-conflict(India’s Role in the Conflict)
If US was found guilty of violating the principles of non-intervention, India has to be guilty of doing same. Not only did India train, arm, financially assist LTTE & other armed groups, India even exerted pressure to amend Sri Lanka’s constitution bringing the 13thamendment and creating the headache of Provincial Council system. India continues to use diplomatic force to demand full implementation of the clauses of this agreement which India wishes to turn to its political advantage.
India forced the signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord which rested on India committing to deliver 5key clauses – which India has failed to commit. This automatically places the Accord null & void. Under the principle of International Law ‘Pacta Sunt Servanda’ (agreements must be kept) both parties must execute their mutually agreed obligations in good faith. India breached its obligations under the Accord.
The Indo-Lanka Accord was signed on 29 July 1987 in Colombo under emergency while the 13thAmendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution was passed on 14 November 1987. There is no word in the Indo-Lanka Accord that mentions amending Sri Lanka’s Constitution. The Accord makes no mention of ‘devolution’ either. There is no mention of devolution in the exchange of letters between Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi or Sri Lankan President JR Jayawardena. Their letters & the Indo-Lanka Accord only speak of the North East provinces & a system for these 2 provinces only. How did 13thamendment come about? Given that 13a is now part of Sri Lanka’s constitution, India has no right to add, remove or amend any of its clauses!
India violated Sri Lanka’s airspace with the parippu drop. India threatened Sri Lanka if we took action against India’s interventions. India rescued a terrorist and flew him & family out of Sri Lanka to Delhi where Indian PM presented this terrorist with his own bullet proof vest! India armed 35 militant groups of which LTTE became supreme virtually killing off the other leaders. Indian peace keepers killed and raped Sri Lankans, documented by LTTE itself. India trained an armed group to be headed by their poodle Varatharaja Perumal (Tamil National Army) – isn’t it ironic TNA has become Tamil National Alliance parroting what India & West wants! The use of internationally banned bottom trawlers that ruin our marine bed, marine environment and livelihood of our fishermen is a violation of Sri Lanka’s territorial waters but a marine crime as well. The influx of illegal immigrants is also a topic that needs to be taken to the table. The manner that India uses Tamils as a guineapig to exert its political will is a factor that has resulted in unnecessary tensions amongst communities. The manner India has used its powers to exert its will culturally, economically via cheap goods and manipulation of trade agreements is also a topic to debate.
Sri Lanka cannot progress primarily as a result of India feeling that India must give the nod of approval for every internal decision any Sri Lankan government makes. Even the UNHRC Resolutions by West/EU bloc came only after India’s nod of approval as did the 2002 Norwegian brokered CFA.
Sri Lanka, can come up with 101 policy papers and templates, but none of these nicely documented colourful blueprints will see light of day, if our politicians and advisors run with these documents and expect a pat on the back from India before implementing or a cut and chop if India objects!
Look at the disaster of allocating key assets for development – how can we progress if we work on mathematics that claim – if we give x, we must give y even if y has no plans to do any development and wish to only embrace it and prevent it from developing. Isnt this going to be the story of Colombo’s Western Terminal?
Unfortunately, there are some in Sri Lanka who think because of the Buddhist link Sri Lanka must remain eternally grateful to India. Siddartha was born in Nepal. There was no India. India has a history of 74 years having been christened “India” in 1947 by the colonial British amalgamating independent states & territories. India is making use of Buddhism as a soft tool to gain footprint in Asia as a political tool. However, some in in Sri Lanka think they must run to India and seek its approval without realizing Sri Lanka is a sovereign state capable of making its own decisions. If Cuba can stand up to the self-righteous global bully US, why can’t Sri Lanka do the same with India?
Nicaragua may not have got compensation but it won a moral victory and the example set by Nicaragua is certainly one that Sri Lanka should take against India. Whatever friendships Sri Lanka offers to India or however Sri Lankans and Indian people are close at personal levels, India’s political framework & intel are only interested in destabilizing Sri Lanka.
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]]>The Island
The issue regarding a separate homeland for the Tamils of the world has evoked considerable interest over the past 70 years or so. From the 1950s to about the early 1980s, a strong campaign took place in India for carving out a separate state of Dravidastan in the southern part of India. That campaign reached a level where it nearly threatened the break-up of India; but with some strong-arm tactics and quiet diplomacy, India was able to manage the issue. Nevertheless, as is well known, the yearning is still strong among the Tamils in India to set up a separate state, and many are waiting for a new spark from anywhere in the world to trigger the call once again. The Tamils in Sri Lanka too, attempted to establish a separate State in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka, even prior to Sri Lanka’s independence from the British, and have made many efforts to realize such a goal.
When the call for a separate state in Sri Lanka was mooted, it was no secret that the Tamils in Tamil Nadu were overtly and covertly assisting the effort of the Sri Lanka Tamils to do so. That support was akin to the support that the Tamils in Sri Lanka gave to the Tamils in India, when the Tamils in India tried to realize the dream of a Dravidastan nation. In fact, it is well-known that Tamils in India were supporting the Tamils in Sri Lanka, not because of their sympathy or affinity towards the Tamils in Sri Lanka, but rather as a result of their own compelling desire to create a separate Tamil State, which then, could be of benefit for all Tamils, worldwide.
Unfortunately, the separatist effort in Sri Lanka evolved into a violent and terror phase because of the ruthlessness of the terrorist leader Prabhakaran. But even so, the Tamils worldwide tolerated the terror and the cash extortions, since they perceived Prabhakaran as the possible conduit through whom the elusive Tamil homeland could be won for all Tamils of the world.
It is estimated that there are about 100 million Tamils living in many countries across the world. That, therefore, makes them one of the few races in the world with such a large population, but are yet without a geographical land mass to call their own. This drawback perhaps may be the psychological factor that drives the Tamils’ inner desire to carve out a homeland of their own in some part of the world. However, since their attempts to do so in India and Sri Lanka have failed, it is necessary for the Tamils to now examine the option of identifying a new location, or a part of a country, to create a homeland of their own. It is only if they are able to do so, that they could practice self-determination, nurture their culture, and protect their customs in a comprehensive and sustainable manner.
To achieve that vision, three important factors need to be fulfilled in the identification of a country to host the Tamil nation. First, that country must be sympathetic to the cause of the Tamils, and be one which would encourage the Tamils to express themselves in their own style. Second, that country must already have a critical mass of Tamils. Third, that country must have a sufficient land mass to be able to allocate a land area for setting up such a new Tamil homeland. Then, the billion-dollar question world is which country fits these specifications?
A host country that could comfortably fulfil the conditions as referred to above, is undoubtedly Canada, which is a second largest country in the world. It has a land mass of almost 10 million square kilometres, which makes it 153 times the size of Sri Lanka! It practices bilingualism and is one of the most ethnically diverse, multicultural nations. It has a population of only 38 million. Nearly 15% of its people are Asians, with a large proportion of them being Tamils. Canada is already divided into 3 territories and 10 provinces, many of which are very sparsely populated. That also suggests that the influx of a few million new immigrants to Canada could be accommodated without much tension or displacement of the existing population. In addition, Canada’s Constitution provides for a significant degree of autonomy to its provinces, which would conveniently allow a new ethnic group to establish themselves as an autonomous group, living in a specified location within a federal system of government.
The number of Tamils living in Canada as Canadian citizens is estimated to be around one million, and therefore a critical Tamil population mass has already been established in that country. Many Tamils from Sri Lanka and India have made Canada their home, and serve Canada diligently and loyally. In return, Canada has been sympathetic and generous towards them. At the same time, based upon the benign and tolerant attitude that the Canadians have developed towards minorities, the Canadians have also been able to understand and appreciate the aspirations of the Tamil People. Therefore, Canada will be in a position to actively provide the Tamils with the opportunity to express themselves in a separate state of their own. Moreover, many European Canadians, especially the current leadership in Canada, have openly supported the Tamil aspirations to establish a separate homeland for the Tamil people. They have done so at many world fora, and also canvassed for the Tamils at many global organizations, including the United Nations. Taking all these factors into consideration, Canada seems to be the ideal host country to provide the necessary framework for the Tamils of the world, to help establish their own nation.
