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'Waterloo Suresh' fights for a bright future, free from charges of supporting terrorism

TORONTO -- Suresh Sriskandarajah is clean-cut, articulate and polite. He speaks three languages, holds three university degrees and is CEO of his own web design company.

At 29, he should have a bright future. Instead he is about to be extradited to the United States to face terrorism-related charges that could see him imprisoned for 25 years.

“This is not what I’m supposed to be doing,” he told the National Post. “I don’t want to waste my life in custody. I just want to forget about this and move on and become a productive member rather than wasting time in jail.”

But that is where he is headed. On June 9, he will surrender into custody. If all goes as expected, he will be sent to Brooklyn, N.Y., where a grand jury has indicted him for allegedly helping Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers launder money, buy equipment and smuggle it into rebel territory.

The lanky Sri Lankan-born Canadian has kept quiet since he was arrested in Toronto in 2006 following a joint FBI-RCMP investigation, but he broke his silence this week in an exclusive interview, his first since his arrest. “I just want to see this resolved and move forward in life and contribute back to society,” he said.

“Waterloo Suresh,” as he is known, comes from a family of fishermen.

They lived in Valvettithurai, a town on Sri Lanka’s northern coast that is best known as the home of the Tamil guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, whose death one year ago marked the end of Sri Lanka’s long, brutal civil war.

Early in the war, the Vadamarachi region, where Mr. Sriskandarajah’s family lived, fell under rebel influence. When the army launched its counter-insurgency in 1987, the family’s house was damaged and they fled to a nearby village.

At age seven, Mr. Sriskandarajah was at home alone when a young rebel entered the house pursued by Sri Lankan soldiers. Realizing he could not escape, the rebel swallowed cyanide. “He literally died in front of me,” Mr. Sriskandarajah said.

On the way to school later, soldiers tried to talk to Mr. Sriskandarajah but he was frightened and when he didn’t answer, they beat him so hard with their rifle butts he was hospitalized three weeks.

As the war closed in, the family decided to get out. Mr. Sriskandarajah’s father was hired as a deckhand on a Saudi oil tanker. During a port of call in Montreal, he jumped ship and called for his family to join him.

They sold their fishing boats and jewelry to pay for the journey and arrived in Montreal in 1989 in the middle of winter. His father worked at a factory that made auto brake pads but he walked out on the family, leaving Mr. Sriskandarajah’s mother with $24.

To help out, Mr. Sriskandarajah picked strawberries, sold chocolates and delivered newspapers. They became citizens of Canada in 1994. He discovered computers at Westview Centennial Secondary School in Toronto. He formed an Internet club and built websites for community groups. Xerox was so impressed it hired him, at age 15, to speak at trade shows.

He was a driven student. He won the $10,000 Canada Trust Horizon Scholarship and took part in the Forum for Young Canadians, which brought him to Ottawa to learn about government and meet Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister.

He was also chosen for an international co-op program that sent him to the Eastern Caribbean, to the tiny unspoiled island of Dominica, to work for a cable and wireless company. He left high school with a 96% average.

At the University of Waterloo, he studied electrical engineering and joined the Tamil Students Association, eventually serving as president. It was mostly a social club but the members would talk about Sri Lanka, he said. “So I was aware of what was going on.”

On his website, planetsuresh.com, he posted photos of Tamil Tigers rebels and an account (written by someone else) of the government’s “holocaust” and “genocide” of ethnic Tamils. It described the separatist insurgency as an “armed freedom struggle” that was “legitimate and logical.”

The captions beneath the personal photos on the website suggest a life of privilege: “first skydive, Florida,” “gambling at Caesars, Atlantic City,” “on top of Whistler, B.C., ” “California road trip” and “testing out Ferrari, Seattle.”

During a co-op placement at Microsoft in Seattle, he met a group of Tamils involved in a project called the Vanni Institute of Technology. The idea was to build a training centre in the rebel capital Kilinochchi so promising students could learn computer skills. Mr. Sriskandarajah helped develop the curriculum.

At around the same time, a colleague returned from Sri Lanka with photos of an orphanage. Something clicked. Mr. Sriskandarajah had never returned to his homeland. He felt guilty about all he had. “At that moment, I just decided, I’m going,” he said.

