\Subject: Hanging of Saddam Hussein


December 31, 2006

The editor
Toronto Star
Toronto.



Dear Sir,

The hanging of Saddam Hussein in a cowardly fashion has proved that the US is a terrorist state and President George Bush an unashamed terrorist. Those who thought the Whiteman is civilized have been proved wrong by Bush. Saddam Hussein was a dictator and by western standards a tyrant, but Bush has no right to hang him. Everyone knows that the Iraqi government is a puppet of the US; the court was a Kangaroo court and the judge a dummy. It is small wonder that two defence lawyers were murdered and two independent judges were replaced. The crime against Iraq and Iraqi people – the illegal invasion and occupation of a sovereign country by military force – is compounded by Bush by hanging its leader. What more Bush has the gall to proclaim “democracy” which sends chills down the spine of all right thinking men and women! If Saddam Hussein is to be hanged for killing 148 Iraqi Shias in 1982 then how many times should Bush be hanged for killing 600,000 Iraqis thus far? It is a lasting credit to Saddam Hussein that he embraced death holding his head high, brave and defiant till the last unlike a cowardly Bush who was sleeping in the White House.



President Bush and his circle of advisors constitute a greater threat to humanity and world peace than Saddam Hussein ever did. The world cannot be a safe place as long as a terrorist like Bush is in power.



Yours truly,





Veluppillai Thangavelu

416 281 1165



 

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This is the worst unrealistic critique of the Lankan crisis. This racist writer has blinkers around his eyes. It is only a pipe dream to think that Sinhalese racists could divide the Thamils into pro LTTE and anti-LTTE. The Thamils around the world are solidly behind LTTE and there will be no solution without the LTTE. The LTTE consists of our sons and daughters and they are not from another planet. The racist writer is simply dreaming like the British colonialists when he says "As happened to the IRA with the granting of Home Rule, Tamil nationalism would be split if regional autonomy were granted and there would be a civil war between the moderates/realists and the hard-line LTTE. This would be true not only of Tamils in Sri Lanka but also in the Diaspora, and Tamil Nadu.". The south had a chance to settle for full autonomy but they missed the boat. As for the Sinhala army - it is an occupation army despised by the Thamils. The racist writer has labored hard to paint a rosy picture of the Sinhala army. The very fact he has to defend the Sinhala army of occupation itself is an admission that the Sinhala army is in fact an occupational army. It is worse than Israeli army of occupation. If in doubt, just remove the guns from the Sinhala soldiers for two days only and then see the fun!  (18-12-2006)
A realist critique of the Lankan crisis
by Dayan Jayatilleka

 

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It is a shame that Victor Ivan the self-proclaimed human rights activist and progressive journalist sat with such racists like C.A.Chandraperuma (A Thamil name Chandraperumal) of the Island.

Ivan is not the only person to blurt out that Thamil Eelam is "a Utopian dream." Countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Albania, Macedonia, Eritrea, Easy Timor were dreams that turned out to be a reality. The Thamils, not Ivan, will decide what is good for them. The LTTE is already in control of 2/3 of Northeast running a parallel government where the write of Sinhala racists and terrorists don't run. That in itself is a monumental achievement.

Ivan is talking nonsense when he says "When a small group of the population lays claim to large portion of the land." It is a fallacy to claim that Thamils are a small group of population. They constitute a nation speaking a rich language, holding territory and enjoying a pristine culture. Historically the Northeast belonged to the Thamils. Thamil kings ruled from Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. For a full 70 years the whole of Ceylon was under the rule of the Imperial Cholas. Mahinda V was captured and taken as a prisoner to TN.


We don't need the sympathy of the Sinhalese to claim what is out basic rights. We don't need their permission either. Freedom is not something one gives. It is simply taken what is yours from others.

After the 1977 election victory TULF leader A.Amirthalingam held fruitless talks with J.R.Jayawardena for weeks and months only to see JRJ throwing them out of the parliament by courtecy of the 6th amendment. He is the one who slaughtered the Thamil youths and when we get Thanil Eelam we will erect a statue for him! This is not a joke!  (14-12-2006)
 

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December 7, 2006







Toronto







The editor

Toronto Star

Toronto.


Dear editor

Reference your editorial "Bailing Bush out of his Iraq folly" in today's Tor Star. George Bush and Tony Blair the gang of two have to be squarely blamed for the bloodshed in Iraq. As observed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Iraqis are now many times worse off than they were under Saddam Hussein. There was no rhyme or reason for the Iraqi invasion. It was a mad adventure by ego-driven sadists rooted in the colonial past. Both Bush and Blair should be tried for crimes against humanity. If Saddam Hussein was tried for killing 148 Shias in 1982 and sentenced to death then these two politicians also should be tried for killing at least 300,000 Iraqis! There should not be one law for Saddam Hussein and another law for Bush and Blair. A crime is a crime no matter who committed it.



Yours truly,



Veluppillai Thangavelu

416 281 1165
 

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December 6, 2006



Toronto



The editor
Toronto Star
Toronto.



Dear editor



This refers to your editorial "RCMP must go" appearing in today's Toronto Star.

This is the second Tor Star editorial calling for the sacking of RCMP Chief Giuliano Zaccardelli. The first editorial was titled "Harper must tell RCMP chief to go" on October 06, exactly 2 months ago. The news that Maher Arar was arrested by the FBI at New York airport and after detaining him for 13 days he was flown to Syria via Jordan was splashed all over the print and electronic media at that time. It was also made known that Arar's arrest, detention and confinement in Syrian prison was based on information RCMP gave to US authorities fingering him as an "Islamic extremist" with Al Qaeda links. How then the RCMP chief now says "I made a mistake in inferring or leaving an impression that I knew information about those mistakes in 2002 when, in fact, I couldn't have known. I knew it in 2006 (after reading O'Connor's report)?" Does he not read newspapers, especially news regarding RCMP? It is obvious Giuliano Zaccardelli is changing his story to escape the sword hanging over his head in the form of unceremonious dismissal. What ever may be the case might be he has lied before the parliamentary committee if not now then on the previous occasion. Giuliano Zaccardelli as a public servant can do now a favour. He should resign voluntarily and go home with some honour or whatever is left of it!