The recent demonstrations by the Tamils in Canada have given expression to this growing sentiment, and that must now be recognized by the Canadian authorities. Hence, a suitable official response should be given by Canada to the Tamils of the world, without allowing such peaceful demonstration to take the shape of more violent expressions, as those that took place in Sri Lanka and India. In that regard, the best course of action for Canada would be to respond in a fair manner, and grant the Tamils in Canada the freedom to exercise self-determination in a demarcated part of Canada in a land area of around 200,000 square kilometres, which would, in effect, be only about 2% of its massive land mass. That would then provide the Tamils in Canada the political and economic space to engage in self-rule within the demarcated territory, thereby fulfilling a long felt need of the Tamils.
In that context, the province of Manitoba in Canada seems to be the ideal location from which a suitable segment of land could be conveniently demarcated for the new Tamil nation, since that province has one of the lowest population densities in the world. Such a new nation of the Tamils could, in due course, accommodate Tamils from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Mauritius, Fiji and from any other country, who wish to migrate and make a home in the new nation within the Canadian territory, in much the same way that the Jews from difference lands migrated and settled in Palestine, and established the new state of Israel. This type of a gesture by Canada would not only be a magnanimous humanitarian expression, but also one in which the world surely would position the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau as the foremost contender for the next Nobel Peace Prize. Even more importantly, that action would also lead to the Tamils of the world being finally able to realize their cherished dream of having a separate nation for themselves, with land under their control, and with their own government.
Dr. LIONEL PETERSON
Australia
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]]>The post The United State of America – The land of hypocrisy, lies, and conspiracies. appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>By Jaliya Wickremarachchi Ontario, Canada.
Part I
It was six months ago that American insurrection took place in Washington DC. January 6th 2021, will undoubtedly go down in history as the darkest day of American democracy. The world watched with horror as the most powerful beacon of democracy was coming apart by angry White mobs. They were politically and racially motivated, fuelled by their supreme leader Donald Trump and his Republican enablers. He had been shamelessly and cleverly manipulating his followers for four years with lies and conspiracies, like never seen before.
Many pundits and commentators on mainstream and social media described how shocking and horrifying these attacks on Capitol Hill were. It was the temple of the American democracy, boasted as the epitome of the democracy since the inception of democracy in Greece centuries ago.
America had been telling the world how great its democracy, rule of law, and freedom were. All the while they were turning a blind eye to their own racism, social injustice, violence, and income inequality, including lack of basic social services to millions of low-income Americans, most of whom are Black, Latino, and Indigenous Americans.
Every American administration in the past, be it Republican or Democrat, had been boasting and preaching to the world – especially to developing countries like Sri Lanka – to follow those American values they hold so dear to their hearts. They told us in the developing world that we should follow the rule of law and democracy, respect human rights, and treat minorities with respect and dignity. Yet, they never follow their own rules in treating American minorities with respect and dignity. Human Rights? America is the biggest violator of human rights in the world. They have killed, maimed, and caused unprecedented human miseries around the world, in the name of preserving their version of democracy, rule of law, and freedom, by invading other nations.
U.S. Wars and Hostile Actions: A List – Let’s Try Democracy (davidswanson.org)
Yet, despite the rhetoric and hypocrisy, the rest of the world, including us in Sri Lanka, believed America for decades for its version of democracy, rule of law, innovations in science, technology, and their so-called exceptionalism – the theory that they were inherently better than other nations.
Like many in my generation, I clearly remember the day in July 1969 when the first man landed on the moon, which was an unprecedented milestone in the history of the mankind. As a teenager interested in science and technology, I became a great admirer of America and what it had to offer to the rest of the world. I was not alone in this respect. Millions of young baby boomers around the globe admired USA for many reasons. Among them rock and roll music, cowboy movies, luxury automobiles, open and vast landscape, not to mention the Hollywood – a portal to the unique American culture and its glamorous lifestyles, like no other. Like many teens at the time, I was in awe and mesmerized by this glorified culture that was exposed to the world through its mainstream media. We did not realize at the time that there was a dark side to its glory.
However, after living nearly five decades in Canada, America’s friendly neighbour to the north, I see now how we have been misled and lied to by this self-proclaimed protector of the world. Not only to the world, but to a generation of its own citizens, American governments (like many governments around the world) have not been exactly honest. In my opinion, every US administration (Republican/Democrat alike), had been misleading the American people for decades.
The most obvious deception is how America fabricated facts to invade other nations. There are many examples, such as the Vietnam and Iraq wars. These are some of the most obvious wars that America got involved in to fulfil its own imperialist agenda.
For example, in August 1964, the US claimed that one of their naval vessels was attacked by the North Vietnamese (Communist) forces at Gulf of Tonkin, to justify the invasion. It was admitted later by US naval officials that such an incident never happened.
The Truth About Tonkin | Naval History Magazine – February 2008 Volume 22, Number 1 (usni.org
The result of this lie was the massacre of thousands of innocent Vietnamese by the American war machine, and loss of over 50,000 US soldiers, who were mislead by their own government into thinking that they were fighting to save their country from evil Communism.
There was no other war that has created such social, cultural, and political upheaval in America the way Vietnam War did. Yet America has never learned from its past mistakes, perhaps due to their ongoing perception of American exceptionalism.
The invasion of Iraq was another debacle that the US fabricated, accusing Sadam Hussein to have weapons of mass destruction. This turned out to be one of America’s biggest propaganda lies, causing wide-spread destruction and atrocities for years to come. This also led to the destabilization of Middle East, giving rise to Jihadist terrorism.
All this destruction and mayhem was caused by America and its Western alliance in the name of preserving democracy, rule of law, and the biggest lie of all is to protect human rights, while killing thousands of innocent people in the process. The biggest crime of all is that America has never been held accountable for the war crimes committed in other countries. The United Nation Human Right Commission (UNHRC), Human Right Watch (HRW), had failed to raise concerns against these heinous war crimes. It clearly shows how biased, and who these organizations are working for. It was obvious as none of these human right crusaders uttered a word when an innocent Black man – George Floyd, was murdered (lynched) by White police officers in public. If that was not blatant violations of human rights, then I do not know what it is?
Yet these same human right champions are quick to accuse and shame other countries (like Sri Lanka), for alleged war crimes and human right violations. America talks a good game on human rights and international law, yet refuses to sign most human right treaties, or to be part of the International Criminal Court (ICC). https://thehumanist.com/news/international/the-international-criminal-court-why-is-the-united-states-not-a-member/
America calls itself a moral leader and protector of freedom and rule of law, yet cozies up to some of the worst dictatorships, such as the one in Saudi Arabia, as well as other well-documented human right violators like Israel, Brazil, etc. There is no end to American hypocrisy.
What we have witnessed on the January 6th, 2021, could well be the beginning of the end of a superpower, thanks to its own arrogance, ignorance, and exceptionalism.
The Myth of American Exceptionalism – Foreign Policy
Confidence is an asset for any nation. But when a nation perceives itself as above the law and convinced of invincibility or that it cannot fail, then reality is likely to deliver a wakeup call – which came for US on the 6th of January, at the Capitol Hill. Ancient Greece, Napoleonic France, imperial Japan, and colonial Britain have demonstrated this sort of arrogance, and all with disastrous results.
The conspiracy theories (https://www.factcheck.org/2020/10/trumps-long-history-with-conspiracy-theories/), and pathological lies of Donald Trump and his Republican enablers had managed to convince almost 70% of the Republican voters that Trump would have won landslide if the election was not rigged by the Democrats.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-12-06/donald-trump-election-fraud-lies-psychology This is despite any evidence to prove it. That is an astounding number of Americans who no longer have faith in their electoral process of democratic institutions.
For four years, Donald Trump conditioned his supporters to distrust democratic institutions such as the government. At every political rally, he drove his supporters into frenzy with lies and conspiracy theories. Like those ancient Viking and Anglo-Saxon warriors, they love to bang their chests chanting USA! USA! USA!” and carry the flag, including the Confederation flag – a clear symbol of White Supremacy and systemic racism. His supporters call themselves patriots, willing to die for their cause. This cause is the preservation of White supremacy and White privilege.
