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New Democratic Party of Canada's Statement on Sri Lanka - Oct. 3,2008Ira de Silva London, Ontario CanadaLondon, Ontario, N6A 3A8 October 5,2008 Hon. Jack Layton, M.P. Parliamentarians of the New Democratic Party Mr. Rupinder Kaur Dear Sirs: I have just read the New Democratic Party of Canada's Statement on Sri Lanka dated Oct. 3,2008. Since the NDP are supposed to be "listening to the community", I am writing to let you know that your statement is biased, uninformed, vague and condescending. It does however illustrate the NDP's lack of knowledge, understanding and judgment of the situation in Sri Lanka. It indicates that your party under Jack Layton is as ignorant of the situation in Sri Lanka as he was years ago when he attended a Pongu Tamil meeting in Toronto celebrating Prabhakaran, the megalomaniac who leads the Tamil terrorists (LTTE), and illustrated his ignorance by stating that the LTTE leader Prabhakaran, who has been convicted for murder in India as well as Sri Lanka and is on the most wanted list of Interpol, was the same as Nelson Mandela of South Africa. The contents of the statement indicate that the only members of the community the NDP are "listening" to are the supporters of the Tamil terrorists. Is the NDP aware that other than the supporters of the LTTE, there are thousands of people of different communities from Sri Lanka in Canada including Tamils, who are against the LTTE and the terrorism they have inflicted on the population of Sri Lanka? Your party hopes to get votes from the Tamil hugging Liberals in Ontario, who incidentally issued their "statement" on Sri Lanka just last week via Bob Rae. You have proved once again, especially in Ontario, that you are not a party that is fit to govern because of your rank ignorance, indifference and that your party is morally and ethically bankrupt. Let those who support terrorism in Sri Lanka from Canada decide which terrorist loving party they will vote for but remember each one of them has only one vote. In an effort to educate you so your party does not annoy non LTTE Sri Lankans in future, please note the following comments on your statement: If you want to repeat your call to end the war, please advise your
Tamil terrorist supporters to advise their "leader", the terrorist
Prabhakaran to stop recruiting Tamil children, forcing the civilian
population to act as human shields (this indicated by the foreign "humanitarian
agencies"), lay down their arms and seek a negotiated settlement.
Please note that over the past 30 years, the LTTE only wanted ceasefires
and negotiations to re-arm and were always the party to walk away from
peace talks. The government of Sri Lanka has stated repeatedly that
they are willing to negotiate but stated that the LTTE, who for your
information has always been the aggressor, must negotiate in good faith
and agree to lay down their arms. Tamil terrorists supporters world
wide approach their "representatives" to ask for help to stop
the war for precisely this exercise - that is the scenario that has
been played for the last two decades. You may not realize it in your
belief that you know it all, but Sri Lankans are wise to these games
and are not impressed by statements such as yours. They know better
because they are knowledgeable on Sri Lanka. Advise your Tamil terrorist supporters to stop collecting funds in Canada for terrorism in Sri Lanka. It is Canada's own security agencies that have published the extent to which the Tamil citizens in Canada are being pressured and intimidated to provide funding for terrorism. Stop providing political support to terrorist supporters in Canada. Reign in your ego and realize that the events in Sri Lanka are only influenced by Canada because of the level of funding for terrorism by Tamil Canadians and that there is no relevance to an election in Canada. Funding for terrorism from Canada is relevant to the Sri Lankan electorate in that they are being killed, bombed, massacred, and otherwise terrorized because of support from Canadian Tamils and politicians and political parties such as the NDP. Your statement says "as in the past New Democrats continue to repeat calls to end the war and urge the Sri Lankan government and military to resume discussions to establish peace with the LTTE". Please be advised that, as in the past, your party has not understood that it is not for the government to end the war and resume discussions but for the LTTE to stop the war they started thirty years ago on the people of Sri Lanka, and accept the government's offer of discussions to establish peace. Obviously you are unaware that the LTTE has issued many statements that they will not stop their terrorist war unless they get what they want which is a division of Sri Lanka. It may come as a surprise to you that the vast majority of people