Sri Lanka civil war

Politics International Politics
21

I AM pissed off Jabloney!

Look at this:

vancouversun.com/news/Canadi … story.html
TORONTO — A Toronto man pleaded guilty in New York on Monday to attempting to purchase Russian heat-seeking missiles and hundreds of AK-47 assault rifles for the Tamil Tigers guerrillas.
Sathajhan Sarachandran, 29, and a former national president of the Canadian Tamil Students Association, pleaded guilty to all five counts against him, which included supporting terrorism and conspiracy to acquire missiles. Nadarasa Yogarasa pleaded guilty to two charges.
Both men were about to go on trial in Brooklyn, N.Y., for their role in an international arms-smuggling conspiracy that worked under the direction of the senior leadership of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
The case was the product of a cross-border investigation conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team in Ontario.

The investigation, called Project O-Needle (“needle” was allegedly the conspirators’ code word for missile) began on July 30, 2006, when Yogarasa phoned a contact about a potential arms deal, FBI Special Agent James Tareco wrote in an affidavit.

At the meeting, Sarachandran, who was referred to by his co-accused as “Satha,” said he was seeking weapons to use against Sri Lankan military jets. Later that day, the informant sent an e-mail to Sarachandran, saying: “I will contact my guy and see what he has.”

The FBI informant sent another e-mail to Sarachandran on Aug. 2. “Here are photos of what my guy has available,” it said. The photos showed Russian SA-18 shoulder-fired heat-seeking missiles. “Let me know if you guys are interested,” it said.

A few days later, Sarachandran indicated that the elusive leader of the Tamil Tigers, Velupillai Prabhakaran, had seen the photos of the SA-18 missiles, the FBI agent wrote.

Meanwhile, on Aug. 14, an undercover officer posing as an arms dealer contacted Sarachandran, who said he was “serious” about buying the weapons. They spoke again the next day and Sarachandran said he wanted 50 to 100 “needles.”

They agreed on an initial shipment of 10 missiles and 500 AK-47s. The cost was
$900,000
US. The weapons were to be delivered by ship off the southern coast of India.

The RCMP has been clamping down on Tamil Tigers activity in Canada
since 2006.
Last year, the government shut down the Toronto and Montreal offices of the World Tamil Movement, a suspected rebel fundraising front.

…
I mean, things got so bad that it was possible in 2006 for Canadian citizens to raise and buy $900,000 worth of weapons for the Tigers, and we didn’t even begin to DO anything about it until 2006?
:fume:

Yes, I am pissed. I think all of the “at least we’re not American” was a ploy to distract us from the fact that our government was doing a piss-poor job. And we bought it, like lemmings.

:aiyo:

22

[quote=“trebuchet”]Yes, I am pissed. I think all of the “at least we’re not American” was a ploy to distract us from the fact that our government was doing a piss-poor job.
And

we

bought it
, like lemmings.[/quote]
Please, speak for yourself.

And learn to use the quote function.
And don’t distort users names.

23

thaindian.com/newsportal/wor … 68319.html

Toronto, March 19 (IANS)With thousands of Sri Lankan Tamils waving the flags of the banned Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) at a rally here Monday, Canadian authorities have launched an investigation whether their action violated the nation’s new anti-terror laws.

The current Conservative government banned the LTTE in 2006 for using suicide bombers and child soldiers in its goal for an independent nation for Sri Lankan Tamils.

Supporting a banned organisation also constitutes violation of Canada’s anti-terror laws.

More than 50,000 Tamils had joined in a “human chain” in the heart of the city, urging Canada to lift its ban on the LTTE and seek support for an independent Tamil Eelam.

Toronto police say they have launched an investigation whether waving of LTTE flags contituted violation of new anti-terror laws.

“It is something of a legal issue, and that is something that will be looked into through our legal department,” said Constable Wendy Drummond of Toronto Police.

It is not the first time that protesters in Canada have waved the flags of banned organisations.

Supporters of Hezbollah and Hamas, which are also banned in Canada, have often waved their flags at protests rallies.

