Destroyed houses are seen in an abandoned conflict zone where Tamil Tigers separatists made their last stand before their defeat by the Sri Lankan army.

Jonathan Kay Nov 8, 2011 – 8:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Nov 8, 2011 10:46 AM ET

This isn’t a column about the Middle East. But to make my point, I’m going to start by asking readers to imagine a scenario from that part of the world.

Imagine that, sometime in the next few months, Hamas attacks against Israel escalate to the point of all-out war. Hundreds of Israeli tanks roll into Hamas-controlled territory, supported by artillery barrages and round-the-clock bombing runs. Position after position is overrun, until the retreating Arabs — Hamas fighters alongside innocent civilians — are packed into a tiny coastal sliver of beach. Fathers dig makeshift foxholes to protect their wives and children from Israeli bombs. Finally, Israeli forces penetrate the last defensive barrier, and kill Hamas’ leaders. Amid the battlefield carnage, tens of thousands of innocent civilians lie dead.

Imagine, for a moment, the international outcry that would accompany this bloodshed. It would be the Goldstone Report times a hundred. The daily massacres would be front-page news all over the world, every day. One can even imagine Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Syria and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon joining the war and invading Israel.

Yet if you re-read the second paragraph of this column, and replace just three words — “Arab” with “Tamil,” “Hamas” with “Tiger,” and “Israel” with “Sri Lanka” — everything I described actually did happen in 2009, when Sri Lanka’s military overran Tamil Tiger forces in the northern part of that island nation. Yet, around the world, few paid these events any attention.

There was no “flotilla” for Sri Lankan Tamils: Most of the Canadian activists who rend their garments over the fate of Palestinians probably couldn’t find Sri Lanka on a map — even though the death toll in that country’s 26-year civil war was an order of magnitude greater than the combined death toll from Israel’s generations-long campaign against Palestinian terrorism.

This isn’t to say that the story in Sri Lanka was black-and-white. The Sri Lankan government had every right to fight the Tamil Tigers, which had mutated from a legitimate political movement into a nihilistic terrorist cult that assassinated leaders, kidnapped children for use as soldiers, staged suicide bombings, and even (through local proxies) extorted money from Tamil-Canadian shopkeepers. But the scope of the war got out of hand: In the last months, Sri Lankan forces effectively carpet-bombed swathes of territory that they had declared safe havens for civilians.

The word “massacre” is thrown around a lot in wartime. But in this case, there is solid evidence behind the charge. This is no Jenin-style pseudo-massacre we’re talking about.

Earlier this year, I sat down here in Toronto with a Tamil family that had witnessed all this firsthand, survived, and escaped to Canada.

The father — I’ll refer to him as B. — had worked in northern Sri Lanka as a photographer and Tamil activist. One day, he would be working a wedding. The next, he’d be taking photos of unexploded Sri Lankan bombs. His was an ordinary middle-class family, until everything turned to hell.

It was three years ago when the army moved into his area, declaring it a “high security zone.” He moved his wife and two young children to a village called Suthanthirapuram, where they lived in a makeshift hut.

But the war followed them there, too. In January 2009, bombs hit the local American Ceylon Mission, killing 17; and some of B.’s immediate neighbours were blown up by cluster bombs. He moved on to a nearby village, where his brother, a doctor, was living with his own family.

Then one day, Jan. 22, B. watched as his brother was blown apart as he stood at the mouth of a bunker they’d dug out together. Without time for a proper funeral, B. and his family took the body pieces in a rolled up sari and fled to the town of Puthukkudiyiruppu, as Sri Lankan soldiers flooded the area; and then on to the coastal area of Mathalan — a government-declared “no-fire zone” that became a killing field. By this time, B. and his family were down to one meal a day. The desperate struggle to stay one village ahead of the bombs turned the family into wandering vagabonds.

Finally, they ran out of real estate: B. and his family were trapped on a crowded beach — a stretch of sand a kilometre long and 300 metres wide, where the Tamil Tigers were making their last stand. Amid constant barrages, men dug desperately for cover in the sand, trying to create protective foxholes for their wives and children. When a bomb fell, B. saw figures go up in the air as people, and come down to the ground as corpses.

It’s been more than two years since all this happened. And Sri Lanka’s government would be more than happy to have all of it forgotten. But some world leaders have refused to succumb to amnesia — including our own PM and Foreign Affairs Minister. In September, John Baird declared that there were “credible” allegations of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka — and he continues to press the issue bilaterally with Colombo. More recently, Canada has threatened to boycott the 2013 Commonwealth summit in Sri Lanka unless its government takes responsibility for its behaviour toward the Tamil minority.

This is a positive step for Canada, which is home to the world’s largest Tamil diaspora. Under the Liberals, we swung too far in the opposite direction ­— refusing to list the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist group, and turning a blind eye to Tamil fundraising. Stephen Harper corrected that. And many observers credit Canada’s policies with a weakening of the Tiger military apparatus in the final years of the war. But standing firm against a terrorist group shouldn’t mean turning a blind eye to very real massacres against civilians.

Mr. Harper should keep holding the Sri Lankan government and military to account for what it did in 2009. Given the lack of international interest in this part of the world, our role here is important. If not for us, Sri Lanka may succeed in sweeping its actions under the carpet.

