Cargo ship passenger wanted in Sri Lanka for terrorism

BY STEWART BELL, NATIONAL POSTOCTOBER 22, 2009 11:09 AM

One of the 76 migrants who arrived off the British Columbia coast in a cargo ship last weekend is wanted in Sri Lanka for terrorism, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

The sources said the man was Kartheepan Manickavasagar, a 26-year-old who is the subject of an Interpol notice issued by Sri Lankan authorities. He is wanted for an unspecified terrorism offence.

Meanwhile, the mysterious migrant ship that arrived in Canadian waters early on Saturday under the name Ocean Lady has been identified as the Cambodian-flagged Princess Easwary, a government official said.

The ship is owned by Ray Ocean Transport Corp., a company registered in the Seychelles, although its mailing address is in the Philippines, according to shipping records kept by Lloyd’s Register.

The vessel’s operator is listed as Sunship Maritime Services, which uses the same mailing address in Cebu, Philippines. Sunship’s phone appeared to be out of service yesterday and an email to the company was returned as undeliverable.

The arrival of the ship in B.C. waters has sparked an intensive investigation into the origins of the vessel and the identities of the passengers, who arrived with either fraudulent documentation or none at all.

The screening has so far detected one match with the Interpol database of fugitives. The man is suspected of involvement with the Tamil Tigers, separatist guerrillas outlawed by Canada for terrorism and notorious for their suicide bombings.

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Sri Lanka claims Rajaratnam gave Tamil Tigers ‘millions’

By James Fontanella-Khan in Mumbai

Published: October 18 2009 22:39 | Last updated: October 18 2009 22:39

Raj Rajaratnam, the New York-based billionaire and hedge fund manager charged in an alleged insider trading scheme on Friday, was funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is considered a terrorist group by the US, the Sri Lankan government claimed on Sunday.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, spokesman for the Sri Lankan defence ministry, told the Financial Times that the government had been monitoring Mr Rajaratnam for several years.

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The TIGER Trap

They defeated the Tigers earlier this year but is the Sri Lankan government's war with the Tamils really all over?

This week on Dateline, Amos Roberts investigates the mysterious disappearance of Kumaran Pathmanathan, or "KP" as he is known, who became the new leader of the Tamil Tigers after the death of Velupillai Prabhakaran in May.

For more than two decades KP had been the Tigers' chief arms smuggler and money launderer, and is still listed on Interpol's "Wanted" list. Now it appears that in a clandestine operation two months ago KP was snatched from a budget hotel in Malaysia and whisked back to Sri Lanka.

The rendition of KP has sparked controversy, with human rights groups accusing Sri Lanka of violating international law. Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi told Amos,

"What we have is an unlawful process that takes somebody basically outside the law. And that makes it vigilantism, that makes it vengeance, but it doesn't make it justice".

But Professor Rohan Gunaratna of the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research in Singapore, argues,

"There was no other way for the Sri Lankan government to do this. I don’t think any human rights organization, if it is a human rights organization, should criticise this. Because KP was the biggest human rights violator."

Duplicitous Canadians

Fri, 2009-09-11 00:46 - ASIAN TRIBUNE

By Stephen Long, Los Angeles

I have refrained from writing much about Sri Lanka since the end of the war on terrorism – although there have been a number of topics on which I could have commented. I am convinced that President Mahinda Rajapaksa has things pretty much under control, and that he is moving the country and its diverse populations forward toward the unity and harmony he has promised.

One incident, however, just came to my attention that I feel I must address – because it personally involves someone I am very close to, and reflects an old, bad attitude that must be fixed. Here’s the story:

A Nayake Thero, Ven. Haupe Somananda Nayake Thera, Chief Incumbent of Sri Mahavihariya, Pamankada, Dehiwala, who is 72 years old, is one of the kindest, most innocent people I have ever met. I have learned a great deal from this revered Buddhist monk over the years, and I have benefitted greatly from my association with him.

One of his students, now the Abbot of a Sri Lankan Buddhist temple in Ohio, invited Ven. Somananda to come to the US to attend the dedication of a new international Buddhist center that has just been built on his premises. He prepared the appropriate sponsorship documents for his visa to the US, and this was obtained with no difficulty. Nayake Thera had been to America before, and had just returned from a lengthy pilgrimage in India. This senior monk is no stranger to travel, and during his long life he has experienced a great deal of the world.