Yours truly,





Veluppillai Thangavelu

416 281 1165

Editorial: RCMP chief must go
Dec. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM



What did Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli know about the Maher Arar fiasco and when did he know it?

After Zaccardelli's credibility-shredding flip-flop yesterday before a House of Commons committee probing his role in one of the great RCMP bungles, it is anybody's guess.

But it is clearly Prime Minister Stephen Harper's problem. After expressing "surprise and concern" at Zaccardelli's erratic performance, Harper should go the next step, seek his resignation and have an outside police force look into this affair.

Canadians also expect swift action from the Conservatives when Mr. Justice Dennis O'Connor tables his recommendations next week to place the RCMP's national security operations under closer scrutiny.

In a damning report on Sept. 18 about the Arar case, O'Connor concluded the RCMP told U.S. officials that Arar was "an Islamic extremist" based on bad information. That "very likely" led to his arrest in New York in 2002 and removal to Syria, where he was jailed and tortured.

When Zaccardelli testified before a House of Commons committee just 10 days after O'Connor released his report, the RCMP chief said he had been "personally shocked" in 2002 to learn his force had supplied "false or incorrect" data. He claimed the force "made an effort to correct that false information" before Arar was deported. And "we let Canadian officials know about that." In that story line, the RCMP knew it had erred and scrambled to make it right.

That's not how O'Connor saw it.

He found the RCMP kept federal officials in the dark about the errors. Key ministers in the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin governments recently confirmed that finding.

Yesterday, in a bizarre about-face, Zaccardelli changed his tune.

"I made a mistake in inferring or leaving an impression that I knew information about those mistakes in 2002 when, in fact, I couldn't have known. I knew it in 2006 (after reading O'Connor's report)," he said.

The RCMP did try to correct part of the record by telling the Americans they could not link Arar to Al Qaeda and could not detain him. But they continued to regard him as a suspicious "person of interest." And they never corrected other bad data they had passed along.

All this left Mark Holland, a Liberal member of the committee, wanting to know when Zaccardelli had "perjured" himself: on Sept. 28, or yesterday. Opposition members of committee now want him fired.

Whichever story is right - and O'Connor's findings support yesterday's version - the damage is done.

If Zaccardelli did know the RCMP shared bad information on Arar in 2002, why didn't he speak up then, to clear him of alleged extremist ties?

If Zaccardelli did not know exactly how the RCMP bungled in 2002, and still didn't know until O'Connor reported four years later, what does that say about his leadership? How long does it take to sort out a mess? Why was no one held accountable?

It is all bad. Harper's reluctance to fire Zaccardelli and bring in an outside police force to probe how this file was handled is inexcusable.

O'Connor's thoughts on stronger oversight have never been more urgently needed.


 

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Dayan Jayatlleka wants to paint a donkey to look like a horse! Rajapakse returned empty handed without a joint press communiqué, without photo opportunity, without agreement on joint naval patrolling and plenty of his effigies burnt in protest in Thamil Nadu and New Delhi. No president before him was treated this shabbily by India! Dayan Jayatilleka conveniently forgets that Rajapakse won the elections on a war platform. Rejection of federalism, expelling Norway out of Sri Lanka and militarily defeat the LTTE were clearly spelt out in his manifesto Mahintha Chinthanai. Towards this end he appointed hawks like former Deputy IGP and now V.President of JHU as defence advisor, Sarath Fonseka as army chief, his own brothers as Defence Advisor and Defence Secretary, Ratnasri Wickremanayake as Prime Minister. These appointments makes it clear Rajapakse did not want to give peace a chance. At Geneva1 the government delegation agreed to disarm paramilitary groups in terms of the CFA, but the government reneged on it no sooner it reached Colombo. The capture of Mavilaru and Sampur were clear violations of the CFA. Racists like Dayan Jayatilleka will remain racists whatever one may say not say. No wonder to him traitors like Karuna, Devananda and Anadasangaree, the leader of one man party, are heroes!

Contrasting performances in India


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This racist editor needs prove only in respect of allegations against the government. The POWs at Panichchankerni said the Karuna cadres were fighting along with the soldiers. To distinguish them in battle they wore a green band around their wrists! This editor is speaking arrant nonsense that Erik Solheim helped terrorism! He does not understand that LTTE is not a terrorist organization. The CFA recognizes parity of status and military balance between the LTTE and GoSL! This is something this racist editor is unable to come to terms.

They must be like Caesar’s wife  (04-12-2006)
 

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Ban or not to Ban

This editor vomits racial hatred and malice day after day. To him LTTE is a terrorist organization and those Thamils who support the LTTE are terrorist too. But the same editor is full of praise of Anandasangaree " well respected veteran Tamil politician, who has been recognised at long last by UNESCO for his outstanding contribution to peace building and the protection of democracy and human rights." Why this concomiums? Anandasangaree only polled 6,000 votes and lost his deposit. Never mind all that - he has one big qualification. He is a Thamil traitor. So he has to be praised sky high! The LTTE leader once explained how one can recognize traitors among the Thamils. It is easy - the enemy praises them!  (03-12-2006)

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The editor (The Island) is crying because a bomb went off in Colombo. But he was blind, dumb and deaf when Kfir fighter planes carried out more than 250 sorties to bomb "LTTE targets" in the Northeast. In what way the life of Gothabaya is more precious than the 45 or more refugees people killed by artillery shells fired by the army in Kathiraveli, Vaaharai? What about the killing of 5 innocent students in Vavuniya farm school following a claymore mine attack? Are they not civilians? What about the bombing of Kilinochchi hospital in which 5 members of a single family died? More than 900 patients, including mothers in labour, fled the hospital? Who in fact made the CFA irrelevant and defunct? Is it not part of Mahinda Chinthanaya to tear up the CFA, chase Norway and the SLMM out of Sri Lanka and then seek a military solution to solve the ethnic conflict? Editor! First look yourself in the mirror ! I wish god gives you the ability to see yourself as others see you!  (01-12-2006)
 