In fact, B’nai Brith, the national body of Canadian Jews, Wednesday urged the city police to expand its probe into the display of LTTE flags to also include Hamas and Hezbollah.

“We commend the Toronto police for launching an investigation into the display of the flag of the Tamil Tigers, a terrorist group outlawed in this country,” said Frank Dimant of B’nai Brith Canada.

“However, there have been many other instances of flags of other banned terrorist entities, such as Hamas and Hezbollah, that have been in full public view at rallies, most recently early this year during the period of the Gaza conflict,” the Jewish leader said.

Canada has the largest concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils after the island nation. Most of them came here as refugees in the 1980s and 90s and settled in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

The LTTE has enjoyed widespread support in the 300,000-strong community here.

Sounds like the Tamils will make a comeback.

24

Not Good. :cry:

[quote]Terror proxies disturbed over LTTE defeat, torch Buddhist temple - Canada
defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090516_10
Proxy LTTE fronts and separatist pressure groups irked over LTTE’s imminent defeat have taken onto vicious mob attacks with the latest reported at the venerated Mahavihara Temple in Scarborough, Toronto in Canada today (May 16).

Earlier, similar mob attacks were carried-out by these LTTE terror gangs targeting Sri Lankan expatriates of Sinhalese origin, Sri Lankan Embassies and places of worship. Perpetrators of such attacks are yet to be arrested by the relevant authorities. According to Canadian news sources, the temple was set ablaze by extremist Tamils while monks were inside.
[/quote]

:cry:

These guys seem pretty bad and there are thousands of Tamil sympathizers in Toronto. The last time a Canadian government faced terrorism by a valued ethic voting block lead to Air India.
They need to understand that bringing the war to Canada will not make them valued citizens.

I hope this is the last of it. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE, PEOPLE! Act Canadian already!

25

Air India was formed by the Canadian Govt. in response to ethnic terrorism? That doesn’t make sense.

26

Air India was formed by the Canadian Govt. in response to ethnic terrorism? That doesn’t make sense.[/quote]

No no, that’s not what I meant. I mean the Air India bombing was carried out in part by a bunch of Canadian Sikhs who were enraged by events overseas and brought the terror home to Canada.

I’m worried we’re going to see this again.
There’s so many Tamil protests going on in Toronto this year, as well as in cities around the world.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Tamil … _in_Canada

They’re angry at their defeat in Sri Lanka and angry at their new countries for not interfering in the war back home. Can you see it ending well?

27

[quote]Tamil Canadians react to war's end in Sri Lanka | CTV News
On Sunday, protesters said now that the rebel group known as the Tamil Tigers have been defeated, international leaders have to set conditions to ensure peace and better treatment for Tamil civilians.

“The Sri Lankan government says they’re rescuing civilians but what’s happening is that women and children are being put in concentration camps and being raped,” alleged 21-year-old Sahab Jesuthasan, one of the main organizers of the protest.

They are demanding that the Sri Lankan government allow the western media into the conflict zone and allow humanitarian aid workers to help the thousands of people who have been injured in the violent clashes.

‘Voiceless’

However, Sinhalese Canadians say their families are the ones who are under constant threat by the Tamil Tigers back home and here in Toronto.

“There are people living here in Toronto who are voiceless,” said Mahinda Gunakekera, president of the Sri Lanka United National Association of Canada (SLUNA). “They’re afraid to speak their mind because the LTTE will harm their families.”
[/quote]

These people need to realize that living in Canada is a priviledge, not their right. If they continue the war in Toronto it will not make them look good.

28

Update: Sri Lankan Rebels Admit Defeat, Vow to Drop Guns

[quote]COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, May 17 – Cornered into a tiny patch of jungle about the size of a football field, the Tamil Tiger rebels – who once operated a shadow state complete with a law school, a tax system, a navy and even traffic police – vowed Sunday to lay down their weapons for good, in a stunning and unprecedented admission of defeat in Asia’s longest-running war.

