Open letter to the National Post – A rebuttal to their editorial: Keeping the Tigers out of Canada –Usha S Sri Skanda-Rajah

Open letter to the National Post – A rebuttal to their editorial: Keeping the Tigers out of Canada – see link below.

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1141930

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fullcomment/archive/2009/01/06/manjula-selvarajah-the-real-story-on-sri-lanka.aspx
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K M C Parland

Editor,

National Post

Re: Keep the Tigers out of Canada

http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=1141930

Dream on National Post if you think the capture of a virtual ghost town has dealt “a crippling blow for the Tigers” or that it “marks a decisive turning point in Sri Lanka's civil war”.

The National Post’s editorial is based upon a wrong premise. The Sri Lankan Sinhala Army is merely an occupying force, an army of aggression and is trespassing on Tamil land. The Tamils Tigers have made a strategic withdrawal from Kilinochchi; they did not run; they made sure they took everything and had enough time not to leave even a peace of paper behind which speaks volumes and proves our point. Rajapakse and his brothers are trying hard to convince the world that they have won the war against the Tigers and the seemingly partisan National Post has swallowed it hook line and sinker, at least it wants to make believe such is the case, the National Post already in celebration mode like the Sri Lankans.

Not so fast National Post!

The real Tigers do not desert their post.

Whilst the responsible, better informed and more discerning media the world over have warned that a political solution, not a military solution is what will bring lasting peace to Sri Lanka, the callous National Post’s focus turns to immigration, as its most pressing issue. The National Post has exposed itself as a racist press, calling Canadian Tamils in Canada “a community of expatriates”. If that’s the case, then we hope the National Post will refer to all Canadians other than the First Nations henceforth as “expatriates.”

“The indirect security risk to Canada” is to have a shallow press that sows dissension and hatred and thrives on fear mongering; seeking to unfairly stigmatize and denigrate a group of Canadians by letting it self be influenced by “Sri Lankan elements” masquerading as the good guys.

It’s a fact that Sri Lanka is the aggressor, not to mention the occupier and the party that’s been on the offensive. The LTTE is not interested in invading Sri Lanka but is only concerned with defending the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of the Traditional Homeland of the Tamils in the North and East of the island. The LTTE was defensive “for several years” purely for reasons of complying with a cease-fire agreement which Sri Lanka never the less breached by not adhering to its terms. After arming pro- Sri Lankan government paramilitary forces and using them to engage the LTTE in an illegal war, forcing the LTTE to “be on the defensive”, it was Sri Lanka which finally unilaterally abrogated the cease-fire.

The “defection” that the National Post is referring to is that of Karuna and his small band of followers. Renegade Karuna fell for the perks that Sri Lanka offered him and was hired as a mercenary to lead Sri Lanka’s paramilitary against the LTTE during the cease-fire. Later Karuna was provided with a diplomatic passport under a false name by the Sri Lankan government and packed off to Britain to join his family for reasons only Sri Lanka and the Tamils know which is to make way for “Pillayan” whom Sri Lanka thought could be used as their stooge in the east for the plan Mahinda had in mind for the east. Karuna was convicted in Britain for his own and Sri Lanka’s joint deceit and served jail time - only to be made a Member of Parliament for Batticaloa an eastern constituency immediately upon his deportation to Sri Lanka - to keep him away from trouble. It’s the east that’s ruled by Rajapakse which is actually in disarray. It’s Rajapakse who has made a mockery of democracy. It’s unfortunate that the National Post does not see through the charade in the east with no real meaningful change or the promised sustainable development forthcoming but essentially the imposition of an indirect rule by President Rajapakse, asserting his presidential powers under the guise of a provincial council - the usual deception and betrayal that Tamils are used to and know too well.

The National Post has shown it self in its editorial, to get some sadistic and sinister pleasure in demonizing the LTTE just because of its “terrorist label” without any real proof. It goes too far in making audacious allegations that smack of bias in an editorial that reads like a script from the Sri Lankan propaganda machinery, so uncharacteristic of a credible newspaper. One would expect better from a Canadian newspaper.

In America’s war of independence, George Washington and a score of other “great” American freedom fighters were themselves branded we hear as “terrorists”.

There must some thing “great’ about the LTTE that the majority of the Tamil Diaspora sees which the National Post does not see, which makes all of these Tamils stand squarely and unequivocally behind the Tamil Tigers.

For the Tamils, the Tigers were born as a consequence of years of oppression and persecution they suffered in the hands of racist Sinhala dominated governments in Sri Lanka since independence from Britain. It was an act of self preservation in response to the continuous violence that was inflicted on Tamils, the endless destruction caused to their property and above all to the systematic erosion of their fundamental rights which defined in terms of international law amounts to genocide of a people.

The Tamils are not about to accept Sinhala hegemony and subjugation sitting down. The cry for freedom is real. The Tamils want to opt out of a united and unitary Sri Lanka. And so the Tigers are not about to go anywhere. They have a mission to accomplish for the Tamil people – the only mission for which they were born and that’s in the island of Sri Lanka and no where else.

Usha S Sri Skanda-Rajah

From Justice For Thamils- Toronto.