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This article reveals to what extent even the so called Sinhalese elite could sink to defend the indefensible. The insinuation that "when as a very responsible Minister of the former Canadian government, he had joined the LTTE in fundraising dinner for the LTTE in Canada""DENY ME FREEDOM DENY ME LIFE." absolute rubbish. Allan Rock never attended any of the functions organized by the supporters when he was a Minister/MP. This vilification should serve as an eye opener to the Canadian government and politicians about the racist nature of the GoSL. The Conservative government by listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization has given a free hand to the GoSL to abuse human rights and prosecute the war. It was stupidity on the part of the Foreign Minister Peter Mackay and Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day when they added LTTE to the list- something the Liberal government acting sensibly refused to do. The call by the Canadian government asking both parties to the conflict to enter into talks smacks of duplicity. You don't call one of the party to the conflict as a terrorist organization and then turn around and make an appeal. It is not diplomacy but hypocrisy!
'Allen-Rocking' the UN:
 

Why UN entered itself in a 'List of Shame' of its own creation?


by Bandu de Silva
Former Ambassador ( December 01, 2006)


How is it that institutions under the UN these days are undermining their own prestige? The office of the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict has come under the serious scandal of appointing a former alleged supporter of the LTTE, which is banned in the US, Canada, the UK, the EU and India and placed on the List of Shame of the UN over recruitment of children as child soldiers, to probe the serious charge against it over child recruitment.

On the other hand, in another development, the UNESCO has been found appointing a former President of Sri Lanka whose credentials have been seriously questioned - some say, no credentials to hold a prestigious UNESCO post at all - to the position of a senior consultant. How scandalous the situation of the UN has brought itself is seen from the way the effigy of the UN Representative being perched on a tree opposite the UN office in the prestigious Colombo 7 office of the United Nations in Colombo in this heavy Monsoonal weather sure to catch the ``Chikunguya" fever, the new virus which is fast spreading in the country with the onset of rains. The significance of that symbolic disgrace to which the UN office in question has dragged itself is that the effigy has been mounted in a ``high security" area where no ordinary persons can approach. So, one can think of complicity of the GOSL in that remonstration. That seems to be a response to this Representative of the UN office making allegations against the armed forces of complicity in child recruitment for war.

Can the UN lodge a protest without bringing its own credentials into question in this matter?

The Sunday Times Columnist, Neville de Silva who commented on the UN appointment, appears to have been rather mild in his reference to Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, the U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, in his column published on Sunday 25th November 2006 over this appointment of this controversial person as her representative to probe the situation of child soldiers in Sri Lanka. This is in contrast to the mouthful that the former Sunday Observer Editor, Rajpal Abeynaike said in his column in The Sunday Observer of 20th August 2006. Was it due to a simple omission or was there a deliberate design behind it? This is the question to be decided.

Rajpal commenting on what Radhika said that she [was] ``shocked by `the bombing deaths of children `85`85 in Mullativu, asked `` Well she woke up, didn't she? There was bus laden with school boys which was deliberately claymore bombed in Kebetigollewa a few months back. Newspapers carried nagging and poignant pictures of a father wailing over the dead body of a tyke who could not have been over five years old. `85.." and observed that ``Radhika Coomaraswamy was conspicuous by her silence at that time, and there was no verbiage of the kind that would have shattered a few glass panes by the forces of such explosion that could have come from the direction of her oral cavity."; and ``that sort of gelignite was reserved strictly for the Mullativu bombings, which - even assuming that children were indeed involved - were of a certain collateral character as the Air Force was carrying out what were thought to be strikes on Tiger camps;" that ``the Kebetigollewa attacks were a calculated cynical targeting of civilian school boys where the ugly word `collateral' could not be squeezed into the equation under any stretch."

``So what's this child minder doing other than being hypocritical with her expression of shock over Mullativu - speaking in tongues,?" he asked. He summed up by saying ``It is possible that men [and women] can have genuine changes of heart when trouble hits closer home, and one of their own is taken, in contrast to several luckless tykes in a ramshackle bus in distant Kebetigollewa? It is possible that just because your child gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and feels awfully sorry for the moment, that he will stop eating cookes? `85"

That was a reference to Dr.Radhika Coomaraswamy's' first ``outburst" after her appointment as U.N. Secretary General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict. Now she has shown her hand for the first time on the question of ``recruitment" itself of children for war in Sri Lanka. So, Neville de Silva asks rather mildly if Radhika knew the antecedents of the representative whom she sent to Colombo [for the first time under her new dispensation] to ``probe the recruitment of children for war. Alan Rock, the former Canadian Minister, whom she sent to Sri Lanka on that mission was one alleged to have been caught once ``with his hand in the cookie jar" when as a very responsible Minister of the former Canadian government, he had joined the LTTE in fundraising dinner for the LTTE in Canada.

So, was it surprising that Alan Rock was just doing what I wrote in my column in The Island under

the caption ``Radhika Doing just what the Guru told her? ( 2006). My reference was the ``advice" that Radhika received from [the late] Prof. Suriyakumaran, at the time she took over her new responsibilities.

Suriyakumaran gave his judgment that child recruitment as combatants ``was part of a world process of slavery, child labour practiced by the developed countries".

He even pointed to the practice of child recruitment for war which `prevailed freely till ``the other day" as he called ``both in the U.S. and the U.K. armies, with no qualms and apologies."

Quite rightly, as I said, that was exactly what the LTTE delegation to Geneva negations pointed out during the first round when the GOSL delegation raised it as the major issue. That was when the LTTE was cornered on the issue of child recruitment for war. That could not be made an apology for others to repeat what was done by these `civilised' countries of the West.

The former UN Professor did not really put the point across emphatically as one would have expected him to do with his background as a sober internationalist. He only said, ``the whole purpose is not to recommend it for us." That, as I observed, was a very mild way of putting it. With his background and the culture he represented, he could have taken a more positive stand on not repeating that action followed by the West. But, my greater attention was to what he said next:

``85.but to know the context in which a group or a country is driven to get the maximum possible manpower for its resistance against being openly overwhelmed by the enemy`85."