Of course, Donald Trump did not invent White Supremacy or racism. He just gave oxygen to those under currents that were always there already. They never went away. If they did, Black leaders like Martin Luther King, John Lewis, Malcolm X, and their ancestors would not have had to fight for civil rights for decades. The Black Lives Matter movement is the result of ongoing injustice and systemic racism in America and its institutions, including in the media.
To understand what happened on the 6th of January, one must understand America’s violent history, which led to the creation of the US constitution after the civil war, nearly 245 years ago.
White entitlement, racism, and slavery were the undeniable factors that shaped the American political and cultural landscape for centuries. Times may have changed but the American (White) mentality may have not. The brutal violence and racist sentiment that led to the first civil war and subsequent insurrections were clearly on display on the 6th of January, when a White mob attacked Capitol Hill. In some ways it may be a precursor to what to expect in the future if the US leaders and law makers ignore this reality. The White Supremacy in America is not a new phenomenon. It has always been there.
In 1877, the southern Democrats passed the Jim Crow law to maintain White Supremacy, segregating and denying civil rights to Black people. These policies continued for generations and were worse in some southern states as late as the 1960s. https://onlinellm.usc.edu/a-brief-history-of-jim-crow-laws/
It is a prime example of how White lawmakers embedded systemic racism to marginalise Black people and other minorities to maintain White privilege and entitlement intact for generations. Unfortunately, many Black people are still treated like third class citizens in their own country, especially by the law enforcement agencies and many other institutions.
White supremacy is not limited to America. It thrives in many European countries including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and in regions of Scandinavia, and Eastern Europe. Even in countries perceived as progressive, like Canada and Australia, there are some groups who still believe in White supremacy and Nazi ideology.
Despite generations of injustice, systemic racism, and oppression, the history shows the American Blacks have never stormed US institutions like Capitol Hill. Yet it was the most privileged, well-protected, group of White Supremists who done the most damage to their own institution that protected them for generations.
It was often the Black community, with leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis, who have upheld peaceful and non-violent principles to demand basic civil rights. Perhaps it is time for the White America and its leaders to learn and understand from Black community how hard it has been in their life-long struggle in America. Perhaps it is also time for the rest of the world to stop stereotyping Black people as violent, lazy, drug addicts, and criminals – the ugly picture that America and its White media portrayed to the world for generations.
We are living in turbulent times, with a global pandemic like none we have witnessed almost in a century. Last year (2020) the world’s most powerful country was out of control in their handling of the pandemic. This is mostly due to the ignorance and impotence of the former Trump administration, also due to the American public’s distrust of authorities, and refusal to follow rules like wearing a mask or follow social distancing. No country in the world has politicized COVID-19 the way America had done under Trump – making them the number one nation of COVID-19 deaths and cases so far. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases/ It was truly a tragedy and a shame, especially for a country that used to lead the world in many areas, including medical and health field.
The rest of the world may be having serious doubts if the US can face its challenges, unless the new administration manages to stop the proverbial bleeding initiated by Trump four years ago. It will be a monumental task to unite a country that is deeply divided racially, politically, and economically.
No matter how painful it is, America must come to terms with the new reality of a fragmented country. American leaders must stop misleading the people with their political rhetoric and hollow slogans of American exceptionalism and past glory. They must look inward to their own problems, rather than lecturing the other nations and trying to police the world.
America is not in a position to dictate its terms on democracy, rule of law and human rights to other countries, especially when its own citizens are refusing to obey those rules and values. It has lost its credibility and moral values. Then again, America has a habit of interfering in other nations, ignoring all their own problems that happen in their own backyard.
President Biden, recognising the dire state of the Union, gave a passionate and emotional speech at his inauguration (January 20, 2021), reminding Americans of the uphill battle that America is facing. Biden’s speech was a sombre reminder to all Americans that they cannot take democracy, liberty, or freedom for granted, which White America (majority) had enjoyed for generations. These values are under attack not from a foreign enemy, but rather by made-in-America White terrorists. It was a rude awakening for America to see their symbol of democracy – Capitol Hill- surrounded by heavily armed military, more like what we have seen in Bagdad or Kabul. Ironically, those were the images the world saw in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, etc., after the US military invaded and destabilized these nations. Now, the chickens have come home to roost to remind Americans that pain and mayhem that they had caused in those countries may easily come back to haunt them. It remains to be seen how America will overcome these self-inflicted wounds, which will have ramifications not only for US but for the entire world.
America is not the dominant power it once was. There are new and upcoming nations in the world. Once a powerhouse of economic, military, technological, and industrial strength, the country now has a formidable challenger. China will surpass US in these areas soon if it has not already.
(China – the rise of next superpower | theindependentbd.com)
America and Europe led the world in the 20th century, as they have benefited and prospered, especially US. All the while the developing countries were struggling to survive the brutal European colonialism, and the mess it had left behind. After the Second World War, the Western nations led by US – dominated the world’s finances, industry, trade, manufacturing, etc. They established global institutions like International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), and the World Trade Organization (WTO), which greatly benefited a limited number of countries and is used to control developing and less developed nations. Thanks to these organizations and their pro-Western policies, the West has prospered tremendously, especially US becoming the most powerful nation on earth, economically and militarily. Global wars and conflicts have been extremely profitable for the US economy, and its war machine.
At the beginning of the 21st century, the shifting of economic power from West to East had started, as China and India begun to develop their economies rapidly. This is especially true of China, which has become an economic powerhouse. With economic dominance comes the financial and military power. The West cannot afford to ignore or treat China as an enemy, the way they had treated Soviet Union during the cold war. The rise of China is a remarkable story itself, and the West did not expect China will be their biggest rival economically and militarily in such a short time. Today world’s economy, especially US, depends on China, as majority of consumer, industrial and medical products are manufactured in China. While the rest of the world is facing a negative growth in economy due to COVID-19, China is the only country showing a significant growth of its GDP this year, surpassing all the other major economies.
China’s economy grows 18.3% in post-Covid comeback – BBC News
America has a new President, who has made promises to be a healer of the deep divisions of inequality and systemic racism. Nearly half of the country https://www.cnn.com/election/2020/results/president voted for Donald Trump, who literally set fire to American democracy, and its institutions on his way out. Yet almost seventy percent of Republican voters still believe in Trumpism, including many Republican law makers. Whether President Biden can safely navigate the landmines laid by Trump and his supporters and bring back the country to its normality, remains to be seen.
Part II: Lessons for Sri Lanka
Like USA, Sri Lanka has been a divided nation politically and socially for many decades. Sri Lanka had its share of corrupted leaders – be they Sinhalese, Tamil or Muslim – who were hypocrites, liars, and conspirators. They have been misleading Sri Lankans for generations for their own benefits and gains. We have seen how our political and community leaders manipulate their own communities with lies and conspiracies, fuelling racial and social disharmony. Such unscrupulous activities led to 35 years of terrorism and a war, killing innocent Tamils, Sinhalese, and Muslims, while sinking the country economically, socially, and politically.
Just like the US must learn from its ugly past, Sri Lanka must also learn from its past if the country is to move forward as a unified nation. It is always the politicians (not the citizens) who exploit and create division and mayhem. There are many lessons Sri Lanka can learn from America and its mistakes of racial, divisive, and entitlement politics.
Whether we like it or not, a change of government in America will affect Sri Lanka in one way or the other. The Biden administration will not be favourable towards Sri Lanka when it comes to HRs and reconciliation efforts. There is no reason to believe they will be any different this time around, especially at the UNHRC session in Geneva. If anything, America will continue to harass and bully developing nations like Sri Lanka with their hypocrisy of HRs, democracy, freedom, etc, with the help of their biased agencies like UNHRC, ICC, HRW, AI, and other NGOs.
The underlined motive of America (and its Western alliance) towards Sri Lanka is not necessarily democracy, HRs or rule of law, or the ethnic issues, but the importance of strategic geo-political location of Sri Lanka in relation to China – the nation considered to be the single biggest threat to Western economy and security today. The US dominance of Indian and Pacific oceans is threatened by the rising navel and military power of China. Whoever controls the Indian Ocean will greatly benefit from having Sri Lanka on their side, since it is only 10 nautical miles north of the world’s busiest navel traffic.
