A rebuke to Sri Lanka
Posted on May 7th, 2013
Asoka WeerasingheƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Kings Grove CrescentƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ . Gloucester . Ontario . Canada
7 May 2013
The Editor
THE OTTAWA CITIZEN
Sir:
Permit me to share my observations on your Editorial ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” A rebuke to Sri Lanka, of May 2.
In the body of that editorial you said;ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚¦the diplomatic equivalent of a slap in the face ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢¢”š¬…” is for the leader of one country to refuse to attend a high profile gathering hosted by another.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Well, Canada has just slapped Sri Lanka.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
With Canada failing miserably to change the venue of the Commonwealth Summit from Colombo to another country, perhaps, to CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Markham in Ontario where 300,000 Conservative supporting Tamils live, and according to reverse logic Canada received a humiliating slap in its face when the Secretary General of the Commonwealth confirmed thatƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Commonwealth Heads of Governments meeting will be held in Sri Lanka in November this year.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The Secretary-General Sharma also indicated that no member government has indicated even remotely that it wishes to change the venue of this yearƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s CHOGM meeting.
More to the point, with every Head of the Commonwealth Nations attending the Summit will be another 53 slaps in CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s egg-splattered face.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Surely, 53-nations of the Commonwealth cannot be wrong when they decided not to stand behind Prime Minister Stephen Harper who wanted to actƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the Pied Piper to have the Summit moved out of Sri Lanka to gain mileage when soliciting for the Tamil bloc-votes at the next Federal election.
AustraliaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Foreign Minister Bob Carr showed his intelligence inƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ dealing with international affairs when he was right to say: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Our challenge is to keep the pressure on to see there are further improvements that it would be counter productive to skip the summit in Hambantota.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Any suggestion of a boycott would be counter productive.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ It would simply isolate the country and render it defiant on international opinion.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚
What is interesting to note is that Canada trying to isolate Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth of nations, has had a reverse reaction and has isolatedƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ itself fromƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ the 53 other nations.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ That is unfortunate.
My hunch is that now that Prime Minister Harper and his Foreign Minister Baird have failed miserably on their act of pandering to the separatist Canadian-Tamils, they would still achieve their goal by pulling their next trick from under their sleeves.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Remove the Tamil Tigers from CanadaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Terrorist List just before the 2015 Federal elections, and Bingo the Conservatives will receive every Tamil vote in theƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ 10 Greater Toronto Area Ridings leaving the NDP and the Liberal running ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ far behind.
Such is the ugly electoral politics in Canada in addition to the nasty attack advertisementsƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ on TV.
Asoka Weerasinghe
May 7th, 2013 at 2:19 pm
Asoka could you please attach the email address of the Ottawa Citizen ?
May 8th, 2013 at 10:39 am
We will not miss these tiger boot lickers. Last time the tigers blew up the Maligawa to stop Prince Charles attending the place. He must attend the Maligawa and the British garrison Cemetery next door to Maligawa,as I knew he had a keen interest there.GOSL must do their best to show some appreciation for all good that the British had done for their island.mustn’t give into pseudo patriots who give their silly comments from abroad.
May 8th, 2013 at 8:23 pm
As a CIVILISED nation, we must respect ALL invitees.
We should thank Prince Charles for his decision to come to SL.
When he is in the island we should VERY PEACEFULLY and with DIGNITY EDUCATE him of the plunder the British did in SL. THE BIGGEST plunder is bringing in Tamilians in boatloads and depriving upcountry Sinhalese (and a few native Tamils) their RIGHTFUL land. We need compensation for that.
It is NOT extortion, NO Tamil Madu like UNCIVILISED demonstrations. Only a VERY DECENT education campaign.
He OUGHT to know what his ancestors did, compensate and say SORRY.
Mano Gonason has already arranged a HOWLING campaign by Tamil women. Hopefully the govt. will stop such disgusting things.
He will see for himself the DIFFERENCE between ROWDY Tamil protests in London when MR visited there and how civilised Sinhalese welcome foreign leaders. Surely he will REALIZE rowdy Tamils in Heatrow DO NOT belong to decent SL!!!!
May 9th, 2013 at 6:39 am
We should never allow likes of Ganaser to disgrace the country with demonstrations. Just because the boot licking politicians in UK allowed the terrorist lobby to demonstrate. Gosl must act with dignity.People Like the police in London wasn’t happy with the diaspora demonstrating with the terrorist flags of a banned group.
May 9th, 2013 at 1:37 pm
Agree with Nimal. This is a CHANCE to show how CIVILISED SLs are compared to Tamil ROWDIES in London.