Then he applied this argument to the North of Sri Lanka and said:

`In this country in the North there was no physical alternative to child recruitment as an additional resource. Two evaluations then become necessary. One on the recruitment themselves, and Two, the manner in which these were concluded - both clearly matters for every evaluation. Inducement, propaganda and others. Yes; but force, abduction from home, certainly are violations with no excuse`85..'

Then he referred to a passing recollection of `seeing a well trained teenage contingent then on R& R in Jaffna from the Vanni looking self-confident, indeed with education, capable - as their mentor said, `the inevitable price of total National Folly, perpetuated for years, by so called political leaderships of this country (which meant solely Southern) and then forced into a situation with all hands to battle.'

Is that a genuine picture of the child soldiers? Could the UN would have agreed? .I asked if what the good Professor was trying to say was not clear enough! That became even more so from the illustration he gave next of his own personal experience of forcing a young boy to take up arms in '58 on the point of assault by him, to stand up with him out front.

Now does one see a whole group of people caught with the cookie jar in hand making a desperate attempt to remove the stains which the LTTE [Tiger stripes] earned with UN Representative Olara Otunu ``consecrating" it by entering it in the UN ``List of Shame" over child soldiers?

The Subtle Game Plan

The move this time is rather subtle. Wasn't it clear enough that the game-plan was laid at the UN itself before a probe on the ground in Sri Lanka was undertaken? Didn't Alan Rock state on arrival that he intended to engage the Karuna faction in a dialogue and to probe allegations of their role in child recruitment? So, bringing Karuna into focus on the child recruitment charges was pre-planned. That is where the whole emphasis was this time. So was the allegation against the armed forces of complicity in child recruitment. Didn't that meet with the LTTE's agenda in Geneva (first round) to compel the GOSL to disarm the ``paramilitaries" while the LTTE remained under arms?

There is no attempt to remove the stains from the LTTE but it was good enough to remove their isolation in the local ``List of Shame" by adding Karuna to the List and especially by bringing the Sri Lankan armed forces into the picture, mischievously though, without substantiating the claim with evidence. This is what is called ``clouding" the issue of child recruitment and removing the force which was building up against the LTTE alone as the worst culprits in the world in child recruitment for war and creating the `suicide-bomb' psyche and the culture of hate.

Bringing the Karuna faction into the ``List of Shame" over the child recruitment is another matter. Karuna as the former area Commander of the LTTE in the East who provided the LTTE with the bulk of armed cadres [from the East] was himself under the direction of the LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran to provide those armed cadres not excluding child soldiers. As it turned out, that was one of the issues over which Karuna fell out with his leader and disbanded the child soldiers immediately thereafter and sent them back to their parents.

What followed is history. These disbanded children were picked up by the LTTE and Karuna's men were subjected to a process of elimination progressively. If one were to apply the Suriyakumaran formula, one may ask if Karuna was not entitled to make up for the depleted manpower to meet the LTTE challenge to eliminate their opposition to the dictatorial regime of the LTTE? Didn't Suriyakumaran argue ```85.but to know the context in which a group or a country is driven to get the maximum possible manpower for its resistance against being openly overwhelmed by the enemy`85.In this country in the North there was no physical alternative to child recruitment as an additional resource. Two evaluations then become necessary. One on the recruitment themselves, and Two, the manner in which these were concluded - both clearly matters for every evaluation. Inducement, propaganda and others. Yes; but force, abduction from home, certainly are violations with no excuse`85..'

If the UN or the Secretary General's Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict rejects this assertion and the advice which the former UN official in retirement gave to her, she should pronounce it so publicly not to allow any suspicion to linger that she is guided by these principles in her approach to the subject of child recruitment in general and child recruitment by the LTTE and now by Karuna faction.

Let us hope that Dr,Radhika Coomaraswamy who has been requested by the Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe, to furnish evidence of the alleged complicity of the Sri Lankan armed forces does so immediately without letting the good name of the UN and that of her own office tainted by suspicion of having been ``caught up with the hand in the cookie jar".

Surely, the UN office cannot be allowed to be added to another ``List of Shame" as Alan Rocks action seems to drive it. The transition from the Kofi Aman's administration to an administration under a new Secretary General should not be allowed to sweep this shame under the carpet.

Mr. Kofi Amman himself should not leave office with this stain on the UN Secretariat hanging over its head like the Sword of Damocles. To allow it to happen is to bring down the standards and the moral force of the UN and its highest office.

 

 

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Dear editor, (The Island)

This is a tongue in cheek editorial. You should know why the majority of Muslims are still languishing in Puttalam? Is it not due to the army occupying most of their houses? Jaffna is under army occupation since 1995. So who is to be blamed for their plight? The CFA as the acronym suggests is an agreement between two antagonists. Where does the Muslims fit it? They are part of every government in power? They voted for war budgets, voted for emergencies - so in effect they are at war with the Thamils like the Sinhalese? Why don't you write about the plight of 15,000 Thamils families who live in squalor because the army is occupying their houses and farmsteads and converted into HSZs? (30-11-2006)
 

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Subject: Rantings of Sinhala Racist -------- Asoka W. of Ottawa


December 25, 2006


Toronto


Dear Mr.Derek Lee,

These refers to the letter or still better the ranting of Asoka Weerasinghe, a rabid racist and warmonger who has not benefited a wee bit by living in a country like Canada – the home of more than 84 nationalities. It is a tragedy that Canada - a country famed for racial amity, multi-culturism, tolerance, peace and good governance, has not cured him of his anti-LTTE and anti-Thamil phobia! For your information, Weerasisnghe is a card carrying member of the Conservative Party which speaks volume of his mind-set and political ideology. You might wonder why he is dragging the name of Ranasinghe Premadasa. It is because he got appointed by Premadasa as the Communications Director of the Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa. He was given the boot following the untimely death of Premadasa.

If the allegation that LTTE took over 9 police stations and the 700 odd policemen who surrendered were shot by the LTTE, then he should blame not Balasingham but Karuna who was then the LTTE overall commander of the east. As you are aware this Karuna who defected from the LTTE is now the darling of the Sri Lankan government.

