Mahinda GunasekeraƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada

July 9, 2013

Ms. Angela Johnson, President Carabram 2013
Mr. David Elich, Director Carabram 2013
Ms. Gloria Rousseau, Director Carabram 2013
Mr. David Elich, Director Carabram 2013
Mr. Tom Gabrowski, Director Carabram 2013
Carabram Brampton’s Multicultural Festival
150 Clark Boulevard, Suite 125
Brampton, Ontario L6T 4Y8

Dear President and Members of the Board of Directors Carabram 2013,

Pavilion allotted to a country called “Eelam”?

I refer to my letter of June 15, 2013 a copy of which is annexed hereto, and regret
to note the lack of a response from you up to now.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I had pointed out an important
principle that you had overlooked in allocating a pavilion to a new group styling
themselves as representatives of “Eelam”, which is neither a country, nation, race,
ethnicity or culture which is known or recognized by the international community.
I suggested a way out for the Board of Directors of the Carabram Festival to avoid
creating a bad precedent in accepting a non-existent country, nation, race, ethnicity
or culture, by merely recognizing the true position relating to the actual ethnicity
of the group, i.e. naming it as the Sri Lankan Tamil pavilion.

The word Eelam” (also spelt as ILAM) according to the Tamil Lexicon published under
the authority of the highest seat of Tamil learning, namely, the University of Madras
in the State of Tamilnadu in Southern India, attributes it as having been derived from
the ancient PALI word SIHALAƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  which means SINHALA.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Page 328 of the Tamil Lexicon
has the following entry:ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  ILAM (Eelam) , n< Pali, SIHALA (Sinhala).ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The Pali word
SIHALA had been Tamilized as SIHALAM and subsequently shortened to ILAM (Eelam).
What it says is that the Tamil word ILAM (Eelam) means the land of the Sinhala people.

In fact, Prof. S.Krisnaswamy Aiyangar , Head of the Dept. of Indian History and
Archaeology of the University of Madras, writing the Foreword in September 1926 to
the book titled ‘Ancient Jaffna’ by Father S. Gnanaprakasar, pointed out that it was a
mistaken belief that the word “Eelam” also spelt as “Ilam” was a reference to a Tamil
homeland, and according to the Tamil lexicon, this word had been derived from the
Pali word Sihala, and meant the ‘Land of the Sinhalese’.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The homeland of the Tamil
people is in the State of Tamilnadu in South India where 72 million Tamils live, and not
in Sri Lanka which was founded by the indigenous Sinhala people, with a written
history extending to over 2500 years, also known as as Heladiva or Sinhale during
the early history of the island.

The minority Tamil community of Sri Lanka numbering roughly 11 percent of the total
population, the bulk of whom were brought in by the Portuguese and Dutch colonial
powers that held the coastal regions of the island from the 16th to the 19th centuries
for tobacco cultivation, and the British to whom the local Sinhala chieftains ceded power
over the island from 1815 to 1948 in terms of a treaty called the ‘Kandyan Convention’, for
work on cocoa, coffee and tea plantations were referred to as Malabars as they came from
the Malabar coast of South India.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The Tamil community attempted to establish a
mono-ethnic separate state called “Eelam” in the north and east by carving out territory
by force of arms including suicide terrorism, following a motion adopted by them
in 1976 called the Vadukkodai Resolution.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  Failing to reach a negotiated peaceful
settlement through both direct and internationally mediated talks, the Tamil separatist
armed forces led by the internationally designated terrorist group known as the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was militarily defeated by Sri Lanka’s security forces on
May 19, 2009, restoring peace and the right to life of all her citizens from the multi-ethnic
constituent communities comprising of the Sinhalese, Tamils, Moors (Muslims), Malays.
Burghers (descendants of Portuguese and Dutch), etc.

There is no country, nation, race, ethnicity or culture called “Eelam”.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  The militant Tamils
who sought a mono-ethnic separate state for Tamils in Sri Lanka led by the LTTE propagated
a terrorist culture referred to as the “Eelam” movement, which was funded by expatriate
Tamils living in Canada, USA, UK, EU, Australia, NZ and elsewhere.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  You would have read of
the sentencing of two Tamils from Canada by the US Courts in the Toronto Star of Thursday,
the 4th of July,, 2013, for having provided material assistance to the banned terrorist group
called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in their attempts to provide missiles,
automatic weapons, submarine designs, etc. to be procured from the USA.

I do hope that you would even at this late stage realize the bad precedent that you would
be creating by recognizing the name “Eelam” for a pavilion to be allocated to a group of
Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan origin who may be wanting to pursue their quest of breaking
up the unitary and sovereign nation state of Sri Lanka, which is a tiny island having a land
area which is about 1/16th that of the Province of Ontario.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  I shall be glad to know of your
decision in this regard.

Yours sincerely,

Mahinda Gunasekera
(Address & Tel. No. given below)

Encl.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  My letter of June 15, 2013