He was excited to see Sri Lanka again. A ceasefire was in effect and he crossed into the rebel-held northern Vanni region to work at the institute. He also began volunteering at an orphanage on the beach at Mullaitivu. He played with the kids and built a website so donors could learn about the children and sponsor them.

He said he felt bad for the Tamils he met during his travels. He thought they were good people in a bad circumstance, and he knew that had he not escaped to Canada as a boy, he might be in their shoes.

Being in Tiger territory, he inevitably met and mingled with rebels. But he said while he wanted to help the Tamil people develop the public infrastructure in the north, where the economy was stunted by years of war, he was careful not to cross the line. He said he never fought for the rebels, received no military training and was never made a member of the Tamil Tigers.

According to U.S. prosecutors, however, he began working for the rebels a few months after returning to Canada. On Sept. 29, 2004, he sent an e-mail to Pratheepan Thavarajah, a senior rebel arms procurement agent. The message concerned the purchase of communications towers.

He later sent Pratheepan another e-mail suggesting he get in touch with a contact at military contractor Raytheon, the prosecutors allege. The contact worked “on air traffic radars. He does talk a lot but does little…but see if he’s of any use to you,” Mr. Sriskandarajah wrote.

At the end of the fall term at Waterloo, he returned to Sri Lanka. On Boxing Day, 2004, a half-dozen giant waves swept over the island. Mr. Sriskandarajah rushed to the orphanage but it was gone. Only 20 of the 170 children had survived the tsunami.

He was devastated, and when humanitarian aid was slow to arrive, he became angry. “Politics was getting in the way of the distribution,” he said. “The government and the LTTE were not working together properly,” he said, using the acronym for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels.

Upon his return to Canada, he continued working for the rebels, the criminal complaint alleges. In March, 2005, he allegedly helped launder $13,150 in LTTE funds through U.S. bank accounts.

The prosecutors allege that on Oct. 23, Mr. Sriskandarajah sent an e-mail to three students instructing them how to smuggle materials such as laptops, compasses and GPS devices into rebel territory.

He told them that once they arrived in Colombo, they should speak only in English and tell the customs officers they were on vacation. “Give him a bag of chocolate,” he wrote. A van would be waiting to take them north, he said.

At the army checkpoint in Vavuniya, they should bribe the troops with chocolate and cigarettes, he told them. “Say you are just visiting around family; nothing else,” he wrote. “Now you get to the Tigers checkpoint, only five minutes away … Tell them Waterloo Suresh sent you.”

The following March, according to prosecutors, Mr. Sriskandarajah worked with a Canadian co-conspirator named Ramanan Mylvaganam to buy $22,000 worth of submarine and warship design software from a U.K. company.

“They are asking me a lot of questions. I don’t want to sound suspicious,” Mr. Mylvaganam wrote in an e-mail. Mr. Sriskandarajah said to tell them it was for a school project.

They also allegedly tried to buy night vision goggles from a company in British Columbia, the complaint alleges. Again, Mr. Sriskandarajah advised Mr. Mylvaganam to say it was for “a fourth year design project we are doing at the university.”

On August 21, 2006, Mr. Sriskandarajah was at his uncle’s home in Toronto’s Rexdale neighbourhood, preparing to take his cousins to the Wild Water Kingdom water park, when the RCMP arrived. The officer called his cell phone and told him to step outside. “I was surprised and shocked,” he said.

Mr. Mylvaganam was also arrested and has already been extradited. Last March 5, Justice Laurence Pattillo of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ruled that there was sufficient evidence to justify Mr. Sriskandarajah’s extradition.

Mr. Sriskandarajah asked the government if he could stand trial in Canada instead, but that request was turned down last December by the Department of Justice in Ottawa.

Mr. Sriskandarajah has not wasted his time since his arrest. While out on bail, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo and a Master of Business Administration from Laurier University. He won the CIBC Leaders in Entrepreneurship Award.

Although at times he seems resigned to this fate, Mr. Sriskandarajah is not giving up. Last week, he launched a website, Justice for Suresh, that asks for donations and support letters. He also posted a video about his case on YouTube, and on Sunday he will speak at a banquet hall in Markham, Ont.