We don’t know for certain who assassinated President Ranasinghe Premadasa. If the allegation is true that he was “assassinated by a Thamil Tiger suicide bomber during the May Day rally in 1993” many Sinhalese lit crackers to celebrate his demise! This is because thousands were killed (majority Sinhalese) in execution style during Premadasa’s incumbency. It was widely believed that it was Premadasa who was behind the abduction and subsequent murder of the prominent media personality Richard de Zoysa who was frequently featured reading the English television news as well as contributing to many newspaper articles. He was of mixed ethnicity, his father a majority Sinhalese and mother a prominent medical surgeon from the minority Sri Lankan Thamil community.
On the night of 17/18 February 1990, an armed group entered their home, removed de Zoysa and drove away without explanation. The next day, 19 February 1990, de Zoysa's dead body was found in the sea at Moratuwa, some 12 miles south of Colombo. He had been shot in the head and the throat and his jaw was fractured. His body was identified by his friend late Taraki Sivaram who was also abducted and killed on April 26, 2005 by PLOTE aided and abetted by the army intelligence unit.

If Asoka Weerasinghe calls Balasingham a terrorist what do you call those responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent Thamils? STATE TERRORISTS?

Since Weerasinghe’s memory is short or suffers from selective amnesia when it comes to massacres of Thamil civilians, here is a short list of murders of genocidal proportions that took place during his mentor Ranasinghe Premadasa who took office as President on January 02, 1989.

(1) On 9th and 10th September 1990, over 180 Thamil civilians were butchered by the Sri Lanka army at the Saththurukondan Army Camp in the Batticaloa District.

At an inquiry into the massacre, the Officer-in-Charge of the camp, Captain. Gamini Varnakula Sooriya said "On that day no search or arrest was conducted by us". He also reiterated that none of his men even ventured out of the camp on the day of the massacre. The sole survivor of the massacre, Kanthasamy Krishnakumar aged 27, however recounted the chilling facts:

"On the night of 9 September 1990, Thamil civilians from Batticaloa, Saththurukkondan, Panichchaiyady, Kokkuvil, and Pillaiyarady were taken to the Army camp for interrogation. I was the only survivor of the 185 civilians taken there. We were stabbed with sharp knives including a one and a half year old child, children and women.

Hundreds of people in northeastern Sri Lanka have reportedly 'disappeared' after being detained by Sri Lankan security forces since 21 June 1990. Bodies, some of which have been identified as those of prisoners, have been dumped in several places. In Kalmunai, over 70 people were reportedly detained and then 'disappeared' after the soldiers reclaimed the town from the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam...

Over 30 bodies were dumped in a burnt out shop in Kalmunai, including the body of 23 year old Chandrikumar, who had been earlier taken by the security forces..

(2) On the 13th and 14th, September 1990 at Vavuniya , government forces reportedly shot and killed defenseless civilians... about 15 bodies were found on the road... hundreds of thousands of people fled their homes as fighting intensified: in early August there were over 300,000 refugees in Jaffna District alone, and fears of food shortages"( Amnesty International Report, 10 July 1990)

(3) "During 1990 thousands were extra judicially executed" - Amnesty Report

‘‘(During 1990) Thousands of people disappeared or were extra judicially executed in the north-east; many were tortured and then killed in custody. An unknown number of others were detained in the area... Government forces in the northeast were reported to have extra judicially executed thousands of defenseless civilians in areas they had regained... Victims were reportedly shot, bayoneted, stabbed or hacked to death; some were said by witnesses to have been burned alive.

In eastern areas, besides helping the army round up suspects, Muslim Home Guards also reportedly committed extra judicial executions. Victims’ bodies were regularly left in the open. The identities of many remained unknown; others, presumably killed in custody, were identified as people who had been detained by security forces days earlier. Some had been burned beyond recognition or mutilated.

In Amparai, where the Special Task Force, a police commando unit, was especially active, bodies - some without heads - began to be washed up on the beaches from September. In Amparai District alone at least 3,000 Thamil people were reportedly killed or disappeared between June and October.

In Batticaloa and Vavuniya Districts, as well as in other areas, widespread extra judicial executions were also reported after government troops moved in. Both the security forces and the government refused to acknowledge that many defenseless people had been deliberately killed

... Victims included babies and their mothers, children and elderly men and women. In Batticaloa town alone over 1,200 reportedly disappeared between June and October 1990.

Any person suspected of even minimal contact with the LTTE was at risk of detention, disappearance or extra judicial execution. Members of Thamil and Muslim armed groups which opposed the LTTE helped the security forces to identify LTTE suspects, and in some areas armed cadres of certain Thamil groups were deployed alongside government security forces' - Amnesty International Annual Report, 1991 for the period January to December 1990)

(4) It is reported that, since the renewal of the armed conflict on the 11th of June 1990, over 6000 Thamil civilians have been killed by Sri Lanka in the North-East. Over 4000 have been killed in the East alone - around half this number by Government sponsored Muslim Home Guards. Hundreds of persons 'arrested' by the Sri Lankan authorities have 'disappeared'. Some have been later found dead. Even refugee camps have become targets for army operations. As a result of continued aerial bombardment of civilian population centres and the arbitrary extra judicial killings of Thamil civilians, around one million Thamils have fled their homes and have become displaced persons in their own home lands. Around 200,000 Thamil civilians have fled to South India as refugees.

A de facto blockade has hampered the international media from reaching the affected areas in the North-East. However the investigation team from the European Parliament which visited the South of Sri Lanka have estimated that 60,000 Sinhalese were killed by the Sri Lankan authorities during the past 18 months. This provides a chilling indication of the degree of institutionalised violence in the Sri Lankan state and also of the probable scale of its activities in those areas controlled by the government in the North-East. - Statement of the Non Governmental Organisation, Liberation, at 47th Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights at Geneva, 28 January 1991

(5) On 12th June, 1991 at 11.00 a.m., the Sri Lankan army stationed in the Kokaddichcholai camp situated in the adjoining village, entered these two villages, terrorised and assaulted all the Thamil people, raped the women , including teachers and students who had taken refuge in the village school. 17 families who had taken refuge in the school were shot and killed. In one incident, a young girl who took protection with an old lady teacher was dragged by these sex hungry soldiers and raped in spite of the old lady offering them instead all the jewellery the girl had. They took the jewellery and raped the girl as well.

