Pro-Tamil Tiger Diaspora Mtg with Fed MPs on June 11,2010

Honourable Members of the House of Commons: Messrs Bruce Stanton/Jack Layton and John McKay,

 I too attended the meeting convened by a group calling themselves Canadians Concerned About Sri Lanka held on June 11, 2010 at the Milliken Mills High School in Markham, where you represented your respective political parties.  It was apparent that the prime mover of the meeting was the Canadian Tamil Congress which originated soon after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was listed as an international terrorist movement by the UN Security Council by Resolution 1373 of September 2001, to take over the leadership from the World Tamil Movement (WTM) and the Federation of Associations of Canadian Tamils (FACT), which were well known front organizations of the LTTE that virtually moved underground.

 The intention of the meeting was to seek the support of your political parties in order to obtain Canadian intervention in Sri Lanka including imposition of sanctions if necessary to force Sri Lanka to accept an international inquiry under the auspices of the United Nations on the conduct of the military action taken in that country to eliminate the crippling terrorist problem, that dragged on for over 30 years costing the  nation loss of lives of persons numbering in excess of 70,000 from all constituent communities (Sinhalese/Tamil/Moor - Muslim,etc) and destruction of an inestimable amount of valuable property.   I would like to remind you that the issues pertaining to the military action were duly discussed by the UN's Human Rights Council on May 26 - 27, 2009, where it was determined by a vote of 29 to 12 that there were no grounds to intervene in the matter or hold an inernational inquiry, as Sri Lanka had acted within her rights to deal with the on-going terrorism within the country to safeguard the right to life of her 20 million citizens who were targeted on a daily basis with claymore mines, bus and train bombs, truck bombs, machete attacks at night time on remote villages, attacks by sea tigers, other assassins and suicide bombers. 

Furthermore, Sri Lanka has appointed an eight person Presidential Commission made up of distinguished leaders drawn from the three main ethnic groups, comprising 4 Sinhalese, 2 Tamils and 2 Muslims, to learn from previous mistakes which led to a violent conflict that lasted over 30 years, and also seek the best possible ways of bringing about harmony and reconciliation amongst the constituent communities.

 Having listened to the presentations made by the participants, it was clear that the main victim was the truth, as the tales related were the usual run of allegations of genocide of Tamils, gang rape, restricting food and medicine to the IDPs, prevention of INGO/NGO from serving at the refugee camps, debarring of foreign media, and other outlandish claims of ill treatment of Tamils by the government and the majority Sinhalese community.  I have visited Sri Lanka twice during 2009 alone, and I was able to learn that it was the Sinhalese who were in the forefront of providing both material and volunteer assistance to their fellow citizens from the Tamil community that had been rescued from the clutches of the LTTE where they served as a human shield.  The 300,000 IDPs were provided with three meals each day, i.e. nearly a million meals, which in itself was a tremendous task.  There were as many as 240 doctors including volunteers to serve the refugee population.  Schools were set up, banking and telephone facilities were arranged, whilst other measures were taken to de-mine the places of residence and restore the infrastructure to speed up re-settlement of the IDPs.  Much has been achieved within a space of one year to re-settle 80 percent in their formers villages, with the balance 20 percent expected to be re-settled by August 2010.  The UN, INGO/NGO and other voluntary bodies assisted the government in this gigantic task.  Development programs too are underway to ensure better livelihood opportunities for the re-settled civilians.  (A substantial segment of the rest of the population from all ethnic communities live at or below the subsistence level and often make dowith one meal a day, enjoying a much lower living standard than the IDPs.  But no one has grudged the food and facilities being provided to the IDPs, as all Sri Lankans have been sympathetic to their plight under the terrorist LTTE, and have extended help to the IDPs in numerous forms despite their poverty.)

 Contrary to what was stated, the Tamil separatist movement started as far back as 1922 as the Tamils of Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) joined the 'We Tamil Movement' which was launched in Tamilnadu, South India, to seek a separate Dravidastan in South India from the British colonial ruler.  In the mid-1940s, the Tamils of Ceylon sought what they referred as 'Balanced Representation' for the 11 percent Tamils and other minorities numbering about 25 percent of the total population a guarantee of 50 percent of the seats in the new parliament of Ceylon to be established after independence, whilst the 75 percent Sinhalese were required to contest an election to gain places within the balance 50 percent seats of the legislature. This demand of the Tamils was rejected by Lord Soulbury who headed the Commission to design a new constitution for independent Ceylon, as it was considered an insidious move to make a minority out of a majority.  In 1949, just one year after independence, some Tamil leaders broke away from the Tamil Congress which cooperated with the national government to form the Tamil Arasu Kachchi or Tamil State Party.  In 1976, the Tamil political parties jointly passed a resolution at a convention held in Vadukkodai calling for the formation of a separate independent Tamil state where they indicated that every means including violence would be used to reach their goal.  This gave rise to the many militant Tamil groups and the Tamil Tigers finally emerging as the main force to achieve a separate state called "Eelam" to be carved out of Sri Lanka's sovereign territory by force of arms.  The 11 percent Tamil minority which enjoyed many privileges and access to better English education under the British colonial administration came to dominate the public service, professions and commercial sector, and as their level of dominance began to diminish following Ceylon (Sri Lanka) gaining independence, they developed their separatist agenda to break up Sri Lanka with the help of the Tamils of Tamilnadu who failed to win their demand for a separate Dravidastan.

Sri Lanka has made Tamil an official language of the country just 22 years after making Sinhala spoken by nearly 78% of the people the official language, whereas Canada took 102 years to similarly elevate the French Language to official language status.  The language issue which was the starting point for violent Tamil opposition was resolved by 1978, but the decision taken to separate per the Vadukkodai Resolution of 1976 was pursued to its bitter end before the Tiger movement was crushed militarily in May 2009.

 A request was also made by some Tamils who identified themselves as elected members of the Trans-National Government of a non-existent state called "Eelam", that your respective political parties hold discussions with them in order to indirectly seek virtual RECOGNITION of a hollow body that represents an imaginary or mythical state by Canada's main stream political parties.

 I am annexing hereto the English version of an interview given by Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Cuba, Madam Tamara Gunanayagam (member of Sri Lanka's Tamil community) to the 'Correo del Orinoco' newspaper of Venezuela dated June 10, 2010, on the very same matters discussed at the above meeting.

 Sincerely,

Mahinda Gunasekera