The rise of China and its close relationship with Sri Lanka is the main reason why Sri Lanka has come under scrutiny of America and its allies. India has always been a political conundrum for Sri Lanka due to its unwelcome political influence and proximity. For majority of Sri Lankans, especially for Sinhalese, India is like an obnoxious and annoying relative who is always poking fingers in their family affairs, mainly due to historical, cultural, and religious bind between two countries.
Sri Lanka should be careful not to depend on India for its economic, political, and national problems. India has its own agenda and own problems when dealing with Sri Lanka due to its domestic politics in Tamil Nadu, and perceived threat to their security from emerging China, which is gaining a wide foothold in India’s neighbours. Taking advantage of India’s insecurity, America is exploiting it heavily to make India their proxy to counter China. America is no different than the defunct British Empire which used divide and rule” tactics to destabilize and colonize countries. America is following the same path in a different manner using democracy, HRs, rule of law, as their weaponry to control or destabilize countries like Sri Lanka. The shameless manner of the former US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina B. Teplitz interfered in domestic issues is a classic example of how Western diplomats meddle in Sri Lanka well beyond their diplomatic mandate.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (known as the Quad) is an example of how US is trying to form a strategic partnership between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India to counter the emerging economic and military power of China. QUAD is called an Asian NATO led by USA. Why the Quad Alliance Is Ambiguous and Contradictory | Time
The West exploits local divisions of ethnic and religious minorities, and internationalizes those issues through their institutions like UNHRC, HRW, AI, and other Western based NGOs and think tanks, to show that the West is concerned about the freedom and human rights of global minorities. This is while turning a blind eye to systemic racism, and oppression of minorities in America – such as Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans, Indigenous communities in Canada and Australia, non-white immigrants and Muslims in UK, and in the European Union. The list goes on, but they conveniently turn a blind eye to their own biases and prejudices.
Yet these hypocritical Western nations are eager to point fingers on developing nations, such as Sri Lanka for eliminating terrorism and bringing peace and stability, which benefited the war-ravaged North and East the most. Democracy, freedom, equity, justice, and lasting peace are universal values shared by all of humanity. The difference is that the West believes (arrogantly) that these values belong only to them, and they can weaponize such values to crucify other nations that do not buy into their hypocrisy.
Sri Lanka should tread cautiously. Certainly, Sri Lanka needs global markets, investors, and expertise to further develop its economy, manufacturing, and infrastructure. Due to its strategic geo-political location, Sri Lanka must be careful in identifying its allies and enemies. The most strategic way to leverage geo-political importance is to be cautious about aligning with India, USA, or China. Sri Lanka must not give ownership of its natural resources or sell off national assets like harbours and airports. However, Sri Lanka desperately needs the support of reliable partners like China – not only to develop the country but to defend Sri Lanka at the international stage from hostile and bias institutions like UNHRC. It might be a high wire balancing act to stay non-aligned, especially when Sri Lanka is in significant debt and its economy is perilous. But opportunities exist if the current leaders are politically and diplomatically savvy to understand that global politics is a chess game, which needs strategic, and out of the box thinking. The late Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Quan, understood it early on. That is why Singapore is one of the countries with highest per/capita income in the world today, equally admired by the East and the West.
Richest Countries in the World 2020 | Global Finance Magazine (gfmag.com)
Unfortunately, we have yet to see such a visionary leadership that can guide Sri Lanka, to move forward with unity, prosperity, respecting the will of the people. Almost 73 years after independence, Sri Lanka is still struggling economically, socially, and politically. Many other countries in the region such as Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, which have been ravaged by wars and other disasters have moved on becoming economic miracles and social models that many countries look up to.
Culture of corruptions, ego-centric politics with entitlement, with little or no respect for the law and order are the primary reasons why Sri Lanka has been unable to move forward as a nation; making it dangerously vulnerable for the foreign, and other undesirable forces to interfere in domestic, and international affairs of the nation.
The latest developments in Canada and USA should be a great concern for the present regime in Sri Lanka. The passing of Ontario Bill-104 (Tamil Genocide and Education Week Act –Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, 2021 – Legislative Assembly of Ontario (ola.org)) sent shock waves among Sri Lankan communities around the world. Its ramification on future generation of Sri-Lankan Canadians will be devastating as every school in Ontario will have to teach every year (in May), about an alleged genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The other most disturbing development is the passing of a resolution by the US Congress recognizing North and East of Sri Lanka as the traditional homeland of Tamils. This is a recipe for disaster if not met head on by the Sri Lankan government. H. RES. 413
Both these events are extremely damaging to Sri Lanka, and it might open a pandora’s box as many pro-LTTE associations and their supporters in many countries will be encouraged to bring numerous bills and resolutions against Sri Lanka, especially after the passing of Ontario Bill-104.
Sri Lanka may have won the terrorist war, but unfortunately it has failed the propaganda war miserably after the war. As a result, well-organized, well-funded, well-connected LTTE organizations in the West are ramping up their propaganda war against Sri Lanka in the international arena with vengeance.
Ignoring these critical and dangerous issues is not an option for Sri Lanka any longer. There will be a domino effect of these in the Western countries where powerful pro-LTTE Diaspora is lobbying relentlessly with the help of their supporters (politicians) to make Sri Lanka a global pariah.
What we are witnessing now is the results of 12 years (since the end of the war) of negligence and inactions by the successive Sri Lankan governments to counter pro-LTTE propaganda in the Western nations like Canada, UK, USA, and Australia where pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora lobbying is powerful and effective.
Sri Lanka no longer can afford to ignore these highly critical issues, which will not only affect the reputation of Sri Lanka severely, but more importantly its international trade, tourism, etc. This will have a devastating effect on economy, which has suffered badly already due to global pandemic.
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]]>A human smuggling operation involving around 70 Sri Lankans, mostly Tamils from the North, was thwarted by the Karnataka Police on Friday (11). They travelled in boats to Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu in different batches, Ceylon Today learns. Thirty-eight of them had arrived on 17 March 2021in Tuticorin on a boat and had travelled to Mangalore, Karnataka. They had been residing in lodges and houses in Mangalore, Karnataka Commissioner of Police Shashi Kumar told Ceylon Today on Friday. They had left for Mangalore due to elections in Tamil Nadu, he added. Investigations conducted jointly with Tamil Nadu intelligence revealed that another 40 illegal migrants had arrived in the State and had remained there. All of them had travelled to Tuticorin in boats from the Northern part of Sri Lanka, he said. “Each of them has paid their agents between Rs. 600,000 to Rs. 1 million and one of the agents was also nabbed in Tamil Nadu,” he said. The illegal migrants said that they wanted to go to Canada for job opportunities and some claimed they had contacts there. “They were assured of good jobsand better life,” the Police Commissioner added.
He said the illegal migrants were between the ages 18-30 and had arrived in Tuticorin, 145 nautical miles from Jaffna on 17 March when the State of Tamil Nadu was under lockdown due to COVID-19. Thirty eight of them were detained at the Police community hall in Mangalore and were produced in Court later that evening, he added. According to the Police Commissioner they were planning to leave for Canada from Mangalore.
https://uploads.ceylontoday.lk/epapers/files/CT-1-16-13-06-2021-CT.pdf
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]]>Ms. Chandra Fernando Educational Consultant, USA
I write to you today as a US citizen of Sri Lankan descent, a teacher trainer, child advocate, and an advocate for peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Ever since the devastation of the Asian Tsunami,
I usually spend several weeks in Sri Lanka in January and February of each year.
Since the war ended, I have participated in efforts towards reconciliation through my role as an educational consultant, teacher trainer and peacemaker. Since 2009, when the 26 year -old conflict ended, I focused my attention on reconciliation efforts through several private organizations and friends in Sri Lanka.
First, I visited a rehabilitation center for 200 former child combatants and participated in several educational and recreational activities with them. My first visit was not long after the war ended. I visited these children ages 12 to 16 with a group of teachers who worked with them every week day afternoon. At that time, I observed their sad and untrusting demeanor and witnessed their physical and mental trauma. It was heartbreaking to listen to their stories of abduction, molestation and oppression by the LTTE. This was a heart wrenching experience.