49 people who had taken refuge in a rice mill at Makiladitivu were burnt alive along with the rice mill.

About 200 people including old men, women and children have been admitted to hospitals for treatment for injuries caused during these assaults. These people will be refugees in their own land when they leave the hospitals as all their homes and belongings have been destroyed. During these assaults 82 Thamils were killed - many others have disappeared and unaccounted for.

(6) On December 25, 1990 Thamil refugees from the Clappenberg, Trincomalee refugee camp were taken away by the Sri Lankan army. They are presumed dead.

(7) On 30 March, 1991 police officers went on the rampage in lruthayapuram, burning shops and hacking to death 11 Thamil farmers.

(6) On 14 April, 1992 a family of 8 Thamil villagers were killed by a group of army personnel accompanied by members of TELO in their home at Mandur, Batticaloa.

(8) On 31 May, 1992 6 Thamil refugees were killed and over 125 injured, when the Sri Lankan air force mounted an attack on the Sri Durga Devi Temple in Tellippalai, Jaffna employing bomber aircraft and throwing grenades from a helicopter and barrel bombs from an airplane.

(9) On October 20, 1992 Sri Lankan helicopters strafed boats carrying civilians, on the night of Sunday using flares to light the area. Fifteen Thamils were killed.

LTTE is a creation of decades Sinhala – Buddhist dominated state oppression of Thamils and if we remove the cause, it will go away!



Yours truly,





Veluppillai Thangavelu



Eulogizing Tamil Tiger Anton Balasingham-Open Letter to Derek Lee, Liberal Party MP Scarborough-Rouge River Riding
Asoka Weerasinghe Canada

December 22, 2006


Derek Lee, Liberal Party MP Scarborough-Rouge River Riding


Dear Derek Lee:


Your condolatory eulogy for Tamil Tiger Anton Balasingham at his funeral service in Toronto is troublesome. Then, of course, you are a Liberal and I shouldn’t have expected anything different.

For a Canadian politician who is too quick at the draw to admonish international human rights violators, especially in Sri Lanka, this 90 degree turn around just to appease your Tamil constituents takes the cake.

Derek, here is what you did not know about Anton Balasingham which should turn your stomach inside out.

Anton Balasingham should have been charged at the Hague for his war crimes. Here is his case.

When the talks between the Tamil Tigers and President Premadasa were about to collapse, orders went out not to counter the Tamil Tiger attacks on the police stations in the eastern province but to surrender to them. The idea was to save the talks from collapse. The assurance of the safety of the policemen was given to Sri Lanka’s Justice Minister A.C.S.Hameed who was also the Chairman of the North-East Peace Committee by Anton Balasingham At that meeting Anton Balasingham’s wife Adele too was present together with Yogeswaran Yogi, Dominic and Subramaniam.

Once the policemen surrendered to the Tamil Tiger terrorists they took over nine police stations in the Batticaloa and Amparai Districts – Kalmunai, Samanthurai, Akkaripattu, Pottuvil, Kalkudah, Valachchnai, Eravur, Vellaveli and Kalawanchikudi.

Derek, you have been to Sri Lanka, and I believe you visited the east too and you know the geography. Take a map and identify these places and you will realize what a swath of territory they took over without triggering a single gun shot having cheated President Premadasa, who unfortunately believed in Anton Balasingham. All this happened on the night of Monday, June 11, 1990.

Around 700 policemen surrendered to the Tamil Tigers on government orders after the assurance given by the lead Tamil Terrorist, Anton Balasingham that they would not be harmed. By now you may have expected Anton Balasingham, whom you felt deserved your condolence in the presence of your Tamil friends and constituents, to be an honourable man, and in your eyes a peace maker. But then, Derek, for one unsuspecting moment, you let a fact slip your mind. This man aligned with the Tamil Tiger credo was an outright terrorist. And here is what happened to the 700 policemen with his connivance.

A young policeman who was shot by Balasingham’s Tamil Tiger terrorists that night and left for dead among the bodies of his colleagues said that he crawled into the jungle and hid while the next batch of policemen were brought and were shot dead.

The policeman was Piyaratna Ranaweera attached to the Kalmunai Police station. According to him the policemen who had surrendered were blindfolded, and the Tamil Tigers took their watches and wallets, gave them water and tied their hands behind their backs They were then taken in three buses to a terrorist camp at Thirukovil in the Amparai district. “Around midnight they took us in three batches into the jungle, lined us all up and made us lie on the ground face down and they opened fire with T-56 rifles. Then they held a torch to our heads and if they heard a cry they shot again,” he said.

Derek, you may wonder what I have been smoking to cook up this stomach-somersaulting horror story or whether I have been hallucinating.

Neither! This was reported by the Associated Press in Canada’s Globe and Mail of Friday, June 15,1990. I didn't want to quote reports from the Sri Lankan newspapers in case you think that they are unreliable.

And you Liberals will never learn when it comes to the Tamil Tigers. Then, of course, to hear Jim Karysgiannis doing his thing and instigating the Tamils to write to the Prime Minister and President of Sri Lanka as well as lobby the Conservative government, is not only annoying it is laughable. Here is a Liberal politician who did not believe that Quebec is a nation within a nation and yet wants the Tamils to have their own nation within a puny island the size of the Province of New Brunswick. Strange! Jim who has been pimping for the Tamil Tigers for the past two decades, will no doubt carry on his separatist act to snare every single Tamil vote in his Scarborough-Agincourt riding. He has been good at his cunning wanting to hang on to his 22,575 voters of which a good percentage are Tamils.

I hope this story will prick your conscience somewhat, for having eulogized the ruthless Tamil Tiger terrorist Anton Balasingham. Take a moment to think about it, and stop being so heartless letting these rascals keep killing the innocent civilians, that not only includes the Sinhalese, but also their own Tamil brethren and Muslims. There is more to defend the right to life than wanting a vote to re-enter parliament.

