World
Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka
World
Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka
PO Box 4066, Mulgrave VIC 3170, Australia
Phone:
+61 3 9548 0276 Fax: +61
3 9584 0276
Email:
ranjiths@spur.asn.au,
Website: http://www.spur.asn.au
Media Release by WAPS - Thursday, 23 December 2004
LTTE Activists attempt to Stifle Public Discussion at a Human Rights Watch Meeting held in Toronto
We
would like to bring to your attention the observations made by our members
in Canada who attended the above meeting, and our comments relating to the
LTTE activists who attempted to shut out the right to free speech and
discussion of an issue of public interest by an independent body committed to
upholding human rights.
A
meeting called by Human
Rights Watch
on Sunday, December 12, 2004 at the Scarborough Civic Centre, to
discuss their 80 page report titled "
Living in Fear - Child Soldiers and the Tamil Tigers in SriLanka",
was given a rude reception by the mainly Tamil community dominated by the pro-LTTE
activists in the audience. The Chair
of the meeting, Professor Noah Novogrodsky of the University of
Toronto's Faculty of Law informed the audience that two presentations
would be made each of 20 minutes duration, after which the meeting would
be open to questions and comments from the audience.
He also said that a Tamil translation of the presentations would be
given. He then went on to introduce the first speaker, Hon. Bob
Rae, former Premier of Ontario and President of the International Forum of
Federations, and called on Mr. Rae to address the meeting.
At this point, a procedural issue was raised by an LTTE
supporter wanting to know why a Tamil person had not been
included in the Panel. Pandemonium broke loose, with several members
of the audience both young and old screaming at the Chair, demanding reasons
for non-inclusion of a member of Toronto's 250,000 Tamil community. Some
demanded that Father Joseph Chandrakanthan, a pro-LTTE Catholic Priest
attached the University of Toronto be selected to represent the
Tamil Community, with a few objecting to his selection.
A call to boycott the meeting was raised but none walked away even
though the Chair indicated that any of that view were free to leave. The organisers
were not agreeable to change the format and have Father
Chandrakanthan address the audience , whereupon the LTTE supporters
began to scream and shout insults disrupting the meeting for almost 40
minutes.
At
this stage, the much respected former Premier of Ontario
stepped up to the podium midst the angry yelling, and in his
calm and confident style went on to say that in his entire public life
extending over 25 years, no one had ever stopped him from
speaking, especially in a free and democratic country such as Canada.
Some retorted with remarks that Mr. Rae's idea of democracy differed
from theirs, but Bob Rae in an unruffled manner addressed the audience stating
that he has visited Sri Lanka on a number of occasions meeting leaders and
ordinary people both in the south and the north.
He added that in his opinion, a solution
lay in a federal system,
but pointed out that the LTTE which
was a guerilla type military outfit had to transform itself into a political
party that accepts pluralism in order that a democratic arrangement could be
reached.
Ms.
Joe Becker, Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, Children's Rights
Division was
next introduced by the Chair, though greeted with noisy and rude remarks, she
stood her ground and went on to provide statistics of child abductions
as reported by UNICEF and the SLMM.
She cited interviews had with three Tamil children who had been
forcibly removed by the LTTE but released after the eastern wing split up
from the Vanni leadership. They
were hiding from the LTTE and lived in fear of being taken back to the
fighting units. The children's parents lived in constant fear,
and in some cases would not even send the children to school or attend
religious eremonies as they did not want to lose their children. Refusal
on the part of parents to release a child could result in threats of harm,
assaults and even eviction from their homes.
The number of 3516 abducted children reported
by UNICEF based on complaints received from parents since
February 2002 is said to be well below the actual count of children
conscripted by the LTTE, as many fear to bring such instances to the attention
of UNICEF or the authorities. She
called on the Tamil diaspora in Toronto and the rest of Canada which provided
monetary and other support to the LTTE to demand of the LTTE to refrain from
conscripting children under the age of 18 years, further adding that
enlisting a child under 15 years was a War Crime under international law.
The
Chair's offer to provide a Tamil translation of the presentations was
vociferously turned down by some of the noisy elements, who then opened the
meeting for questions and comments. Father
Xavier, a LTTE leader stated
that the words majority and minority mentioned by Mr. Rae was not applicable
to the Sri Lanka situation, as there is a Tamil Nation and a Sinhala Nation,
just as in Canada we have the First Nations or Native Canadians, the
French and English Canadian Nations. He
described himself as a Psychotherapist who counselled
families in wife abuse situations where the husband tended to control the
wife, and asked the organisers to extend the meeting beyond the 8.00
p.m. closing time as otherwise it amounted to controlling discussion.