“This battle has reached its bitter end. It is our people who are dying now from bombs, shells, illness and hunger. We cannot permit any more harm to befall them,” Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the Tigers’ chief of international relations, said in a statement posted on the TamilNet Web site. “We remain with one last choice – to remove the last weak excuse of the enemy for killing our people. We have decided to silence our guns.”[/quote]

Hopefully this is not a stalling measure but a legitimate desire for peace. In time there may be reconciliation, but I don’t think the Sri Lankan military will allow Prabhakaran to walk away with his head still attached, not after all the death and destruction he caused. I wonder if they’ll give any kind of amnesty to the fighters involved? Maybe address the Tamil’s complaints so that this doesn’t happen again?

29

[quote=“John Pilger”]…having succeeded in persuading the United States and Britain to proscribe your insurgents as terrorists, you affirm you are on the right side of history, regardless of the fact that your government has one of the world’s worst human rights records and practises terrorism by another name. Such is Sri Lanka.

This is not to suggest that those who resist attempts to obliterate them culturally if not actually are innocent in their methods. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have spilt their share of blood and perpetrated their own atrocities. But they are the product, not the cause, of an injustice and a war that long predate them…[/quote]

More…

30

Meh, Pilger is off base here. The Tamils started this one, and have refused all attempts to offset the level of violence.

Meanwhile, celebrations were cut short in Oz.

[quote]Tamil conflict behind Sydney acid attack
Updated Mon May 18, 2009 5:24pm AEST
Police say the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka triggered a violent home invasion in Sydney last night, which left two men in hospital with acid burns.

Up to five men broke into a home at Westmead in the city’s west just before midnight. Two men were hiding in a bedroom but the invaders found them and threw acid at their faces. One of the men was also stabbed in the stomach and had his ankle broken, he is in a serious but stable condition at Westmead Hospital. The other man has been put in an induced coma and taken to the burns unit at Concord Hospital. Both victims are still to be formally interviewed by police.[/quote]
HG

31

Sri Lankan military shows ‘body of Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran’ on TV

[quote]Sri Lankan state TV showed grisly pictures today of what it claimed was the dead body of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

Prabhakaran was wearing his signature combat fatigues and a dog tag bearing the serial number “001”. His head was partially covered by a cloth but a gaping wound was clearly visible. A laminated Tamil Tiger ID card was also on display.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, told The Times that the body was recovered earlier today and the authorities were “100 per cent positive” that it was Prabhakaran. [/quote]

It looks like they didn’t allow Prabhakaran to walk away after all. It is rather disturbing that the commandos shot up an ambulance that he was hiding in. Hopefully this will fulfill the blood lust and allow for the Sri Lankan President to take action, and not just speak, about a “homegrown political solution” that will bring and end to the tension between the Tamils and the Sinhalese.

32

:doh: Toronto looks to be a powder keg of Tamil Violence. NOT GOOD.

[quote]http://www.torontosun.com/news/2009/05/22/9542451.html#/news/torontoandgta/2009/05/22/pf-9537281.html
– A suspicious overnight fire that gutted a Sri Lankan restaurant is evidence that the Tamil Tigers are “on the rampage in Toronto,” charged Sri Lanka’s consul general, who said the Sinhalese eatery had been previously targeted and harassed by Tiger flag-waving motorists.[/quote]

[quote]http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/05/22/toronto-sinhalese-really-worried-after-second-apparent-arson-attack.aspx
Toronto Sinhalese ‘really worried’ after second apparent arson attack
A suspicious Brampton fire consumed greater Toronto’s only Sinhalese restaurant early yesterday, which if confirmed as arson would make it the second fiery attack on a Sri Lankan establishment in less than a week.

A Buddhist temple in Scarborough went up in flames on Saturday, in what Toronto police have deemed a criminal fire, igniting fear in the Sinhalese community that the Sri Lankan army’s defeat of the rebel Tigers of Tamil Eelam last Saturday may have made them targets.

“It can’t be a coincidence,” Hasaka Ratnamalala, an executive member of the Sri Lankan United National Association of Canada, said yesterday after the fire at Lanka Gardens in Brampton. “All of the community is scared.… I am really worried about my life.”

[/quote]

This blows. Please do not turn my beautiful city into a war zone. :cry:

33

Jessus Christmas. This article is sensationalistic for sure, but lawdy, the tone of it, the tone!

