Peter Showler: Boat of Sri Lankan Refugee claimants
Posted on October 24th, 2009
Asoka Weerasinghe Kings Grove Crescent . Gloucester . Ontario .Canada
October 25, 2009
The Editor (Letters)
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Sir:
While I have the utmost respect for Peter Showler as a critic on the Canadian refugee system and own his book ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Refugee SandwichƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ as one of my references on the subject, it was frustrating to read him say , ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-the Sri Lankan government continues to detain 300,000 civilian TamilsƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ in his essay ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”A drop in the bucketƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ (Oct.24).
To forget ones Grade 4 addition and subtraction in simple arithmetic is unfortunate as that 300,000 Tamils detained was the number that arrived in welfare villages on May 18, when they were rescued from the Tamil Tiger human shield from the beaches in the east coast of Sri Lanka by the Sri Lankan Government forces.
Five months later, 45,000 Tamils have been sent to their homes after demining the Mannar and Jaffna Districts and having their houses rebuilt or renovated and approved for habitation.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Another 15,900 of over 65-year old seniors and pregnant mothers have been re-united with their families, according to their wishes, and also the elderly who had no family to go to were sent to institutional care. ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ A batch of 144 Tamil Tiger child soldiers were rehabilitated at the Punthottam Child Protection and Rehabilitation Center in Vavuniya and admitted to a leading school in the capital Colombo on October 21, to pursue their education and start a new life as ordinary children.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Government has already started the next phase of resettlement of 41,685 persons from 12,095 families which began last Thursday.
I plead with the writers of this rather emotional subject to nudge at their knowledge of Grade 4 Arithmetic, and be honest to themselves by adding the numbers of the Tamil displaced people who have been resettled in their village homes and subtract that number from the original 300,000 who were rescued and detained in temporary welfare camps and report the final number still waiting to be resettled.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ThisƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ number certainly will not be the original 300,000.
LetƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s give the word ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-honestyƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ a chance.
AsokaƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Weerasinghe
October 25th, 2009 at 6:36 am
Raj Rajaratnam is a victim of scares caused by Sri Lankan army raping more than 300,000 women during the final stages of the war. Sri Lankan govt. should be held responsible for his insider trading and funding LTTE via TRO charges not Raj. Hilary Clinton, Brat Adams and environmental friendly walk to office Robert Blake should use UN platforms to tell this to the world.