Subsequently, a Buddhist temple invited Ven. Somananda to visit their vihara in Canada while he was in North America. Nayake Thera, armed with proper documentation and sponsorship letters, then went to the Canadian Embassy in Colombo to get his visa so he could enter this liberal, democratic country. It seems, however, that this Embassy is still staffed with Tamils from the old school British system, and it also seems that they are prejudiced against Buddhists – particularly Buddhist monks. I’m referring to the “local” Embassy staff – not the Canadian nationals.

The first time Nayake Thera went to apply at the Embassy he was told that he had to produce bank statements from the temple in Canada he wished to visit. He promptly had these faxed to him.

The next day he approached the counter in the Embassy and produced the bank statements – only to be told that he had to provide a copy of the monk’s passport in Canada that he intended to visit. He promptly had this faxed to him.

The following day he handed over the photocopy of the monk’s passport – and was told that his own passport had to be changed before a Canadian visa could be issued. The counter agent said he had to have the words “Reverend” and “Thero” removed. Can you believe this nonsense?

At this point Nayake Thero informed the counter staff that his passport had been accepted by the US Embassy for a visa – and that there had been no problem with his name and title. The staff person rudely exclaimed, “This is not the US – this is Canada! Your visa application is rejected!”

Ven. Somananda suddenly lost interest in visiting Canada, and gave up his quest for a visa to enter that proud land, a mosaic of free people from all over the world.

Nayake Thero told me that he had the feeling that he was up against the LTTE when he stood before the counter staff at the Canadian Embassy. I’m sorry, folks, but this just doesn’t work for me…

First of all, the Canadian Embassy in Colombo has every right to reject visas to Sri Lankan nationals with good reason, but it has no right to dictate to the Sri Lankan Passport Office how to issue its passports to members of the Buddhist clergy. Secondly, the Canadian Embassy in Colombo should teach its local staff members how to show some respect – and withhold their personal views about Buddhist monks – as well as their political leanings.

I doubt that Ven. Somananda will ever want to visit Canada after this humiliating ordeal. I don’t blame him – I wouldn’t either. I suggest that something be done to prevent this kind of ill treatment in the future. Wise up Canadian Foreign Office! The war is over in Sri Lanka – even if you’re still struggling with it back home.

- Asian Tribune -

Tamil-Canadian student leader got the 'VIP tour' from Tigers

Stewart Bell, National Post Published: Monday, August 17, 2009

FBI handoutSatha Sarachandran, former national president of the Canadian Tamil Students Association, poses with a machine gun at a Tamil Tigers rebel camp in Sri Lanka.

Photos of a former Toronto student leader handling and firing guns at a rebel camp have been unsealed by United States prosecutors in advance of his sentencing on terrorism charges.

Sathajhan Sarachandran was once national president of the Canadian Tamil Students Association but the photos show him holding a machine gun and aiming a rifle while uniformed Tamil Tigers rebels look on.

RCMP officers found the pictures during a search of Sarachandran's residence in Scarborough. The search was conducted at the request of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which was investigating his involvement in a rebel arms smuggling ring.

The 29-year-old computer science student has since pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism and conspiracy to buy surface-to-air missiles for the rebels, also known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE. He faces a possible life term at his sentencing on Oct. 6.

Another Canadian, Nadarasa Yogarasa, is also scheduled for sentencing that day. Sahilal Sabaratnam, the former communications director of the Canadian Tamil Congress, is to be sentenced on Nov. 13. Three more Canadians have been charged and are awaiting extradition to the United States.

Documents written by federal prosecutors in preparation for the sentencing hearing detail the results of the RCMP's search of Sarachandran's home for the first time. In one of the photos seized in Toronto, Sarachandran is seen aboard a ship that is flying the flag of the Sea Tigers, the rebel navy.

The Mackenzie Institute's John Thompson identified the weapons in the photos as a .22-calibre training rifle and a Soviet or Chinese PKM medium machine gun. He said Sarachandran did not appear to be training but rather "getting the VIP tour."

The RCMP search also turned up Tamil Tigers propaganda and documents, a desktop computer, laptop, jump drive and a letter in which Sarachandran, alias "Satha," identified himself as the Canadian coordinator of the Tamil Youth Organization, which the prosecutors said was controlled by the Tamil Tigers. "During the search, the RCMP found substantial evidence of Satha's provision of material support to the LTTE," U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell wrote.

