Liberals Set off Row

with Sri Lanka

The Liberal party of Canada shamefully supported the LTTE purely to garner votes from those sympathetic to that outfit to win elections. They did not care about Sri Lanka or bilateral relations between the two countries. The late NDP leader Jack Layton had the audacity once to compare Prabhakaran to Mandela! It is no secret that Harper later followed both the NDP and the Liberals and backed the LTTE to for electoral reasons. I am happy I wasn’t there when he tried to hold the hands of the Tigers in Canada and that the terrorism is over here in Sri Lanka.

On 4th of February Sri Lanka’s National Day, a day most Sri Lankan celebrated our Independence, Canadian parliament decided to hold an emergency debate on Sri Lanka. It was done at the behest of the LTTE in Canada purely to insult Sri Lanka. Canadian politicians refused to be sensitive towards the feelings of Sri Lankan/Canadians and Sri Lanka. Imagine how I felt on my return after holding the Independence day under very tight security in view of threats from the LTTE in Canadian soil. What I saw on television was how power-hungry Canadian politicians were insulting Sri Lanka. A few Sri Lankan/Canadians who had been present inside the parliament told me: “Those MPs after attacking Sri Lanka acknowledged the presence of LTTE supporters in the public gallery. It was clear to us that the MPs did as the LTTE said.”

I had no alternative to take them on, accusing the five MPs Jim Karagiannais, Judy Sgro, Robert Oliphant, Albina Guarnieri, Derek Lee and John Cannis of practising gutter politics misrepresenting the events in Sri Lanka. Five of the Liberal MPs used the term genocide in relation to Sri Lanka. Karagiannais, an ardent supporter of the LTTE in Canada used the term genocide thrice during the debate. The respected National Post reported in a front-page news, ‘Liberals set off row with Sri Lanka- Diplomat upset by allegations of ‘genocide’. I said “What I see is, especially the Liberal politicians are pandering to their constituency and they have no right to accuse another sovereign another sovereign nation. These politicians just read out from the press releases issued by terrorist sympathisers and they have no right to insult Sri Lanka.”

Liberal MP Rob Oliphant defended his use of the term and that he was pandering to the constituents. He shamefully said, “This is a Commonwealth partner and as siblings I think we have a responsibility.” We all found out much later how his PM Stephen Harper behaved towards Sri Lanka, boycotting the Commonwealth Summit held in Colombo and even cutting the funding to the Commonwealth because Sri Lanka became the Chairman of the association. (However, much later at a function held in Toronto, Rob Oliphant came up to me and apologised to me what he had said.)

In an interview with The National Post, I accused the Liberal Party Members of attending Tamil Tiger functions since Toronto was an important source of money for the terrorists. I said: “So, those who sleep with terrorists will have to die with terrorists.” I explained that by sympathising with the Tamil Tigers, who have committed dozens of suicide bombing, Canadians are putting themselves at risk of terrorism. “I have told police officers here that I wouldn’t be surprised if there is a suicide bomber here in Canada. Those who sleep with Tigers will be swallowed by the Tiger.’

I blasted them in another Canadian newspaper saying, “These MPs have helped Tamil Tigers to create genocide in Sri Lanka for many years. They have no right to do that, because we (Sri Lanka and Canada) are two friendly countries. These MPs are doing it because of their vote banks. They want to get elected because of the votes of Sri Lankan Tamils in certain federal ridings. These MPs are in the pockets of those people.”

Another LTTE sympathiser at the time Haroon Siddiqui, The Toronto Star, Editorial page editor emeritus attacked me in an option piece. (I think he changed his views later.) He said “Sympathy does not equal criminality. This is the Sri Lankan Consul General in Toronto, Bandula Jayasekara, does not understand. His assertion that Canada is a heaven for foreign terrorist groups is an unsubstantiated and unacceptable interference in our domestic affairs. We don’t run Canada by Sri Lankan standards.” I felt sorry for Siddiqui because he had failed to read the best seller written by respected National Post journalist Stewart Bell: “COLD TERROR- How Canada nurtures and exports terrorism around the world.”

I responded to Siddiqui saying that I had the right to defend Sri Lanka as the representative of the country in Canada. “Haroon Siddiqui says that I have interfered with the Canadian domestic politics by saying Canada is a heaven for foreign terrorist groups. First, let me tell you it was said by a Canadian journalist/author in his book ‘COLD TERROR-How Canada nurtures and exports terrorism around the world’. I only repeated what he said. Secondly, I wonder why in all these years Mr Siddiqui failed to ask opposition Canadian politicians not to interfere with Sri Lanka merely to please their constituents. Where was he when Tamil Tiger supporters sent nearly three million Canadian dollars to Sri Lanka to kill my people? Let me also bring to his notice (since he is an ardent cricket fan) that the Sri Lankan cricket team may never tour Canada again after harassment, threats and intimidation from the Tamil Tigers under your nose. I would also like to remind him that I have a right to defend my country at all times as a Sri Lankan diplomat” The Toronto Star which rarely published something from the representative of Sri Lanka gave space for another response of mine. I always told them it was my duty and their duty to ask all sides. ‘The two sides of Sri Lanka’s violent struggle’ – ” Sri Lanka is not a war zone. Wars are fought between two countries. The conflict in Sri Lanka is between a sovereign state and a group of terrorists trying to carve out an independent state for themselves in the north.

“This conflict has not produced refugees; the people have been internally displaced. The government of Sri Lanka is strongly committed to eradicating the brutal violence unleashed by the Tamil Tigers over the last 25 years. Yet, you accuse it of ignoring a Norwegian brokered pact, failing to mention that it was the ruthless Tamil Tigers that violated the pact over 6,000 times and twice pulled out of peace talks. The last time the Tigers refused to participate in talks after going all the way to Oslo.

“The government of Sri Lanka is fighting one of the deadliest groups of terrorists to have emerged in our recent history. Yet, you refer to them as ‘combatants’. Perhaps you are unaware that the Tamil Tigers are banned as a terrorist organisation in the US, the UK and much of Europe. Your own government has banned the Tamil Tigers and their front organisations. Sri Lanka is a country where Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher people live together. We have more Sri Lankan Tamils living in the capital Colombo than in the north of the country. The UN and NGOs did not pull out of the north of the country as you suggest. The government of Sri Lanka merely requested they move out of the conflict areas for their own safety. Most of these organisations continue to operate in other parts of the country. Sri Lankans are in need of peace and the government has made it clear that military victory is not the solution to years of bloodshed. We have a hurdle to jump-The Tamil Tigers. We will conquer and ensure that the innocent Tamil diaspora will be able to get back to their roots and reunite with family in the peninsula scattered with palmyra fronds without fear of extortion by the Tamil Tigers.”

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