By the way, Anton Balasingham’s Australian wife Adele, also was the Tamil Tigress Matha (mother) who trained young girls and women to turn out to be cyanide necklaced killers and suicide bombers. And President Ranasinghe Premadasa was assassinated by a Tamil Tiger suicide bomber during the May Day rally in 1993.


Wishing you Peace in this Holiday Season.


Sincerely,

Asoka Weerasinghe
 

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The editor is crying because a bomb went off in Colombo. But he was blind, dumb and deaf when Kfir fighter planes carried out more than 250 sorties to bomb "LTTE targets" in the Northeast. In what way the life of Gothabaya is more precious than the 45 or more refugees people killed by artillery shells fired by the army in Kathiraveli, Vaaharai? What about the killing of 5 innocent students in Vavuniya farm school following a claymore mine attack? Are they not civilians? What about the bombing of Kilinochchi hospital in which 5 members of a single family died? More than 900 patients, including mothers in labour, fled the hospital? Who in fact made the CFA irrelevant and defunct? Is it not part of Mahinda Chinthanaya to tear up the CFA, chase Norway and the SLMM out of Sri Lanka and then seek a military solution to solve the ethnic conflict? Editor! First look yourself in the mirror ! I wish god gives you the ability to see yourself as others see you!

Stop him in his tracks! (Editorial)

Yesterday, we saw yet another dastardly terror attack in Colombo. Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse had a narrow escape from an LTTE suicide bomb attack. That was the fourth LTTE bomb blast targeting a VIP in Colombo since last April, when the LTTE made an abortive attempt on the Army Commander's life.

It was not for nothing that Prabhakaran declared in his recent heroes' day speech that the ceasefire agreement was defunct. However unpalatable it may be to the Norwegians and others, he has, for once, told the truth. The CFA has been long dead. If there is a truce, how can there be a war churning out so many deaths of combatants and civilians with attendant mass displacement. If the CFA is defunct as he says, then the question is whether there is any need for truce monitors to stay here. Some LTTE spokesmen are reported to have said they will adhere to the CFA, which, their leader says, is not existent. The SLMM had better take it up with the LTTE leader and allay the confusion in the public mind. The editor is crying because a bomb went off in Colombo. But he was blind, dumb and deaf when Kfir fighter planes carried out more than 250 sorties to bomb "LTTE targets" in the Northeast. In what way the life of Gothabaya is more precious than the 45 or more people killed by artillery shells fired by the army in Kathiraveli, Vaaharai? What about the killing of 5 innocent students in Vavuniya farm school following a claymore mine attack? Are they not civilians? What about the bombing of Kilinochchi hospital in which 5 members of a single family died? More than 900 patients, including mothers in labour, fled the hospital? Who in fact made the CFA irrelevant and defunct? Is it not part of Mahinda Chinthanaya to tear up the CFA, chase Norway and the SLMM out of Sri Lanka and then seek a military solution to solve the ethnic conflict? Editor! First look yourself in the mirror ! I wish god gives you the ability to see yourself as others see you!

Last year, Prabhakaran promised war in his annual speech and this year he has spurned the ceasefire officially. He has ruled out an alternative to political independence. In other words, he is all out to achieve his goal militarily by heightening the conflict. The attack on Gotabhaya was part of his strategy.

How would any other country have reacted to an attempt on its Defence Secretary's life? What would have been India's reaction? And how would either the US or the UK have taken it?

In targeting Gotabhaya, Prabhakaran has sought to kill two birds with one stone. Gotabhaya is not just only a Defence Secretary; he is President Rajapakse's brother. The assassination bid smacks of an attempt by Prabhakaran to provoke President Rajapakse so as to give a turbo boost to the on-going war. Further escalation of violence, Prabhakaran knows, means more civilian suffering and large scale displacement, which he could manipulate to engineer a stream of refugees to India like in 1980s in a bid to give an impetus to the pro Eelam campaign in that country and reshape the foreign policy of the Congress-led government dependent on southern allies in favour of the LTTE. He could also capitalise on an unbridled war to arrest the sagging morale of his cadres and ratchet up fundraising. It doesn't mean that he can achieve his goal through violence but he is left with no alternative to fighting, the only thing he has mastered in life.

The LTTE must also be condemned for its callous disregard for civilians. It blew up the explosive laden three-wheeler on a busy road. Even if the Defence Secretary had reached that point while school children were around, the LTTE would still have launched the attack destroying dozens of innocent lives. When civilians perished in the army's retaliatory fire at Vakarai a few weeks ago, there were vehement protests by peace activists-quite rightly so! Those activists must pour themselves on to the streets in their numbers, as they often do, and protest against yesterday's cowardly terror attack as well.

The message that Prabhakaran has sent through the attack on Gotabhaya is loud and clear. He needs total war and nothing else. Is it his response to the reported offer by President Rajapakse during his recent Indian visit to unveil a devolution package?

It is high time those flogging the dead horse of a ceasefire abandoned their Sisyphean project and campaigned for a brand new ceasefire and bringing more pressure to bear on Prabhakaran to desist from provocative acts of violence. Those who wield influence on Prabhakaran, such as Norwegian Special Envoy Hanssen Bauer, who is at present on a visit here, must stop him in his tracks and help prevent the country sliding further down the spiral of violence, unless they are only paying lip service to peace making. (Dec 02, 2006)

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Although this editorial is well balanced and looks reasonable on a comparative basis still the claim that “waging war is not the policy of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government is for negotiated settlement” is hypocritical and misleading.

Sri Lanka as everyone knows is the most militarized state in South Asia according to a study conducted by the Mumbai-based Strategic Foresight Group (SFG).

Published in January 2006, the SFG monograph says that Sri Lanka will continue to hold this "dubious" position between now and 2010, given the absence of any clear signs that the military conflict is going to taper off.

Presenting comparative data for 2004, the SFG’s report says that Sri Lanka was the most militarised among the South Asian countries with 8,000 military personnel per one million population.

The figures for other South Asian countries were: Pakistan, 4,000; Nepal 2,700; India, 1,300; and Bangladesh 1,000.