The prosecutors also released transcripts of several recorded conversations in which Sarachandran appeared to speak candidly about the Tamil Tigers support network in Toronto. "Money is not a problem," Sarachandran said during a July 31, 2006, meeting in Long Island, N.Y., with an informant posing as an arms dealer.

Later, he discussed methods used to raise money in Canada. "More or less in all the shops they have a percentage system," he said. "They have collected a lot of money from a lot of people in that manner."

He said that in Canada, there were "covert people" unknown to intelligence officials, whom he called the "four letters," possibly in reference to CSIS or the RCMP. "The four letters in our country is not a problem; four letters meaning the intelligence people don't know about these guys.

"These are covert people and not the flag holding type. They are backstage. They are not connected to anything at all; just employed in very good jobs or professional fields like electronics, engineering, etc...

"They are everywhere."

But he said there had been "problems" since April, 2006. That was the month the Conservative government put the Tamil Tigers on Canada's list of outlawed terrorist organizations. Also that month, the RCMP raided the Montreal and Toronto branches of the World Tamil Movement, a suspected rebel front. "They searched the premises of the organization," Sarachandran said.

Toronto was once a major support base for the Tamil Tigers, separatist guerrillas fighting for independence for Sri Lanka's ethic Tamil minority. A secret Canadian intelligence report released in July called Canada one of the rebels' top sources of funding, providing up to $12-million a year.

But while the rebels had until recently controlled a quarter of Sri Lanka, they suffered a decisive defeat in May at the hands of the Sri Lankan military, which captured their strongholds and killed their top leaders.

Sri Lankan blood on Liberal hands

National Post Published: Wednesday, July 22, 2009

On Tuesday, the National Post's Stewart Bell reported on the contents of an intelligence report, prepared by Canada's Integrated Threat Assessment Centre (ITAC), on fundraising in Canada for the LTTE terrorist group (better known as the Tamil Tigers) in Sri Lanka. The report was formally labelled "secret," but its general outlines have been no secret in Canada for many years now. Nor, indeed, have Sri Lankans themselves been unaware that the Tamil diaspora in Canada has been a major source of cash for the now-defunct Tigers, a group that for more than 30 years repeatedly astonished the world with its bloodthirsty ruthlessness, its penny-ante valuation of civilian lives on both sides, its assassinations and suicide bombings and its readiness to hold economic development in Sri Lanka hostage to its dream of creating a Tamil dictatorship in the northern and eastern parts of the country.

ITAC estimates that Canadian funding for the Tamil Tigers -- secured, in part, by coercive "taxation" of Tamil-Canadians and their businesses -- reached levels of up to $12-million a year, or about $1-million each month. That may not sound like a lot. Then again, terrorist groups don't need that much money to kill people. The 9/11 terrorist attacks, for instance, were thought to have required only about $600,000.

Shortly after Canadians elected a Conservative government that had the political backbone necessary to finally declare the Tigers a terrorist group in 2006 (thereby criminalizing LTTE fund-raising), Sri Lanka's civil war ended in utter defeat and disaster for the Tigers. It is difficult to say how much Stephen Harper's decision affected the balance of power in the last three years of this conflict. But we'd bet the effect was significant: The money that the Canadian Tamil diaspora remitted to the Tigers, as we now know, comprised a large portion of the LTTE's budget.

It therefore has become difficult to deny that the protection and sympathy extended to the cause of Tamil militancy until 2006 -- most notably, by Liberal politicians -- prolonged Sri Lanka's civil war, and increased the scale of the bloodshed.

Which throws a rather startling new light on recent history. The Conservatives have been much criticized, in a wouldacoulda counter-factual way, for having at one time been willing to commit Canada to a multinational invasion of Iraq. Some of the criticisms are fair; but if Canada had gone to war, it would at least have been Canadians doing the fighting and, no doubt, some of the dying. How much worse was it for the Liberal political leaders who were actually in power to look the other way -- for years -- while terrorism and destruction, in a country where we have no discernible foreign-policy interests, were bankrolled through extortion and fanaticism on our own streets?

How much worse was it for Liberal politicians to take an active hand, as they did on at least one documented occasion, in appearing at fundraising events where money for racialist revolutionaries in Sri Lanka was procured by an LTTE front group?