“It’s part of life,” he said. “You go through different experiences sometimes and you just have to look forward and be positive about the future. If you have any negative thoughts or any grudge, it’s just going to hurt your mind.”

Asked how he would do things differently in retrospect, he said, “just being more careful and paying more attention to make sure that everything that I am doing is correct and legal.”

sbell@nationalpost.com

© Copyright (c) National Post

 

உனக்கு நாடு இல்லை என்றவனைவிட நமக்கு நாடே இல்லை என்றவனால்தான் நான் எனது நாட்டை விட்டு விரட்டப்பட்டேன்....... 

 


rajaniThiranagama_1.jpg

ராஜினி திரணகம

MBBS(Srilanka)

Phd(Liverpool, UK)

'அதிர்ச்சி ஏற்படுத்தும் சாமர்த்தியம் விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் வலிமை மிகுந்த ஆயுதமாகும்.’ விடுதலைப்புலிகளுடன் நட்பு பூணுவது என்பது வினோதமான சுய தம்பட்டம் அடிக்கும் விவகாரமே. விடுதலைப்புலிகளின் அழைப்பிற்கு உடனே செவிமடுத்து, மாதக்கணக்கில் அவர்களின் குழுக்களில் இருந்து ஆலோசனை வழங்கி, கடிதங்கள் வரைந்து, கூட்டங்களில் பேசித்திரிந்து, அவர்களுக்கு அடிவருடிகளாக இருந்தவர்கள்மீது கூட சூசகமான எச்சரிக்கைகள், காலப்போக்கில் அவர்கள்மீது சந்தேகம் கொண்டு விடப்பட்டன.........'

(முறிந்த பனை நூலில் இருந்து)

(இந் நூலை எழுதிய ராஜினி திரணகம விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் புலனாய்வுப் பிரிவின் முக்கிய உறுப்பினரான பொஸ்கோ என்பவரால் 21-9-1989 அன்று யாழ் பல்கலைக்கழக வாசலில் வைத்து சுட்டு கொல்லப்பட்டார்)

Its capacity to shock was one of the L.T.T.E. smost potent weapons. Friendship with the L.T.T.E.  was a strange and self-flattering affair.In the course of the coming days dire hints were dropped for the benefit of several old friends who had for months sat on committees, given advice, drafted latters, addressed meetings and had placed themselves at the L.T.T.E.’s  beck  and call.

From:  Broken Palmyra

வடபுலத் தலமையின் வடஅமெரிக்க விஜயம்

(சாகரன்)

புலிகளின் முக்கிய புள்ளி ஒருவரின் வாக்கு மூலம்

பிரபாகரனுடன் இறுதி வரை இருந்து முள்ளிவாய்கால் இறுதி சங்காரத்தில் தப்பியவரின் வாக்குமூலம்

 

தமிழகத் தேர்தல் 2011

திமுக, அதிமுக, தமிழக மக்கள் இவர்களில் வெல்லப் போவது யார்?

(சாகரன்)

என் இனிய தாய் நிலமே!

தங்கி நிற்க தனி மரம் தேவை! தோப்பு அல்ல!!

(சாகரன்)

இலங்கையின் 7 வது பாராளுமன்றத் தேர்தல்! நடக்கும் என்றார் நடந்து விட்டது! நடக்காது என்றார் இனி நடந்துவிடுமா?

(சாகரன்)

வெல்லப்போவது யார்.....? பாராளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் 2010

(சாகரன்)

பாராளுமன்றத் தேர்தல் 2010

தேர்தல் விஞ்ஞாபனம்  - பத்மநாபா ஈழமக்கள் புரட்சிகர விடுதலை முன்னணி

1990 முதல் 2009 வரை அட்டைகளின் (புலிகளின்) ஆட்சியில்......

நடந்த வன்கொடுமைகள்!

 (fpNwrpad;> ehthe;Jiw)

சமரனின் ஒரு கைதியின் வரலாறு

'ஆயுதங்கள் மேல் காதல் கொண்ட மனநோயாளிகள்.' வெகு விரைவில்...