From the first time I visited these children, I was struck by the kindness and the nurturing shown to these children by the staff of the Rehabilitation Center. Most military staff who worked with them
did not wear uniforms so they could make the children feel comfortable. The Commander of the rehabilitation center although in uniform, was so kind to these children that they called him Appa” which in the Tamil language means, Father”. Men and women who cared for them took great care to make the children comfortable both physically and mentally. It was a long road to recovery; but when I went back a year later, I was stunned by the success of this rehabilitation program. In my research on the plight of child soldiers in international conflicts, I had never come across such an amazing and effective undertaking in such a short period of time.
I wanted to focus on this venture to put a very important and positive light on the handling of a very significant burden of any war. Children are the worst affected in any armed conflict. The recruitment of young children as soldiers is a brutal and dastardly act. As an American, and humanitarian, I am conscious of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child. Although the United States has not ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child, it is still a signatory to it. I am sure you will agree this act of barbarism is totally unacceptable in civilized societies.
I am bringing this up at this time because on several occasions, the United States has humiliated Sri Lanka by sponsoring resolutions on human rights violations, and not once did the US Government
mention the positive measures undertaken on the ground. Not once did these resolutions recognize important child protection initiatives undertaken by the Sri Lankan Government. As an eye- witness to some of these measures on my visits to the North in the past several years, I am disappointed at the way we in the US have acted towards a nation that has finally put a stop to the daily violence by the LTTE. The pro-LTTE diaspora may have billions to lobby congress but they have the blood of innocent children on their hands.
In the past couple of years, I have been involved with other children’s projects designed to promote reconciliation efforts in Sri Lanka. We have had joint educational and social projects between the children of the North and South which have resulted in many heartwarming exchanges between the Tamil and Sinhalese children. Many groups in Sri Lanka have activated wonderful opportunities for reconciliation. These efforts by both the government and private organizations need to be recognized and encouraged. The US needs to listen to those people who want a united Sri Lanka. It is time to recognize Tigers in Sheep’s clothing; the Pro-LTTE Diaspora does not have a plan for a united Sri Lanka. They have economic interests in keeping a conflict going between the two communities. The pro-LTTE diaspora are creating a wedge between the local communities for their own benefit. However, there is a large silent majority of the diaspora and the Tamil citizens in Sri Lanka who do not agree with their ideas and tactics.
If the goal of some Western powers is to divide the country along ethnic lines, this will certainly happen. What the UNHRC rand US esolutions have achieved indirectly up to now is the creation of distrust in the Sri Lankan community. The Pro-LTTE Diaspora has been emboldened by the results of the biased resolutions and they are doing their utmost to destroy a sovereign state and its gentle people. Most of the pro-LTTE diaspora have not stepped foot on Sri Lankan soil during or after the end of the conflict. We, who have regularly visited and worked with the people of the North have a very different view of things on the ground. Using doctored-material, these divisive individuals have spread false information about the people of Sri Lanka to members of Congress and to the international community, who in turn have fallen for it Hook, Line and Sinker.
Sri Lanka has made tremendous strides since the successful end of its war against terrorism in May 2009. Since the end of the conflict, Sri Lanka has:
· Resettled 300,000 people who were displaced by the conflict;
· Invested $1 billion annually on new infrastructure to help support livelihoods and the economy, especially in conflict-affected areas;
· Rehabilitated over 1,000 former LTTE child soldiers and re-united them with their families;
· Given amnesty and job and educational training to 12,000 former LTTE terrorists who have returned to civil society;
· Held Presidential, Parliamentary and Regional elections in formally terrorist controlled areas;
· Lifted conflict-era emergency regulations that were in place for 26 years;
· Have begun to adopt the recommendations of the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission.
I hope you will consider the view of those of us who have no affiliation with the Government of Sri Lanka, no connection to any political party in Sri Lanka, and no hidden agenda. As a teacher, peace advocate and one who seeks peace for ALL children of Sri Lanka and beyond, I respectfully ask you to consider these few facts I have noted:
Ms. Chandra Fernando
Educational Consultant, USA
Member, Peace and Social Justice Committee,
The American Montessori Society
(Author, A Little Book of Peace in Sinhala, Tamil and English
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]]>Amb. Aryasinha cites Gash, Smith:
Following Gen. Chagie Gallage’s strong condemnation of what he called a sininster US move to harass Sri Lanka further, as reported by The Island recently, the Sri Lankan government has formally requested the US House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) not to proceed with H. RES. 413 against Sri Lanka moved by Congresswoman Deborah Ross (Democrat/North Carolina) on 18 May 2021.
In a letter addressed to HFAC Chair Representative Gregory Meeks (Democrat/New York) and Ranking Member Representative Michael McCaul (Republican/Texas), Sri Lanka’s Ambassador to the USA Ravinatha Aryasinha said, “Sri Lanka vehemently opposes the contents of the resolution which contains allegations relating to Sri Lanka that are inaccurate, biased and unsubstantiated, raising grave suspicion regarding the intention of the resolution”.
The letter was accompanied by a detailed analysis of the resolution, which laid out paragraph by paragraph, its prejudicial nature.
The Ambassador observed that the proposed resolution which equates the LTTE – proscribed by the US since 1997 and named by the FBI in 2008 as “among the most dangerous and deadly extremists in the world” – to an ‘armed independence organization’, exposes the resolution’s origins and purpose.
The Resolution encourages separatism and questions even the nature of the Sri Lanka State, by references to ‘Traditional Tamil Homelands’. This not only misrepresents established historical facts, and present-day realities, but also contributes to supporting the dismemberment of Sri Lanka, which is the ultimate goal of the LTTE and its supporters.
Ambassador Aryasinha said the resolution’s willful ignorance of the USA’s own security concerns about the LTTE and its front organizations and efforts at glorification of terrorism, will give inspiration to rump elements of the LTTE and its numerous front organizations within the US and across the world, as well as to other terrorist organizations.
Observing that the USA had been “a consistent defense partner of Sri Lanka, including in Sri Lanka’s war against terror”, the Ambassador said “the resolution which is at significant variance with stated U.S. policy, across Administrations – both Democratic and Republican, may lead to an erroneous conclusion that the House supports armed acts to achieve political goals. This would undermine the US Administration’s own foreign policy foundation of being rooted in democratic values, and negatively impact the warm bilateral relations between Sri Lanka and the USA”.
It asserts that the Sri Lanka Government, having struggled for nearly 30 years to defeat LTTE terrorism, consistent with its constitutional duties to protect its citizens regardless of race, religion, language, caste, sex, political opinion or place of birth, launched a humanitarian operation to protect and liberate all Sri Lankans. It also outlined the measures taken by the Government since the defeat of terrorism in May 2009, to address the needs of 300,000 internally displaced who had been used as human shields by the retreating LTTE, to rebuild and develop infrastructure in the conflict affected areas and to restore livelihood opportunities to many, including to over 12,000 ex-LTTE combatants – also comprising 596 child soldiers, who were rehabilitated and reintegrated into the society.
Ambassador Aryasinha recalled that following the ending of the conflict, the then government in 2013 conducted Northern Provincial Council elections, ensuring democratic freedoms and rights to the people of the North. He noted that since 2017, all minority parties in Parliament, including the TNA, supported the deferral of elections, through a ruling that required electoral reform prior to holding PC elections, which never materialized. For nearly 3 years, the HRC or Western countries having not taken issue with the delay of elections to Provincial Councils, including that of the Northern Province, however, presently have projected it as a major issue, at a time the current government has taken the initiative to appoint a Parliamentary Committee to make recommendations on this matter.
Noting that reports on Sri Lanka cited in the Resolution, including the OISL Report of 2015, constituted a mere subjective narrative of events including “desk-reviewed” information, the Ambassador said that these documents failed to reveal sources and were not verifiable. On the contrary, there was an abundance of verifiable evidence that has been ignored, contained in, interalia, the Lessons Learnt Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), the ‘Paranagama Commission’, reports from the UN and international agencies including the UNDP, UNICEF and the ICRC, as well as information presented before the UK House of Lords by Lord Naseby challenging among other things the vastly exaggerated civilian casualty figures. Expert opinions including by international legal luminaries, as well as dispatches in real time by Colonel Anton Gash, Military
Attaché of the British High Commission in Colombo and statements by Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith who had served as Defense Attaché of the US Embassy during the last phase of the conflict, also contested this narrative.