And all this Sri Lankan blood on Liberals hands for what? So that the party could hang on to a few outlying Toronto-area ridings that might well have swung Liberal anyway.

A New Democrat or some starry-eyed Naomi Klein type could at least sincerely make the dogmatic leftist argument for allowing Tamil Tiger fundraising -- that "grassroots" revolution is, everywhere and always, a positive good in human affairs. But the Liberals let it happen, watched thousands of gallons of blood be spilled halfway around the world without doing anything about it, for no other reason than to elect more Liberals.

Michael Ignatieff represents a break from this cynical Liberal tradition: In the past, he has stood four-square behind victims of Tamil terror. And this year, while the Sri Lankan army was engaged in the necessarily messy job of finishing off the LTTE cowards who were using Tamil civilians as human shields on Sri Lanka's east coast, he refused to exude traditional Chretien/ Martin-era Tiger apologism. Perhaps the latest news will give Mr. Ignatieff occasion to address the Liberals' past sins more explicitly. Given that the man became leader of his party largely on the strength of his international stature as a champion of human rights, Canadians should expect no less.

Making of “Sri Lanka a Canadian matter”

By Hasaka Ratnamalala

(June 24, Toronto, Sri Lanka Guardian) With the end of Canadian position MP Bob Rae’s Sri Lanka drama we are eager to let the world know what make Bob Rae and other politicians so desperately wanted to go to Sri Lanka and why they are so unhappy when they loose that opportunity.

For few decades there were some international figures that made money from the sufferings of poor Sri Lankans. Norwegian Eric Sholhaim is one of them Canada’s Bob Rae is another one. Since Bob Rae hasn’t got much to do after his provincial politics in Ontario, Sri Lanka was one of his ways to keep his prestige in his last part of political life. Not only Bob Rae most politicians do this type of work at the end of their political carrier to keep their prestige.

Meanwhile previous Liberal government in Canada thought it is necessary to have the support of Tamils to win the 13 seats in Greater Toronto area and they decided to fund Bob Rae and his organizations to go to Sri Lanka. Around 40 Million Canadian taxpayer Dollars were donated to Bob Rae and his affiliated organizations to carry on his pet project; to teach federalism to Sri Lankans or otherwise known as how to implement communal boundaries and maintain them.

READ THE STORY

TIGERS REMAIN TERRORISTS

US says LTTE transitional government not recognized, Tigers listed again,State Department insists not blocking IMF loan

By Easwaran Rutnam

The United States says it does not recognize the provisional transnational government of Tamil Eelam announced by the LTTE head of international relations S. Pathmanathan and once again listed the Tigers as a terrorist outfit following its latest review.

Speaking during a live web chat last night from the US State Department, senior U.S. State Department official Gregg Sullivan said that although the US welcomed reports that the LTTE has renounced violence and will now pursue its objectives through peaceful means there is a long way to go before the Tigers can be considered a reliable entity.

READ THE STORY

Lessons from Sri Lanka

Defeating the enemy on the battlefield

By Peter Leitner and Rajika Jayatilake | Monday, June 22, 2009

Sri Lanka recently emerged victorious from one of the world's longest-running conflicts, once termed an "unwinnable" war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), also known as the Tamil Tigers.

The LTTE is considered one of the deadliest terrorist groups, having invented the concept of the modern-day suicide bomber and carried out the murder of two sitting heads of state. In addition, the Tamil Tigers pioneered use of female suicide bombers, homemade minisubmarines, ultralight aircraft and "warehouse ships" pre-positioned on the high seas to resupply terrorist operations on shore.

As the self-appointed global leader in the war on terrorism, the United States could learn some significant lessons from Sri Lanka's victory. Here are our top nine:

READ THE STORY

To be Diplomatic or not...

"Please be diplomatic about it"

"That was a very diplomatic way of putting it."

I am sure all of us have used or heard of the above phrases in some stage of our lives, either to reach out to someone who's unreasonable, demanding or flat out unfair. It actually rolls out of our tongues without a second's thought, but rarely given the proper respect it deserves. Here's are few explanations about the word "diplomatic" on cyber space.

