Tamils angered over death
MARKHAM -- Thousands of members of the GTA's Tamil community braved lashing winds and rain last night to pay respects to -- and denounce the death of -- the chief peace negotiator in Sri Lanka.
S.P. Thamilchelvan was assassinated at his home on Nov. 2, by the Sri Lankan government air force.
"The peace process is now dead and gone," David Poopalapillai, national spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said. "By killing the chief negotiator they are saying we don't want peace, we want war."
Thamilchelvan had close ties to the GTA community as his 75-year-old mother, two brothers and a sister all live in the Markham area and were on hand at last night's commemoration at Markham Fairgrounds.
Paramu Sivasubramaniam -- Thamilchelvan oldest brother -- said his family is "devastated" by his brother's death and said it has put an end to the peace process in their homeland.
"My mother wants to go home to the funeral but the Norwegian government has told us it is not safe," said Sivasubramaniam, 52.
Poopalapillai said he wants the Canadian government to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government.
Thamilchelvan represented Sri Lanka's Tamil minority as chief negotiator in the latest round of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government last October in Geneva. He also worked hard in rehabilitation and reconstruction following the tragic 2004 tsunami.
-http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/11/06/4634070-sun.html
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Liberal MPs mark Tamil Tiger's death
BILL CURRY
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
November 6, 2007 at 4:51 AM EST
Liberal MPs took part in a community event last night commemorating the recent death of a senior member of the Tamil Tigers in defiance of the Conservative government's decision to list the organization as a terrorist entity.
S. P. Thamilselvan, 40, the public face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was killed in an air strike by Sri Lankan authorities last Friday. The LTTE has long fought for an independent Tamil state; Mr. Thamilselvan was both the political chief and top peace negotiator in talks to end the decades-old civil unrest in Sri Lanka.
Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis told The Globe and Mail last night that he was on stage at the event alongside fellow Liberal MPs Derek Lee, Maria Minna, Yasmin Ratansi and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.
Mr. Karygiannis said he met Mr. Thamilselvan personally when he visited the region after the 2004 tsunamis and had the approval of then-prime minister Paul Martin to do so. The LTTE should not be on Canada's terror list, he said.
"Here you've got a Conservative government that wants to divide and conquer and pit one community against another community," he said. "I am encouraging the Canadian government to get involved and speak to both sides in order to find a long-lasting peace in the region."
The Scarborough MP said the Conservative policy divides immigrants from Sri Lanka along Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic lines.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government added the LTTE to the terror list as one of its first acts upon taking power.
"The decision to list the LTTE is long overdue and something the previous government did not take seriously enough to act upon," said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in April of 2006, when the move was announced. Mr. Day's spokeswoman, Mélissa Leclerc, said last night that the government's position on the LTTE is clear.
According to David Poopalapillai, the national spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress, the death of Mr. Thamilselvan shows the Sri Lankan government was not interested in peace talks.
"By listing LTTE as a terrorist organization, what [Canada has] done is strengthen the war-mongering side in the Sri Lankan government," Mr. Poopalapillai said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/National/home
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GTA TAMILS MOURN SLAIN LEADER
We feel that peace died with him'
Opposition MPs urge action as thousands gather at memorial for key peace negotiator
Nov 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
staff reporter
White-clad children danced in the pouring rain, opposition MPs demanded a "meaningful" reaction from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and, his body racked by sobs, S.P. Ravi shared his grief over the death of a political leader who was also his younger brother.
S.P. Thamilchelvan, second-in-command and chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the guerrilla group fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, was killed Friday by a Sri Lankan military air strike that reportedly took out half a dozen top Tiger leaders.
Canada officially regards the Tigers as a terrorist organization.
Last night, thousands of Tamils from all over the GTA flocked to Markham Fairgrounds for a three-hour gathering to honour Thamilchelvan with prayer, speeches and music. An hour after it started, there were still traffic jams as people waited to get in.