Ambassador Aryasinha also observed that, having had Sri Lanka co-sponsor UN Resolution 30/1 in October 2015 and extracted a commitment that Sri Lanka will initiate an accountability mechanism which would include foreign judges and lawyers, which was unconstitutional, for 5 years neither the UN bodies nor the US and other proponents of this resolution, pressed the previous government to carry out its promises.
He said, calling for an “international mechanism” at this juncture is sinister, at a time the present Government has provided a credible transparent domestic process to address the concerns raised, by in January 2021 instituting a Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCOI), which had on 4 March 2021 “invited any person, persons or organizations to submit written representations or information or any other material which relates to the above for the Commission to inquire”. The Commission has been conducting hearings since April and heard testimony from witnesses.
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]]>Resolution 413 was presented to the US Congress on 18 May 2021 by Deborah K Ross and 4 co-sponsors though 9 US Congressmen signed a letter to US Secretary of State on the same day. It was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Ironically, 4 of these signatories have direct links to pro-LTTE lobbies. Presumably Resolution 413 was to be about Sri Lanka’s conflict that ended on 18 May 2009 but the demands coming out of it, tells a different stor. The clauses and allegations no doubt were penned not by them and warrants to know the architect of this draft resolution.
Part 1: Questions for US Congressmen writing to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Sri Lanka
Lie 1:
Sri Lanka’s conflict that ended in May 2009 was between Government of Sri Lanka National Army and LTTE. Members or leaders of other armed Tamil groups were killed by LTTE during the 1980s and 1990s.
Lie 2:
Sri Lanka’s conflict was not ‘civil’ nor ‘ethnic but terrorist. With an armed group attempting to by gun carve part of Sri Lanka and hold control of it with the gun. LTTE were an all Tamil armed group but LTTE killed more Tamils than they care to admit not only in Sri Lanka but overseas as well. Overseas killings continue to this day. What are foreign governments doing to stop pro-LTTE groups threatening non-LTTE Tamils?
Lie 3:
Not only Tamil people, but every other citizen of Sri Lanka suffered while LTTE prevailed with their guns. There was never a day without a LTTE suicide mission, bombing or assassination attempt. All communities were displaced and casualties prevailed from all communities. It is unfair to presume & promote notion that only Tamils suffered.
Lie 4:
The Lessons Learned & Reconciliation Commission was appointed by the Government in March 2010. The UN Secretary General appointed a 3-member panel to personally appraise him in June 2010. There is no ground to claim that because the LLRC failed the UNSG appointed a panel.
Moreover, this panel was only a personally commissioned panel without mandate of either the UN General Assembly or the UN Security Council.
The UN must explain how a personally commissioned panel report can end up the basis for the OHCHR Head’s reports and the foundation of successive resolutions against a sovereign and UN member state.
Challenge to UNHRC:
The UNHRC must explain the legal basis for OHCHR’s report using a personally commissioned report as basis for reports against Sri Lanka.
The UNHRC must explain why the UNSG’s personally commissioned report was never tabled in the UNHRC, UNGA or UNSC
The UNHRC must provide evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity and verifiable violations of international humanitarian laws instead of hiding ‘witnesses’ for 20 years and depending on media lobbying and lies to embarrass and humiliate a sovereign state and its national army. We accept that there may be one or two soldiers who may act reckless and outside of the line of orders, but this should not warrant for the UNHRC or any country to paint the entire army as war criminals. Bring out the evidence against these individual soldiers and demand action be taken against them only. We will all support this. But, we are not ready to have our armed forces branded as war criminals based on a legally questionable post-conflict process that has denied due process to Sri Lanka and has more questions than answers.
It is clear from every demand made in the successive UNHRC Resolutions and the coterie of co-sponsors headed by US that these demands are using the conflict as a guinea pig to continue their geopolitical arm twisting against Sri Lanka.
The US Congressmen may like to look at all the international tribunals held and realize the futility of these tribunals which have not brought any justice to the victims whatsoever. South Africa is a good example of no truth nor justice arising after millions have been spent. Thus, the allocation of funds for a similar exercise in Sri Lanka is going to be nothing but distribution of employment opportunities and to facilitate people to poke their nose into Sri Lanka’s internal affairs on the camouflage that they seek truth.
Lie 5:
There is no such ‘traditional Tamil homeland’and anyone claiming so must prove where Tamils evolved first (in Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka) and next answer how there are 76million Tamils in Tamil Nadu (named as State for Tamils) and only 2million Tamils in Sri Lanka. Where Tamils evolved is the homeland of the Tamils. Tamils sought self-determination in Tamil Nadu first.
An ethnic group cannot demand 2 separate homelands in 2 separate sovereign states.
Lie 6:
On what evidence are these Congressmen claiming the North is ‘heavily militarized’ – this is the very nation that is refusing to remove troops from Okinawa, Japan, continues to maintain troops in Germany despite end of World War 2 and is illegally occupying countries with armed forces stationed since 2001.
The US Congressmen have completely ignored the US military attache of the US embassy Lt. Col. Lawrence Smith and the UK defense attache Lt. Colonel Anthony Gash’s despatches from January to May 2009 that completely demolishes the allegations by UNHRC.
Authenticity of statements
The former Northern PC Chief Minister, former justice of the Supreme Court who lived all his life in South of Sri Lanka, was educated amongst Sinhalese and only after his 70plus years went to live in the North in 2013. He needs to survive in politics and to do so, he needs to play to the gallery by making statements to keep alive the LTTE /separatist lobby. The allegations he has made publicly is now facing a court case.
Lie 7:
The Provincial Council system was forced upon Sri Lanka following the forced signing of the Indo-Lanka Accord in 1987. No one in Sri Lanka asked for a PC system. The merged North-East Provincial Council was annulled following a unilateral declaration of independence in 1990 by Varatharaja Perumal who ran away to live in India. The merged N-E PC was demerged in 2006. While elections have been regularly held in other PCs, the terror of LTTE prevented elections in North & East. However, no sooner the East was liberated PC elections were held in 2008 and PC elections were held in North in 2013. The people of Sri Lanka however do not wish to continue the PCs primarily because it is a burden on the tax payer. Regular elections are held for Parliament & to elect a President therefore the people’s democratic rights are very much prevalent.
According to IHS Markit, there are 85million surveillance cameras watching over US citizens (one for every 4.6 people in the US) Under the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, the U.S. Postal Service photographs the exterior of every piece of paper mail that is processed in the United States and these Congressmen are talking about surveillance in Sri Lanka.
With over 609421 covid deaths in US, the highest the world over, the US can hardly be proud of its record. Sri Lanka until October 2020 had just 13 deaths and the health workers and Sri Lanka Armed Forces, Police & Intel agencies were doing an admirable job handling covid.
Reminding UNHRC of the UN Charter
The UNHRC has been of late targeting smaller nations as a result of lobbying of powerful nations and powerful lobby groups. This runs contrary to the main UN Charter that assures non-interference into internal affairs of sovereign states.
It is unfortunate that while the very countries that accuse Sri Lanka, violate all international laws with impunity & immunity, they deem fit to question every internal system of Sri Lanka and demand that Sri Lanka only enforces what they desire, and they call this democracy and human rights!
Do the US Congressmen questioning about military appointments in Sri Lanka know that out of the 45 presidents of the United States, 29 had some military experience!
Do the US Congressmen now quoting the US role in the UNHRC Resolutions against Sri Lanka, also recall that the US walked out of the UNHRC calling it the ‘cesspit of political bias’.
Certainly, we want justice but that justice must cover all the victims without favor and it must begin by giving justice to the victims of the terroristsand that even includes all of the other Tamil militant groups that were virtually annihilated by the LTTE.
The commemorations that the LTTE lobbies attend with fanfare does not include mourning for the dead of other Tamil militant groups. In fact, mourning them is taboo.
All of the commemorations taking place in US, UK, Canada, France etc featuring pro-LTTE groups proudly displaying the LTTE flag alongside the US National Flag, the Union Jack etc are mourning LTTE dead not Tamil civilian dead.All of the commemorations taking place to which US, UK, European, Australian, Canadian MPs attend are to mourn the LTTE dead not Tamil civilian dead. This is what makes a mockery of banning LTTE by their governments. It is not that everyone does not know this. Everyone knows this but it is a good geopolitical arm twisting tool.