மீசை வைச்ச சிங்களவனும் ஆசை வைச்ச தமிழனும்

(சாகரன்)

இலங்கையில்

'இராணுவ' ஆட்சி வேண்டி நிற்கும் மேற்குலகம்,  துணை செய்யக் காத்திருக்கும்; சரத் பொன்சேகா கூட்டம்

(சாகரன்)

ஜனாதிபதி தேர்தல்

எமது தெரிவு எவ்வாறு அமைய வேண்டும்?

பத்மநாபா ஈபிஆர்எல்எவ்

ஜனாதிபதித் தேர்தல்

ஆணை இட்ட அதிபர் 'கை', வேட்டு வைத்த ஜெனரல் 'துப்பாக்கி'  ..... யார் வெல்வார்கள்?

(சாகரன்)

சம்பந்தரே! உங்களிடம் சில சந்தேகங்கள்

(சேகர்)

அனைத்து இலங்கைத் தமிழர்களும் ஒற்றுமையான இலங்கை தமது தாயகம் என மனப்பூர்வமாக உரிமையோடு உணரும் நிலை ஏற்பட வேண்டும்.

(m. tujuh[g;ngUkhs;)

தொடரும் 60 வருடகால காட்டிக் கொடுப்பு

ஜனாதிபதித் தேர்தலில் தமிழ் மக்கள் பாடம் புகட்டுவார்களா?

 (சாகரன்)

 ஜனவரி இருபத்தாறு!

விரும்பியோ விரும்பாமலோ இரு கட்சிகளுக்குள் ஒன்றை தமிழ் பேசும் மக்கள் தேர்ந்தெடுக்க வேண்டும்.....?

(மோகன்)

2009 விடைபெறுகின்றது! 2010 வரவேற்கின்றது!!

'ஈழத் தமிழ் பேசும் மக்கள் மத்தியில் பாசிசத்தின் உதிர்வும், ஜனநாயகத்தின் எழுச்சியும்'

 (சாகரன்)

சபாஷ் சரியான போட்டி.

மகிந்த  ராஜபக்ஷ & சரத் பொன்சேகா.

(யஹியா வாஸித்)

கூத்தமைப்பு கூத்தாடிகளும் மாற்று தமிழ் அரசியல் தலைமைகளும்!

(சதா. ஜீ.)

தமிழ் பேசும் மக்களின் புதிய அரசியல் தலைமை

மீண்டும் திரும்பும் 35 வருடகால அரசியல் சுழற்சி! தமிழ் பேசும் மக்களுக்கு விடிவு கிட்டுமா?

(சாகரன்)

கப்பலோட்டிய தமிழனும், அகதி (கப்பல்) தமிழனும்

(சாகரன்)

சூரிச் மகாநாடு

(பூட்டிய) இருட்டு அறையில் கறுப்பு பூனையை தேடும் முயற்சி

 (சாகரன்)

பிரிவோம்! சந்திப்போம்!! மீண்டும் சந்திப்போம்! பிரிவோம்!!

(மோகன்)

தமிழ் தேசிய கூட்டமைப்புடன் உறவு

பாம்புக்கு பால் வார்க்கும் பழிச் செயல்

(சாகரன்)

இலங்கை அரசின் முதல் கோணல் முற்றும் கோணலாக மாறும் அபாயம்

(சாகரன்)

ஈழ விடுலைப் போராட்டமும், ஊடகத்துறை தர்மமும்

(சாகரன்)

அடுத்த கட்டமான அதிகாரப்பகிர்வு முன்னேற்றமானது 13வது திருத்தத்திலிருந்து முன்னோக்கி உந்திப் பாயும் ஒரு விடயமே

(அ.வரதராஜப்பெருமாள்)

மலையகம் தந்த பாடம்

வடக்கு கிழக்கு மக்கள் கற்றுக்கொள்வார்களா?  

 (சாகரன்)

ஒரு பிரளயம் கடந்து ஒரு யுகம் முடிந்தது போல் சம்பவங்கள் நடந்து முடிந்துள்ளன.!

(அ.வரதராஜப்பெருமாள்)

 

 

அமைதி சமாதானம் ஜனநாயகம்

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