Father Xavier was among those who earlier disturbed the orderly
progress of the meeting resulting in the loss of discussion time.
The Chair regretted his inability to extend the closing time, as they
had the use of the meeting hall only till 8.00 p.m. Father
Joseph Chandrakanthan expressed his deep resentment at the organisers
for their failure to include a Tamil panellist.
He went on to say that nobody should have the right to exploit
the suffering of children, and mentioned he knows personally the deep
tragedies faced by Tamil children as he recalled a Sri Lankan Airforce
plane dropping bombs on school
going children in Jaffna
on his way to the university around 1995, and
his having to carry the mangled bodies and broken
limbs of
the
targeted children.
(Strangely, in spite of the numerous distortions and false stories
spread by the LTTE's propaganda units, this
one is a newly invented story by this man of the religious cloak.)
Another who was conspicuous by the loudness and rudeness of his comments
directed at Ms. Jo Becker calling her a border line racist and more in a most
threatening way was cheered by many in the audience.
One questioned the methodology of the research. One young man who spoke
in Tamil was heckled and asked to speak in English.
The gist of what he said was that it was time to change from
hatred to amity. A young girl
broke down from the taunts directed at her, but managed to say that it was
important to have listened to the organisers and act responsibly.
Ms.
Jo Becker explained that although she spoke of just three cases, the
conclusions were arrived at after an extensive study, and also explained the
steps taken to reach the affected children through leads provided by other
NGO's that engaged in family services. Not one person
in the audience disputed the charge made by Ms. Becker that the Tamil dispora
contributed monetary support to the LTTE, which has been designated as an
international terrorist group by the UN Security Council, thus debarring
Canadian citizens and
residents from financing such a terrorist entity. A number of
officers of the Toronto City Police who were at the Civic Centre came inside
the auditorium to ensure the safety of the speakers and those in the audience.
On occasions, the unruly crowd engaged in heated arguments amongst
themselves and were prevented from getting into physical violence by other
attendees. The Chair and
the Speakers left the meeting sharp at 8.00 p.m. leaving several
others who had taken up positions to raise questions or make comments wait in
vain as the scheduled closing time had arrived.
The
conduct of the LTTE activists at this meeting was a clear example of how the
Tamil Tiger Terrorists who are the self declared sole representative of the
Tamil community, seek to shut out any criticism by even internationally
recognised human rights bodies or high profile leaders of the community, in
countries that have opened the doors and allowed them to settle down as equal
citizens. They act as though they are above the law, and attempt to deny
the right of freedom of expression even to those of the main stream community
that has bestowed all rights of a democratic society even to the new immigrant
Tamil community. One could
naturally understand why members of the Tamil community who hold views
different from that of the LTTE both in Sri Lanka and outside are subjected to
total silence, as they have demonstrated on numerous occasions that they are
prepared to go beyond threats and readily resort to thuggery and violence, and
even take the life of such dissenting individuals as they have done in the
case of the Human Rights Advocate, Neelan Tiruchelvam, the TULF leader A.
Amirthalingam, Mayors of Jaffna, namely Sarojini Yogeshwaran and Pon Sivapalan
and countless others, to maintain a stranglehold over the members of the
community.
In
such circumstances, what rights would children have to resist the demands of
the armed terrorist dictatorship of the LTTE who want to forcibly train them
for war?
Yours
very truly,
Mahinda
Gunasekera
Hony. President, Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA)
for World Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka (WAPS)
President
- Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR) Victoria
President -
Sri Lanka United National Association (SLUNA) of Canada
President -
Society for Peace, Unity and Human Rights of Sri Lanka (SPUR) NSW
President - Western Australian Society for Peace Unity and Rehabilitation (WASPUR) in Sri Lanka
President -
Sri Lankans Against Terrorism- NSW
President -
Sinhala Cultural and Community Services F. Vic
President -
Apey Shakthi- New Zealand
Coordinator -
Hela Muthu Ketaya, New Zealand
President -
Canadian Association for United Sri Lanka-Canada
President -
Sri Lankan United National Association-Canada
President -
Sinhala Centre- U.K
President -
The International Campaign for the Liberation of the Sinhala Nation-
U.K
President -
Sinhala Association of Sri Lankans in the U.K
President -
New York Society of United Sri Lankans-U.S.A
President -
United Sinhalese Association in Italy- Rome.
President -
Pacific Alliance for Peace in Sri Lanka, Vic (National Office),
Australia
President - Alliance Against Tamil Domination, UK
President - Veera Parakramabahu Foundation (VPF), NSW, Australia
President - First Society of Sri Lankan Professors in American Universities
President - First Society of Sri Lankan Professionals in Japan