As a huge poster of his brother was still being hung behind the stage and with someone holding an umbrella over him, Ravi, 44, told the crowd in Tamil that Canada had a responsibility to respect human rights in Sri Lanka and the aspirations of the Tamil minority.
When he came offstage, Ravi, still weeping, said he had spoken to his brother, who was 40, last Wednesday. "He was happy. He said he was still going hard on the peace process. He asked us here to keep it in our minds, too."
Ravi lives in Markham, where he works in a law office. He said his brother was the negotiator people on both sides most respected.
"They kill him, they kill peace," he said. "We feel now that peace died with him."
Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal MP for Etobicoke Centre, and Jim Karygiannis, Liberal member for Scarborough-Agincourt, both made speeches.
Karygiannis said he was there "to show solidarity with my constituents, both Sinhalese and Tamils."
Of Canada's decision to outlaw the Tamil Tigers, he said, "Unless we engage both sides, we're never going to have a lasting solution. Norway has been at it for a long time. It's time we joined them. It's time we told both sides, `Enough is enough. Put your heads together and find peace.' We owe it all to the Sri Lankans in Canada."
Wrzesnewskyj said he believes "completely horrible consequences, a tragedy" can be averted only if both sides decide that the 35-year-old conflict has gone on long enough and make a conscious effort to negotiate. "Otherwise the potential exists for things to descend into hell. We've seen in the past how political assassinations lead to greater wars."
Thamilchelvan was regarded as the point man for Norwegian peace brokers, who put together a ceasefire in 2002 that lasted for three years but then began to fray. The Sri Lankan government vowed yesterday to continue targeting Tamil Tiger leaders with air strikes.
Last night, someone in the crowd held up a sign: "We want peace, not war." But there were more umbrellas than posters.
"This is a tragedy," said one man, who wouldn't give his name. "This was state terrorism. There was no need for it."
-http://www.thestar.com/News/article/273877
MARKHAM -- Thousands of members of the GTA's Tamil community braved lashing winds and rain last night to pay respects to -- and denounce the death of -- the chief peace negotiator in Sri Lanka.
S.P. Thamilchelvan was assassinated at his home on Nov. 2, by the Sri Lankan government air force.
"The peace process is now dead and gone," David Poopalapillai, national spokesman for the Canadian Tamil Congress, said. "By killing the chief negotiator they are saying we don't want peace, we want war."
Thamilchelvan had close ties to the GTA community as his 75-year-old mother, two brothers and a sister all live in the Markham area and were on hand at last night's commemoration at Markham Fairgrounds.
Paramu Sivasubramaniam -- Thamilchelvan oldest brother -- said his family is "devastated" by his brother's death and said it has put an end to the peace process in their homeland.
"My mother wants to go home to the funeral but the Norwegian government has told us it is not safe," said Sivasubramaniam, 52.
Poopalapillai said he wants the Canadian government to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government.
Thamilchelvan represented Sri Lanka's Tamil minority as chief negotiator in the latest round of peace talks with the Sri Lankan government last October in Geneva. He also worked hard in rehabilitation and reconstruction following the tragic 2004 tsunami.
-http://torontosun.com/News/TorontoAndGTA/2007/11/06/4634070-sun.html
------------------------------------------------------
Liberal MPs mark Tamil Tiger's death
BILL CURRY
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
November 6, 2007 at 4:51 AM EST
Liberal MPs took part in a community event last night commemorating the recent death of a senior member of the Tamil Tigers in defiance of the Conservative government's decision to list the organization as a terrorist entity.
S. P. Thamilselvan, 40, the public face of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was killed in an air strike by Sri Lankan authorities last Friday. The LTTE has long fought for an independent Tamil state; Mr. Thamilselvan was both the political chief and top peace negotiator in talks to end the decades-old civil unrest in Sri Lanka.
Liberal MP Jim Karygiannis told The Globe and Mail last night that he was on stage at the event alongside fellow Liberal MPs Derek Lee, Maria Minna, Yasmin Ratansi and Borys Wrzesnewskyj.