Diplomatic-adjective
1. of, pertaining to, or engaged in diplomacy: diplomatic officials.
2. skilled in dealing with sensitive matters or people; tactful.
3. of or concerning the profession, activity, or skill of managing international relations : having or showing an ability to deal with people in a sensitive and effective way:

Sitting in the audience last Friday at the meeting called by the Sri Lankan High Commissioner in Ottawa, it was obvious to me and many others, that Mr. Daya Perera showed none of the above qualities. I say this with lot of sadness as I attended the meeting with an open mind, wanting to listen to what he had to say. Frankly he didn't say anything of any interest to us, or anything we couldn't have read in the news, or things we haven't already done.

The meeting itself had no agenda attached to it. Only a call by the HC to meet with the Sri Lankan community in Toronto. The message was delivered by Consul General, Mr. Bandula Jayasekera in Toronto, who was merely the messenger in this matter. Few days before the meeting, couple of our hard working patriots, who'd been in the forefront of fighting the LTTE propaganda machines in Canada, had requested the HC via e-mail the reason for this sudden meeting. After all the HC had been appointed and been in Canada for a while now, and the opportunity to introduce him self to the community had long since passed. In fact the Sri Lankan community in Canada had hardly seen or heard from the him during his tenure here, specially during the last few months when an official Sri Lankan presence in the media, was much needed. This meeting sounded more like a request to drop by and meet him on a casual visit. The only time we "drop by" to meet someone is if that person happens to be a friend or a relative ours. As far as I know the invitees were neither relatives nor friends of Mr. Perera, at least not all of them. Therefore it was a very valid question that a few of us were interested in getting a response from. But the only response we received was from a misguided lawyer who obviously had another "agenda" in his mind when he called the author of the e-mail requesting the agenda, a Sinhala extremist. By then it was obvious to many of us what this meeting was all about.

First let's take the timing of the meeting, which was more than a month after the fight against terrorism had ended in Sri Lanka, when all that was needed to be done, had been done and continued to be done by many of us living here. But it's also after the major gaff made by the HC about a week ago, when he publicly went after one of our own Sri Lankan patriots, threatening to sue her over a remark made on an article appearing in a newspaper in Sri Lanka. The issue was raised on this blog at the time and two polls ran for a week, which clearly showed the obvious displeasure of the Sri Lankans in Canada, of his conduct. While these poll results were not scientific, the percentages for supporting for his removal from Canada were rather alarming, which probably had reached even the foreign office in Sri Lanka. In short, this was a meeting organized for the purpose of damage control, an obvious attempt to gather some political points to show Colombo, that there was no rift between him and the Sri Lankan community here.

But the meeting itself was highly disorganized as the individual who was supposed to be the moderator for the night, only came to the podium after the HC was bombarded with questions by several members of the audience and was unable to continue his speech. Some in the audience demanded to know what this meeting was all about, asking for an agenda and even demanding that a resolution be passed against Mr. Perera, recommending that he be sent back to Sri Lanka. This is where Mr. Perera, if he was a true Diplomat could have shined. He could have used the opportunity to win the audience, by being calm and cool. But more importantly, "listening" to an obviously upset group in the audience. Instead, the words that came out of an agitated HC were more like threats. When one of the members suggested that the audience walk out of the meeting, HC's response was "That's okay, walk out" and when that person was convinced by another to stay, Mr. Perera mocked him "I thought you were going to leave". He obviously hadn't heard of dual citizenship either, when he told another that "he can't be a Canadian and a Sri Lankan, only one or the other". That's just only a couple of many undiplomatic responses of the evening.

Enter the moderator, who outlined a few ground rules and requested the audience not to make any personal attacks on each other. But that request seemed to have flown right over the head of the Deputy High Commissioner Mr. Wijeratne, who took the podium next and went on a personal attack against another vocal member of the audience. He even held up some papers that were supposed to be e-mail evidence against that individual, which only proved to us that he came well prepared for an argument instead of a brainstorming session. Obviously the upset audience became even more vocal and one member actually walked off the meeting. Then comes one of the best moments of the meeting, when Mr. Lenin Benedict who was in the audience requested to address the crowd. He addressed his "fellow countrymen" and humbly requested that we as Sri Lankans work together, and not fight among each other. He proved that he was a much better diplomat than Mr. Perera, as he was able to calm the audience down with some sensible choice of words and reasoning. He sat down to a roar of applause only to be thanked by the moderator, who "didn't know who the gentlemen was". For the past few months, while the whole of Sri Lankan community had watched, followed and participated in the fight against LTTE false propaganda on Canadian news media, apparently this individual had not! May be he was too busy with his Business Council work, or was simply not interested in the issues. Either way, why such a person was asked to moderate a meeting on how to rebuild Sri Lanka, was simply beyond me.