That’s the real size of the headline. :doh:
It goes on to say…

[quote]UNDER ATTACK

At this very moment, in the Toronto area, the Canadian Sri Lankan community is under violent attack. This morning the only ‘Sinhalese’ owned Sri Lankan restaurant in the GTA, Lanka Gardens at 220 Wexford Road in Brampton, a popular gathering place, was fire-bombed causing extensive damage and unknown loss. Earlier this week, the Sri Lankan Buddhist Temple at 4698 Kingston Road in Scarborough was set on fire causing $40,000 in damage. Sri Lankan owned establishments and Buddhist temples in London, England and other European cities too have been similarly attacked, whilst protesting pro-Tamil Tiger mobs carried out attacks on Sri Lankan embassies as well.

In the community, our children are being assailed daily by threatening emails, text messages, phone calls, and personal verbal and even physical abuse. The fear of attack is so pervasive that the community is very concerned about organizing cultural, sports, or social gatherings. Sri Lankan-Canadians fear going to Buddhist temples. They fear riding the TTC, especially the subway. Threats are particularly virulent against Tamil Canadians who oppose the Tamil Tiger machine but other communities are now being targeted.

Our organization suspects that supporters of the Tamil Tigers are behind these outrages. Over 8,000 hardcore Tamil Tiger operatives, including men and women who have been active Tiger combatants in Sri Lanka, are known to have been offered refuge in Canada; most of whom live in the GTA. This fact was brought to the attention of the Senate Hearings on Canadian National Security by Dr. Peter Chalk, Senior Policy Analyst with the Rand Corporation based in the USA, who is a consultant on terrorism and defense studies to several western governments. It will be no stretch to think that the recent military defeat of the Tigers and the death of their leader Prabhakaran has set off a vengeful witch hunt against Sri Lankan targets.

We Sri Lankan-Canadians appeal to local police forces, the provincial government headed by Dalton McGuinty, and the federal government led by Stephen Harper for help. What is going on cannot be countenanced. It is utterly un-Canadian. We are peaceful, law abiding, loyal citizens of Ontario and of Canada. We should not have to deal with the perpetrators of this violence ourselves. City mayors, Premier McGuinty, Prime Minister Harper please intervene and ensure protection for us before something more serious takes place.

Yours very truly,

Mahinda Gunasekera

Honorary President
[/quote]

Here’s a pic that really doesn’t look so bad…

What the hell… and Canada has promised to take in the rest of the Tamil Tiger refugees? Nooooooooooooooooo!

:astonished: :loco:

34

[quote=“lbksig”]Sri Lankan military shows ‘body of Tamil Tiger leader Prabhakaran’ on TV

[quote]Sri Lankan state TV showed grisly pictures today of what it claimed was the dead body of Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Tamil Tigers.

Prabhakaran was wearing his signature combat fatigues and a dog tag bearing the serial number “001”. His head was partially covered by a cloth but a gaping wound was clearly visible. A laminated Tamil Tiger ID card was also on display.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, told The Times that the body was recovered earlier today and the authorities were “100 per cent positive” that it was Prabhakaran. [/quote]

It looks like they didn’t allow Prabhakaran to walk away after all. It is rather disturbing that the commandos shot up an ambulance that he was hiding in. Hopefully this will fulfill the blood lust and allow for the Sri Lankan President to take action, and not just speak, about a “homegrown political solution” that will bring and end to the tension between the Tamils and the Sinhalese.[/quote]

The Canadian Tamil population believes he is still alive. :raspberry:

35

This isn’t cool, either.

We do not want your war in TOronto. :frowning:

36

This is the kind of comment that really irks me. “The Tamils” started it. What, every man Jack of them?

37

[quote=“Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer”]

What the hell… and Canada has promised to take in the rest of the Tamil Tiger refugees? Nooooooooooooooooo!