Therefore, it is the LTTE that must face the war crimes charges. They took to guns. They chose their fate. They were given 3 opportunities to surrender. They refused to lay down arms and surrender. With this opportunity given and denied from January 2009 onwards the war ended and the humanitarian rescue operation began until all of the Tamils taken hostage and kept as human shields were brought to safety on 15 May 2009.The remaining 3 days was between the LTTE fighters and the Sri Lankan National Army. If anyone claims that during the last 3 days some 40,000 died – then these were LTTE fighters and too bad they met their waterloo by choice. Anyone getting killed after 15 May 2009 by Sri Lanka’s troops were LTTE and not Tamil civilianswho chose to fight till their last man. Let no one forget that some 12,000 LTTE in civilian clothing did surrender and this included 594 child soldiers who were all given a presidential pardon, rehabilitated and returned to their families.
But if foreign governments and foreign politicians & even the UNHRC wish to cry over LTTE dead & hold international commemorations – we won’t stop them because it is a hilarious sight to watch!
Nevertheless, continuing the demand for justice, what the people of Sri Lanka want is for the GoSL to hold an investigation into every individual and political group that had links with the LTTE & begin with the TNA and hold them guilty of treason and declare them traitors to the nation for aiding and abetting terrorism and separatism via the 6thamendment.
As for the UN mechanisms for tribunals and truth seeking, we seriously question how far any of their tribunals have manifested in providing any justice except giving employment and creating opportunities to poke the noses into internal affairs of countries for further geopolitical interference. Isn’t this the real reason for the conflict that ended in May 2009 to continue politically? When the people are Sri Lanka are getting on with their lives. When the Tamils are enjoying a developed North, when former LTTE are also starting a new life – who seems to want to reverse all this? The LTTE lobbies living overseas and their political cronies overseas.
Are LTTE lobbies influencing foreign governments and foreign politicians or are foreigngovernments and foreign politicians manipulating LTTE lobbies for their geopolitical agendas?We all know the answer – its nothing but a ‘you scratch our backs, we will scratch yours’.
If the UNHRC was doing its job properly, it should have investigated and taken action against all the illegal invasions & arming and training of terror groups & exporting them to countries to cause mayhem instead of henpecking a country that solved its terrorist problem by its own armed forces, a fete no other national army has been able to do.
Let jealousy and revenge not tarnish the image of Sri Lanka’s national army.
By all means, let the personally commissioned Darusman Report be tabled in the UNGA, UNSC together with the OISL report and afford an opportunity for us to present counter arguments and for the UN legal team to answer one simple question – was the process of UNHRC Resolutions legal & was due process followed by the UNHRC and OHCHR Head and Office.
Shenali D Waduge
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]]>The post 34th year commemoration of the Aranthalawa massacre appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>It is on a day like this (June 2nd 1987), the Tamil Terrorists, funded by the Tamil Terrorist Diaspora killed 33 innocent Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka. This is the Tamil initiated genocide that happened in Sri Lanka. Who is responsible for this massacre? Tamil Terrorist sympathizing Diaspora, LTTE, Canadian politicians who support the Terrorist sympathizers.
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]]>The post A huge challenge to integrity of Canadian laws appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>An Open Letter to Canadian Leaders
Impact of Ontario’s Bill 104, Tamil Genocide Education Week Act, 2021 and GTA Mayoral Proclamation of Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day on May 18th
Right Honourable Prime Minister, Honourable Ministers, Premier of Ontario, Honourable Members of the Federal Parliament/ Ontario Legislature and GTA Mayors,
A private member’s bill by one MPP Vijay Thanigasalam of the PC Party, apparently an active supporter of the internationally designated terrorist movement, known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), so designated by the UNSC Resolution Number 1373 of September 2001 and proscribed by 32 countries, including Canada, the USA, the UK, India, the EU, etc., as seen from material carried in his Facebook, which, has since been deleted following exposure, presented this Bill with a host of false statements which are unproven and unsubstantiated, which, unfortunately was passed into law on May 6, 2021, without even hearing the objections presented by the public, thereby seriously affecting the integrity of the laws of this province of Canada.
Furthermore, the Ontario Provincial Legislature does not have the authority to determine the actions of any party in an armed conflict anywhere as being ‘genocidal’ in nature, as this authority rests with the United Nations, following the Genocide Convention held in 1948 as per the ruling given by the International Criminal Court, following the adoption of the Resolution by the Member States of the UN. Neither the UN nor any of its agencies has to date declared the military actions taken against the separatist terrorist movement, the LTTE, as being genocidal in nature.
This opens the door for an officially recognized Tamil Genocide Education Week from May 11th to May 18th each year in Ontario Schools, allegedly committed by the Sri Lankan authorities during the latter stages of the armed conflict between the security forces of the Sri Lankan Government and the armed terrorist forces of the LTTE, concluded on May 18, 2009, with the defeat of 30 years of terrorism and the dawn of an era of peace and the restoration of the ‘Right to Life’ which had been hijacked by the terrorists that targeted both the military and civilians in the country. This is bound to cause intense pain, and suffering among the children in Ontario schools from the rest of the constituent communities making up the Sri Lankan nation, such as the Sinhalese, Muslims, Malays, Burghers, including Tamils that opposed the terrorist ways adopted by the LTTE such as suicide bombings, ethnic cleansing, night attacks on remote villages with machetes and guns, etc. They could even become victims of harassment and violence in the school environment.
The armed conflict was thrust on the Sri Lankan state by the armed separatist terrorist group that sought 30 percent of the island’s land and 66 percent of the coastline and adjacent territorial waters of the Indian ocean in the north and east, for 12.8 percent of Tamils of whom less than half lived in the region with a larger number living outside in mixed ethnic surroundings. By cutting off drinking and irrigation water at the Mavil Aru anicut in Sri Lanka, to 30,000 farming families dependent on the same, for almost two weeks in July/August 2006, compelling Sri Lanka to use her Army to restore water to the affected people.
Refer the Human Rights Watch report of March 15, 2006, wherein it is stated that the LTTE extorted large sums of money from expat Tamil individuals and businesses to launch their so called final war of liberation. The LTTE forces were later forced to withdraw from their bases on the northwest coast and the Vanni to their strongholds in the northeast, compelled the Tamil civilians to accompany the retreating LTTE forces to be exploited for their labour, conscripted to replace fallen cadres and used as a human shield.
Sri Lanka rescued a total of 295,873 persons, including 12,600 Tamil Tiger fighters who surrendered, kept them in welfare camps in Vavuniya, fed them three meals a day, provided medical and psychological treatment, access to education, vocational training and new livelihood skills, and resettled them in their former villages after demining the land of nearly 1.5 million landmines, restoring infrastructure, including building 1,000 schools, hospitals, roads, replacement homes, re-establishing the rail links by replacing almost 150 km of rail track destroyed by the Tamil Tigers within a space of about 1 – 3 years.
The Justice Maxwell Paranagama Commission on Missing Persons in Sri Lanka was assisted by a team of international legal and military experts in matters relating to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and War Crimes issues in respect of the military operations against the LTTE, where they concluded that the Sri Lankan forces had not violated IHL or committed war crimes. These experts were internationally recognized authorities, many of whom had served as legal advisers or prosecutors in the International Criminal Courts. The team of experts was led by Right Honourable Sir Desmond de Silva, QC. (UK), together with Professor Sir Geoffrey Nice QC. (UK), Professor David M. Crane (USA), Mr. Rodney Dixon, QC. (UK/ South Africa), Professor Michael Newton (USA) Vanderbilt University, Professor William Fenrick (Canada), Professor Nina Jorgensen of Harvard University, Mr. Paul K. Mylvaganam (UK) and Major General Sir John Holmes, DSO, OBE, MC (UK) former head of the British SAS. The ignorance inscribed within this simpleton reading is underlined when set in contrast with an assessment provided after a careful review in 2015 by the retired SAS officer, Major General Sir J.T. Holmes after: “the SLA did not rush in, but instead took its time to plan and adapt its tactics to take account of the civilian presence. It was, in the view of the author, an entirely unique situation and the fact that 295,000 people escaped alive is in itself remarkable.” Refer the blogsite of Prof. Michael Roberts of Adelaide, Australia for more pertinent information: https://thuppahis.com/2018/10/16/the-western-worlds-cumulous-clouds-of-deception-blanketing-the-sharp-realities-of-eelam-war-iv/.