In terms of military expenditure as percentage of GDP also, Sri Lanka spent the most. The figure was 4.1 per cent in the case of Sri Lanka; 3.5 per cent in the case of Pakistan; 2.5 per cent in the case of India and Nepal; and 1.5 per cent in the case Bangladesh.

According to the SFG, Sri Lanka’s defence expenditure is also higher than other comparable conflict-ridden countries such as Colombia, Myanmar, Sierra Leone, Sudan, the Philippines and Uganda.

Mahinda Rajapakse as Minister of Finance has budgeted 28 percent increase in defence spending for 2007 to help beef up the military. According to Reuters the planned increase was for the acquisition of capital assets such as machinery, equipment, vehicles and contingency services as well as for higher pay for servicemen.

Budget estimates shows defence spending will rise to 139.56 billion rupees ($1.29 bln) in 2007 from a revised 108.67 billion rupees in 2006.

Defence spending is up 45 percent when compared to the earlier unrevised figure for 2006.

"Right now the requirement of strengthening the air force, navy and defence sector becomes very paramount. National security comes first," said government defence spokesman and cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

Military sources said the navy was likely to look to replace Israeli-made Dvora fast attack boats sunk in recent naval battles with the Tigers as well as buying more ammunition and weapons systems.

According to Iqbal Athas, an analyst for Jane's Defence Weekly. Sri Lanka is acquiring 4 more Mig 27 fighters, armoured vehicles for the army and ships for the Navy," said Iqbal Athas, "They need some because they have lost some fast attack (naval) craft in battle."

Athas said Rajapakse's sharp increase in defence spending marked a departure from previous administrations.

"It becomes significant if you look at the past, particularly with the two previous administrations, which sought a de-escalation with the ongoing peace process. All of a sudden we see a diversion from that and an escalation," Athas said. "The government is preparing itself militarily. There is a marked shift there."

More than 3,000 civilians, military personnel and rebel fighters have been killed in Sri Lanka this year alone amid a spree of military clashes, aerial strikes, massacres and extrajudicial killings in the worst violence since the now defunct 2002 truce. (December 01, 2006)

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From: Thanga
To: uthavi@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 10:07 PM
Subject: Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups


The caption "Court strikes down LTTE ban in USA" is mis-leading. There was near euphoria in the CTR radio claiming the ban on LTTE has been lifted! However, the designation of LTTE as a foreign terrorist organization under the anti-terrorism law in 1997 still stands.

What was struck down by the court is the listing of LTTE as a terrorist organization under International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) that blocked all the assets of groups or individuals the President named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The Judge also struck down the provision that allowed Secretary of the Treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group. The judge said the presidential order signed September 23, 2001 is impermissibly vague as they allowed the President to unilaterally designate organizations as terrorist groups and broadly prohibit associations with them.

Lawyers for the Humanitarian Law Project which filed the case argued that by the federal anti-terrorism laws, charities and individual donors are put at the risk of being prosecuted by providing benign assistance to foreign groups that have been added to the US government’s designated terrorism lists. However, the judge let stand sections of the order that penalize those who provide "services" to designated terrorist groups. She said such services would include the humanitarian aid and rights training proposed by the plaintiffs. This is going to make life difficult for US Thamils. They cannot provide service or provide humanitarian assistance for tsunami victims. That is why the lawyer for Humanitarian Law Project Prof.Cole says he is going to appeal the ruling! Mine is a layman point of view. Perhaps Urudra could throw further light on the court ruling and its implications.

Judge strikes down Bush on terror groups
By LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special CorrespondentTue Nov 28, 9:36 PM ET

A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutional and vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday.

The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."

The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.

U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups.

Both groups consider the Nov. 21 ruling a victory; both had been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.

Cole said the judge's ruling does not invalidate the hundreds of other designated terrorist groups on the list but "calls them into question."

Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said, "We are currently reviewing the decision and we have made no determination what the government's next step will be."

A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment.

The judge's 45-page ruling was a reversal of her own tentative findings last July in which she indicated she would uphold wide powers asserted by Bush under an anti-terror financing law. She delayed her ruling then to allow more legal briefs to be filed.

She also struck down the provision in which Bush had authorized the secretary of the treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group.

However, she let stand sections of the order that penalize those who provide "services" to designated terrorist groups. She said such services would include the humanitarian aid and rights training proposed by the plaintiffs.

The Humanitarian Law Project planned to appeal that part of the ruling, Cole said.

"We are pleased the court rejected many of the constitutional arguments raised by the plaintiffs, including their challenge to the government's ban on providing services to terrorist organizations," Miller said Tuesday. "However, we believe the court erred in finding that certain other aspects of the executive order were unconstitutional."

The ruling was still considered a victory, Cole said.

"Even in fighting terrorism the president cannot be given a blank check to blacklist anyone he considers a bad guy or a bad group and you can't imply guilt by association," Cole said.
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It is very very difficult to knock sense into the heads of Sinhala racists like this editor. He says the LTTE chose war, but who is responsible? Why did the Sinhala racists  strike a deal with SJV Chelvanayagam when he agitated peacefully and democratically for Thamil people's rights. It is not Prabhakaran but SJV Chelvanayakam, a moderate and good for God only politician,  who in desperation told the Thamils that an independent Thamil Eelam is the only way out to shake off  Sinhala hegemony.  It was unfortunate that his successor A.Amirthalingam and his cohorts betrayed lock stock and barrel the solemn declaration by SJV and the mandate Thamils gave to the TULF in 1977 for the establishment of Thamil Eelam. After 58 years of independence the Sinhala racists are still talking about devolution  to tackle  the rising Thamil nationalism and militancy. The have to deploy a 100,000 strong army to subjugate the Thamils of Northeast.  If the Sinhala racists like this editor say they only understand the language of force so be it. The Thamils have been deceived, betrayed and driven to the wall by Sinhala racism and chauvinism. If the editor thinks that they can deceive the Thamil people by artificially creating moderate leadership, then  he is free to ride on those clay horses! Polarization of political forces is not the correct way to describe the present stalemate. It  is the division of the country into 2 or more kingdoms! (Response to Daily Mirror editorial Polarization of Forces - Nov 30, 2006)