Mr. Karygiannis said he met Mr. Thamilselvan personally when he visited the region after the 2004 tsunamis and had the approval of then-prime minister Paul Martin to do so. The LTTE should not be on Canada's terror list, he said.
"Here you've got a Conservative government that wants to divide and conquer and pit one community against another community," he said. "I am encouraging the Canadian government to get involved and speak to both sides in order to find a long-lasting peace in the region."
The Scarborough MP said the Conservative policy divides immigrants from Sri Lanka along Tamil-Sinhalese ethnic lines.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government added the LTTE to the terror list as one of its first acts upon taking power.
"The decision to list the LTTE is long overdue and something the previous government did not take seriously enough to act upon," said Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in April of 2006, when the move was announced. Mr. Day's spokeswoman, Mélissa Leclerc, said last night that the government's position on the LTTE is clear.
According to David Poopalapillai, the national spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress, the death of Mr. Thamilselvan shows the Sri Lankan government was not interested in peace talks.
"By listing LTTE as a terrorist organization, what [Canada has] done is strengthen the war-mongering side in the Sri Lankan government," Mr. Poopalapillai said.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...y/National/home
----------------------------------
GTA TAMILS MOURN SLAIN LEADER
We feel that peace died with him'
Opposition MPs urge action as thousands gather at memorial for key peace negotiator
Nov 06, 2007 04:30 AM
Bill Taylor
staff reporter
White-clad children danced in the pouring rain, opposition MPs demanded a "meaningful" reaction from Prime Minister Stephen Harper and, his body racked by sobs, S.P. Ravi shared his grief over the death of a political leader who was also his younger brother.
S.P. Thamilchelvan, second-in-command and chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the guerrilla group fighting for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka, was killed Friday by a Sri Lankan military air strike that reportedly took out half a dozen top Tiger leaders.
Canada officially regards the Tigers as a terrorist organization.
Last night, thousands of Tamils from all over the GTA flocked to Markham Fairgrounds for a three-hour gathering to honour Thamilchelvan with prayer, speeches and music. An hour after it started, there were still traffic jams as people waited to get in.
As a huge poster of his brother was still being hung behind the stage and with someone holding an umbrella over him, Ravi, 44, told the crowd in Tamil that Canada had a responsibility to respect human rights in Sri Lanka and the aspirations of the Tamil minority.
When he came offstage, Ravi, still weeping, said he had spoken to his brother, who was 40, last Wednesday. "He was happy. He said he was still going hard on the peace process. He asked us here to keep it in our minds, too."
Ravi lives in Markham, where he works in a law office. He said his brother was the negotiator people on both sides most respected.
"They kill him, they kill peace," he said. "We feel now that peace died with him."
Borys Wrzesnewskyj, Liberal MP for Etobicoke Centre, and Jim Karygiannis, Liberal member for Scarborough-Agincourt, both made speeches.
Karygiannis said he was there "to show solidarity with my constituents, both Sinhalese and Tamils."
Of Canada's decision to outlaw the Tamil Tigers, he said, "Unless we engage both sides, we're never going to have a lasting solution. Norway has been at it for a long time. It's time we joined them. It's time we told both sides, `Enough is enough. Put your heads together and find peace.' We owe it all to the Sri Lankans in Canada."
Wrzesnewskyj said he believes "completely horrible consequences, a tragedy" can be averted only if both sides decide that the 35-year-old conflict has gone on long enough and make a conscious effort to negotiate. "Otherwise the potential exists for things to descend into hell. We've seen in the past how political assassinations lead to greater wars."
Thamilchelvan was regarded as the point man for Norwegian peace brokers, who put together a ceasefire in 2002 that lasted for three years but then began to fray. The Sri Lankan government vowed yesterday to continue targeting Tamil Tiger leaders with air strikes.
Last night, someone in the crowd held up a sign: "We want peace, not war." But there were more umbrellas than posters.
"This is a tragedy," said one man, who wouldn't give his name. "This was state terrorism. There was no need for it."
-http://www.thestar.com/News/article/273877