:astonished: :loco:[/quote]

This is one ethnic bloc that still votes Liberal federally. After all, lots and lots of Liberal politicos have shown up at fundraisers and marches. Suprised that the Cons have agreed to take all of them. It was just a few months ago that the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense was putting up cartoons on its website lampooning the Federal Libs in Canada for their wholehearted support of the Tamil diaspora…

38

It will never stop, Chewy. :frowning:

[quote]http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ipZ746KmOJU8xEZcFufysVxHUyewBob Rae denied entry into Sri Lanka due to criticism of military offensive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – 3 hours ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Liberal MP Bob Rae was denied entry into Sri Lanka on Wednesday due to his criticism of the government’s bloody offensive against the Tamil Tigers, according to a Sri Lankan official.

A local media report also said Rae, the Liberal party’s foreign affairs critic, only had a one-way ticket. Immigration Commissioner P. B. Abeykoon said Rae was detained at the international airport when he arrived in the country.

He had recently called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s recent offensive against the rebels that killed thousands of civilians and rebels. His criticism became more vocal in the final weeks of the war, a time in which more than 7,000 civilians were killed according to a United Nations tally.

Rae had also called for the Canadian government to re-engage in Sri Lanka, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict.
[/quote]

Ai Yo!

39

[quote=“Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer”]It will never stop, Chewy. :frowning:

[quote]http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ipZ746KmOJU8xEZcFufysVxHUyewBob Rae denied entry into Sri Lanka due to criticism of military offensive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – 3 hours ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Liberal MP Bob Rae was denied entry into Sri Lanka on Wednesday due to his criticism of the government’s bloody offensive against the Tamil Tigers, according to a Sri Lankan official.

A local media report also said Rae, the Liberal party’s foreign affairs critic, only had a one-way ticket. Immigration Commissioner P. B. Abeykoon said Rae was detained at the international airport when he arrived in the country.

He had recently called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s recent offensive against the rebels that killed thousands of civilians and rebels. His criticism became more vocal in the final weeks of the war, a time in which more than 7,000 civilians were killed according to a United Nations tally.

Rae had also called for the Canadian government to re-engage in Sri Lanka, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict.
[/quote]

Ai Yo![/quote]

What’s your point, that Sri Lanka should have allowed the Canadian MP in? Their government should be free to allow, or deny, anyone entry. It’s just easier to do so when the person involved was criticizing from half a world away, safe and sound while there were suicide squads blowing up civilians and crashing airplanes into government buildings.

40

[quote=“lbksig”][quote=“Chuanzao El Ale Destroyer”]It will never stop, Chewy. :frowning:

[quote]http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ipZ746KmOJU8xEZcFufysVxHUyewBob Rae denied entry into Sri Lanka due to criticism of military offensive
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS – 3 hours ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Liberal MP Bob Rae was denied entry into Sri Lanka on Wednesday due to his criticism of the government’s bloody offensive against the Tamil Tigers, according to a Sri Lankan official.

A local media report also said Rae, the Liberal party’s foreign affairs critic, only had a one-way ticket. Immigration Commissioner P. B. Abeykoon said Rae was detained at the international airport when he arrived in the country.

He had recently called on Canada to be more outspoken in its criticism of Sri Lanka’s recent offensive against the rebels that killed thousands of civilians and rebels. His criticism became more vocal in the final weeks of the war, a time in which more than 7,000 civilians were killed according to a United Nations tally.

Rae had also called for the Canadian government to re-engage in Sri Lanka, urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help the Tamil Tigers and Sri Lankan government forces negotiate a peaceful end to the conflict.
[/quote]

Ai Yo![/quote]

What’s your point, that Sri Lanka should have allowed the Canadian MP in? Their government should be free to allow, or deny, anyone entry. It’s just easier to do so when the person involved was criticizing from half a world away, safe and sound while there were suicide squads blowing up civilians and crashing airplanes into government buildings.[/quote]

I agree with you.

I just mean that the civil war is being brought to Canada. The Tigers aren’t surrendering, they’re just changing their battlefield to Toronto. Rae’s being expelled from Sri Lanka will deepen the lines between the Tamil Diaspora living in Toronto and the Sinhalese.

I don’t even know why he was going there. Little too late, typical for a politician.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we got a Tamil suicide bombing in TO before the end of the year. Word on the street back home is that things are very, veeery tense.