The Tamilnet, a propaganda arm of the LTTE reported total of 7398 being killed during the period January 1 to May 18, 2009, the UN Resident Representatives Office said that 7721 had been killed between September 2008 and May 13, 2009, the US embassy in Colombo estimated 5,000 deaths, while Col. Anthony Gash, the UK Military Attache in Colombo, reported a total of between 7,000 and 8,000 to the FCO in the UK, saying that about 2,000 of whom were done to death by the LTTE per Lord Naseby of UK. The Sri Lankan Government carried out a census using Tamil school teachers and public officials as enumerators to arrive at a figure of 7,432 deaths due to the conflict. The ICRC reported having ferried 18,439 injured for treatment to hospitals outside the final battle theatre, which number is usually 2 to 3 times the number killed based on global averages.
MPP Thanigasalam cites the figure of 40,000 deaths estimated by UNSG’s personally appointed panel, not sanctioned by the UNGA or UNSC, headed by Marzuki Darussman which later recommended that the information mainly gathered from pro-LTTE supporters be locked away for 20 years till 2031, the UN’s Charles Petrie’s internal review of the Darussman report where he estimated 70,000 deaths, the LTTE propagandist Yasmin Sooka’s estimate of 100,000 deaths, and yet others who like Darussman and the rest estimated a total of as much as 146, 679 deaths from outside Sri Lanka without visiting the country. These figures quoted by the MPP are fictitious and not proven, and therefore cannot form part of the legislation.
It has been established that half the LTTE fighters did battle in civilian attire deliberately to blur the distinction between combatant and genuine civilian. They prevented these Tamil civilians from leaving to safety during two 48-hour ceasefires implemented by the Sri Lankan forces in February and April 2009, and in fact fired on those that attempted to flee their control killing large numbers, which was captured by UAVs and shown to foreign diplomats based in Colombo. Nor did they agree to surrender, despite numerous offers made by the state to ensure the safety of the internally displaced Tamil civilians, expecting western countries to intervene and spring them to an African country to continue their terrorist warfare in pursuit of a separate state.
It is hoped that the political leaders of Canada will rectify this serious anomaly in the law, and restore Canada’s honour and integrity.
MAHINDA GUNASEKERA
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]]>The post Law passed in Ontario without fact verification now teaches Buddhism is behind pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>By Rathna Kulathunga
Toronto – May 25, 2021. Bill 104: Tamil Genocide Education Week Act was passed in Ontario without fact checking and amid a huge line-up of deputation requests to the Clerk of the committee by thousands of concerned Sri Lankans of Canadian Origin. This Bill was released to the 3rd reading without modification on the 5th of May and passed without debate from the Ontario legislature on the 6th of May in an unprecedented move by the Ontario Conservatives purely intended to pacify electoral votes for the upcoming election.
The 2nd para of the new Law that praises Liberation Tamil Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as freedom fighters and other parties as perpetrators, states:
“Genocide is the deliberate and organized killing of a group or groups of people, with the intention of destroying their identity as an ethnic, cultural or religious group. Acts of genocide against the Tamils started in 1948 after Sri Lanka gained its independence and were perpetrated through Sinhala-Buddhist centric government policies, pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing. “
The bill does not contain any text that the Sri Lankan government have a right to defend its citizens just as much Canadian forces would defend Canadians in the sight of brutal terrorists. Many United nations reports highlight LTTE Tamil Terrorists use of suicide squads and child soldiers to bring terror to all parts of Sri Lanka.
Buddhist monks have been a constant target of the LTTE. One such instance was the Aranthalawa massacre of 33 Buddhist monks, most of them young novice monks, and four civilians by cadres of LTTE Tamil Tigers on June 2, 1987, close to the village of Aranthalawa, in the Ampara District of Eastern Sri Lanka. In recent news Buddhist monks were also the target of pro-ltte elements.
The inference of Buddhists to be behind violence, is against the 5 Precepts of Buddhism to help people behave in a moral and ethical way.
Precept | An example |
1. Refrain from taking life | Not killing any living |
2. Refrain from taking | Not stealing from |
3. Refrain from the | Not having too much |
4. Refrain from wrong | Not lying or gossiping |
5. Refrain from | Not drinking alcohol or |
Since the scope of the Bill is Education, which is a provincial jurisdiction, all Ontario schools are now in scope to receive materials in-line of this hate speech and radicalization.
“My child learns about how Buddhists caused violence and then goes to Dhamma school to learn five precepts” claimed one parent who wished to remained anonymous.
Buddhism has one of the largest following in the world with around 535 million people with China having the largest following with around 244.1 million, while Cambodia has the largest per country following of around 96.9% of population. Sri Lanka has a Buddhist population of around 70.2%.
There are political and court avenues to repeal the bill that is causing much embarrassment to those who supported it openly. An MPP can present a motion to repeal the Bill which then have to be passed from the house. With the current money power of pro-LTTE diaspora, it is unlikely that the politicians will turn an eye on the facts, as they are focused on re-election.
The other method is to bring it to court and let justice prevail. Spokesman for Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition(SLCAC) stated that a legal fund to collect funds to fight this Bill in court was launched as the armed conflict was never accepted by the Federal government or the United Nations along with a list of impingements in provincial and federal acts by Bill 104. He stated the trajectory of the higher chance of it ending up at Supreme court raises more pressure on fundraising. Currently SLCAC is seeking support from businesses and people from around the world to donate to the GoFundMe campaign to help fight the Bill 104 in court.
More information on Bill 104 can be found at:
www.OntarioBill104.ca
GoFundMe Link:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/legal-fund-for-fighting-against-bill-104
The post Law passed in Ontario without fact verification now teaches Buddhism is behind pogroms, land grabs and ethnic cleansing! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The post Canada: Unofficial State sponsor of LTTE Tamil terrorism against Sri Lanka appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>LTTE Tamil Terrorist organization was banned in 2006 by Conservative government of former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The Tamil Canadian diaspora was formed in Canada as a result of Tamil Terrorist sympathizers who arrived in Canada as refugees. Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada offered automatic refugee status to anyone in Sri Lanka that claimed to be Tamil. As a result, Canada went on to accept the highest percentage of asylum seekers, who were also LTTE Tamil Terrorist sympathizers, then any other country in the world….
The post Canada: Unofficial State sponsor of LTTE Tamil terrorism against Sri Lanka appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>The post City of Markam receives a trojan horse motion to build a “Tamil Monument” to commemorate mythical Tamil Genocide! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
]]>Markham – 24th April 2021, It is reported that a similar motion presented to City of Brampton has been presented to City of Markham.
A motion to build a Tamil Genocide Memorial dressed as a “Tamil Memorial” was presented by Ward 7 Councillor, Khalid Usman. Councillor Usman did not face election for his first appointment in 2018. Instead was appointed by the City Council to fill the vacancy created when, (at the time) Councillor Logan Kanapahy was voted in for provincial politics in 2018. In 2019 Mr. Usman won ward 7 election. He had fund raised 52,176. See expense report here. Currently MPP Logan Kanapathy is chair of the Standing Committee on Private Members Bills where the untruthful and heavily critizised Bill 104 (Tamil Genocide Education Week Act) , in which MPP Vijay Thanigasalam self created false narratives that has been sitting since 2019.
Councillor Usman brought forward the following motion on the April 6th General committee meeting, an untruthful and biased event premise that a memorial in Sri Lanka was demolished without mentioning that it was rebuilt.
,
Link to original document:
https://pub-markham.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=39225
A similar motion was originally presented to City of Brampton as a “Tamil Memorial” but later changed to “Tamil Memorial Genocide Monument”. See below document.
Link to original document:
https://pub-brampton.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=16734
The post City of Markam receives a trojan horse motion to build a “Tamil Monument” to commemorate mythical Tamil Genocide! appeared first on Sri Lankan Canadian Action Coalition Ontario Bill 104.
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