This was followed by a boring, uninspired speech by Mr. Perera, who claimed that these were direct requests from the President himself. He talked of re-building the country, investing in bonds, building roads and houses, all of which many in the audience were well aware and were already participating in. He wanted to use the "expertise" of the Sri Lankan diaspora in Canada. But when one patriot in the audience stood up and offered to help with low cost housing, and requested more details on how to proceed, HC seemed unprepared or unaware. His answer was to tell the gentlemen to visit the website and get the details, something Mr. Perera failed to realize that all of us could have done, sparing the agony of listening to him. In the process he could have saved the Sri Lankan tax payer some money, for the booking of a hall as well as his travel expenses to Toronto. However, there were some very good suggestions, requests and comments from the audience. Majority of the message relayed to the HC revolved around the ineffectiveness of the HC Office in Ottawa and the need to be more closer to the community, and their needs. Yet, answering some of these questions, Mr. Perera continued to put his foot in his mouth as he made reference to Buddhist monks in Ottawa temples and how he was "tired of eating hoppers" at their functions. Once again, members of the audience reminded him that such comments are uncalled for and shouldn't be aired out in public. It was another indication on how far removed the HC was from Sri Lankans living in Canada, a void that has been very effectively filled thanks to Mr. Bandula Jayasekera, a very dynamic and active Consul General in Toronto.

Wrapping up the meeting, Consul General thanked the Sri Lankan community for their efforts in countering the LTTE propaganda. He acknowledged some key members of the community, and organizations for their tireless efforts to safe guard Sri Lanka for the past few decades. He pointed out that as officers of Sri Lankan Government, HC and his stay in Canada are temporary, and it's us who live here and need to continue to work together. These were inspiring words the audience appreciated very much and HC could have used in his speech. The meeting was almost called to an end when two more questions from the audience were taken. One for possible assistance from HC in acquiring a community centre for the Sri Lankans and the other, a more important one to this writer as well. The reason for the threat Mr. Daya Perera made to the Canadian news media, to sue Mrs. Ira De Silva. Apparently it was a question many others wanted answered too, as few clapped while others let out a few sighs of relief and murmurs when Mr. Daya Perera apologized for publicly threatening her. Although he still believed Mrs. Silva's comments on the article were inaccurate, he admitted that he was angry at the time when he made the comment, and that he was not proceeding with such actions. While the chances of such actions without an approval from Sri Lanka were slim to none, to hear his apology seemed a small moral victory to some.

His apology and explanation may be welcomed by some of the audience, but many didn't seem ready to forgive him for his lack of action and presence during these trying times. "Too little, too late" seemed to be the thinking among the audience mingled with each other after the meeting, enjoying few snacks and tea. If the HC intentions were to win the approval of the Torontonians with this meeting, I believe he failed badly, losing whatever the support he had before. Even the lawyer who'd approved the call for this meeting in an e-mail while accusing another of being an extremist, just sat there with no words of support for the HC or the meeting. While some may not approve the actions of the vocal members of the audience who interrupted the HC's speech, to others it was also a reflection on Mr. Perera's inability to be proactive. It's also because all the members of the vocal audience were individuals who spent their time, energy and money defending their motherland, during these past year and beyond. They did so even at the risk of their own security, without the kind of protection the HC gets from the Canadian officials. They did all that without ever asking to be acknowledged or recognized. But they also weren't expecting any repercussion from someone who failed to do their own part in protecting the country either. It's one thing to be threatened by Terrorists and their supporters, but another when one of your own leaders acts with such arrogance. As much as their actions hurt, it's even more frustrating when the same parties try to pull a fast one by them, in the form of a "agenda less" meeting organized to score political points. Right or wrong, it's that wrath HC felt from some part of the audience this evening. It's clear that HC has failed the Sri Lankans living in Canada, and lost their approval in the process. It's time Sri Lanka realized this and made the change that's inevitable! - Sinhaya

More on the meeting click below:

Sri Lankan Canadian diaspora slam High Commissioner Daya Perera and Deputy Wijeratne, at meeting with community in Toronto.