in Sri Lanka do not want this. Except for the those who support the terrorists, the majority of Sri Lankans, including the Tamil population, have rejected this division. Were you not told by your Tamil terrorist supporters that over 55% of the Tamil population have voted with their feet and are outside the areas temporarily controlled by the LTTE.? Wake up to the facts instead of being so myopic and displaying your ignorance in statements such as the one of October 3rd. As for your additional points - The government of Sri Lanka has ALWAYS been committed to a peace settlement. It has ALWAYS been the LTTE that has not wanted a settlement short of the demand to divide the country. It is the LTTE that has no respect for the U.N., it's humanitarian law etc. On every occasion that they have been found violating humans rights such as child conscription, they have promised to give up doing so only to carry on as before with even greater violations. As for monitors, Sri Lanka has suffered through that aspect too and the same LTTE as per the monitors violated their undertakings over three thousand times. As for war crimes, the LTTE leader has practiced genocide, murder, assassinated a prime minister, a president and numerous politicians, people as they prayed in temples and mosques. By all means press for Prabhakaran and his band of terrorists to be tried for these crimes. The government of Sri Lanka does not need the NDP to tell it what to do regarding human rights violations as there are approved institutions in Sri Lanka doing just that. I would suggest that you inquire into the violation of the human rights of Tamil Canadians in your own backyard and urge the law enforcement agencies to "prosecute" the perpetrators immediately in Canada. You may find that some of your Tamil advisers may be among those prosecuted. As for the A9 highway, the only reason that the LTTE want it opened is because they were able to illegally tax all the people and vehicles that travelled on it. It is estimated that the LTTE collected about $200,000 a month. They did not use the money to help the Tamil people. It has been the Sri Lankan taxpayer who has through the years sent food, medicines, paid for education, administration and other services. All that the LTTE did was use their money from within Sri Lanka and an estimated $300 million a year from overseas, to buy arms to prosecute the war. Were you told that this highway, which is the main road link between the south and the north of Sri Lanka, was closed from 1994 to 2002? After the Norwegian negotiated ceasefire the road was re-built (the LTTE had ravaged the road with bombs etc). It was closed again in 2006 after the LTTE attempted to attack Jaffna from the northern end of the A9 area. As for an international peace keeping force acceptable to all parties, you can be sure that Canada would not be accepted as one of the acceptable "forces" precisely because with statements such as yours it clearly shows the people of Sri Lanka that Canada can not be part of the solution because Canada is part of the problem of terrorism in Sri Lanka. You have just re-confirmed to Sri Lankans that your support of Tamil terrorism is as good today as in the past. There is no need for you to remind your fellow politicians and political parties not to use the situation in Sri Lanka as a partisan issue. Your statement has established beyond a shadow of doubt that you are partisan, that you are using the situation in Sri Lanka as a "partisan issue". Your former NDP colleague now in the Liberal Party issued his "partisan' statement last week. As I stated previously, your parties can fight it out as to who will get the few Tamil votes you are vying for. The rest of the Sri Lankan Canadians, including those Tamils who oppose the LTTE, will vote against you with the hope that their combined vote will not give you the opportunity to explore options regarding Sri Lanka because clearly it is beyond your comprehension and abilities. Yours truly, Ira de Silva
Jack Layton and the New Democrats are listening to the community. They are telling us that the violence is escalating, human rights are being violated, and the number of deaths, political disappearances and forced evictions are growing. As in the past, New Democrats continue to repeat calls to end the war and urge the Sri Lankan government and military to resume discussions to establish peace with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Additionally, we stand by the following points, as outlined by Louise Arbour, the former United Nation’s Human Rights High Commissioner: All sides of the conflict must commit to an immediate peace settlement
Peace must always be the goal and New Democrats are prepared to explore options and solutions to bring peace to Sri Lanka . For more information:
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