National Post

jkay@nationalpost.com

— Jonathan Kay is Managing Editor for Comment at the National Post, and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C.

Posted in: Full Comment, World Politics Tags: Arabs, Israel, Jonathan Kay, massacre, Palestine, Palestinians, Sri Lanka, Tamil, Tamil Tigers, Tamils, war crimes

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/11/08/jonathan-kay-on-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-nearly-forgotten-massacre/

This piece written by Jonathan Kay in National Post yesterday should be welcomed. Please send appreciation notes to Jonathan Kay at his email below.

jkay@nationalpost.com - by Canadian Tamil Congress

இவரது கருத்தை நீங்கள் ஆதரிக்காவிட்டால் இவருக்கு எழுதாமல் இவரின் முதலாளிக்கு எழுதுங்கள் : dlamb@postmedia.com

இவரது கருத்தை நீங்கள் ஆதரிக்காவிட்டால் இவருக்கு எழுதாமல் இவரின் முதலாளிக்கு எழுதுங்கள் : dlamb@postmedia.com

to: dlamb@postmedia.com

Subject: Sri Lanka’s (nearly) forgotten massacre

Dear Mr. Lamb,

I would like to forward my deep sadness and disagreement regarding following article: http://fullcomment.n.../#0_undefined,0

My arguments are kindly follows:

1. We are all humans regardless our race and colour and religion

2. If we let our fellow humans to practice what they believe and trust, why there is a threat to Israel?

3. Provoking your enemies and denieng their right to live in globe is a never forgiveable offence.

Personally, I am a living survivor of SL indiscriminate bombardment of Tamil territories, interestingly, at that time attack crafts and helicopters were driven by Israel pilots.

What kind of reaction you expect from me?

Imagine you were a 14 year old, denied to go to school, threaten by bombardment your nearest family are dying day by day, whats your expression today?

We Tamils are not Mullas if Iran, Jihads of illusions Alhada. We Tamils has a history, our own culture which is adoptable in any western culture. We Tamils never wish to have enemies, although Israel did all atrocity's to us, we never count Israel as our enemy, because we understand the Geo political change.

The 80 million Tamils live around the world demand just our right to self determination.

Please take necessary actions to prevent corrupted columist to damage post media's reputation.

Thanks,

This piece written by Jonathan Kay in National Post yesterday should be welcomed. Please send appreciation notes to Jonathan Kay at his email below.

jkay@nationalpost.com - by Canadian Tamil Congress

to : letters@nationalpost.com,

cc: JKay@nationalpost.com,

Subject: Sri Lanka’s (nearly) forgotten massacre

Dear Editor,

I understand the point of view written by Mr.Kay and I thank him for that.

Like Israel remain an allay of the West inn the Middle East, Tamils in South Asia too remain supporters of West and its values. The recent visit to Chennai, Tamil Nadu suggest just that. Further, Sri Lanka has strongly fallen into the hands of China.

Sincerely,

Edited November 10, 201114 yr by akootha

Crimes against minorities cannot be tolerated

Re: Sri Lanka's (Nearly) Forgotten Massacre, Jonathan Kay, Nov. 8.

The Tamils' situation in Sri Lanka brings to mind the old legal maxim, inter arma enim silent leges - essentially, in times of war, the law falls silent. Most unfortunate for all Tamils is the continued cynical silence of the international community on this troubling ongoing ethnic conflict.

Sri Lanka is a democracy only in its most slovenly application, and even if it is a full, blazing beacon of a democracy, the category offers no protection or excuse for what that "democracy" so gruesomely did to Tamils. It is time for Canadian leaders to say whether they are or are not willing to take a tough stand against such a sham.

This is a marvellous opportunity for Canada to demonstrate to the world that crimes against minorities cannot be tolerated. Tamils will welcome any new shift in Canadian foreign policy that peruses an agenda of showing support for levelling the playing filed for the disenfranchised in Sri Lanka. It is the only position that is consistent with Canada's own democratic ideals.

We must not allow splattered blood from Tamil victims of Sri Lankan tyranny to stain our conscience forever. The proud flag of this nation must not be allowed to wave alongside countries such as Sri Lanka, whose leaders lust to spill blood in a barbaric frenzy of ethnic fanaticism.

Roy Ratnavel, Vancouver.

http://www.nationalp...5248/story.html

Edited November 11, 201114 yr by akootha

Subject: Re. Jonathan Kay on Sri Lanka’s (nearly) forgotten massacre

To: JKay@nationalpost.com

Cc: letters@nationalpost.com

Dear Jonathan,

Thanks for the article (http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/11/08/jonathan-kay-on-sri-lanka%E2%80%99s-nearly-forgotten-massacre/).

I appreciate the theme of the article which reminds us the need for accountability and pressure to hold Sri Lankan government accountable for crimes against humanity and human right violations. In this communication era, it is very disappointed and sad to see Sri Lankan government get away with all the crimes.

I think Sri Lankan government out smarted Western and European nations, it knows how to manipulate the IC and it already pretty much became Iran's and China's best ally in south Asia. I don't think Sri Lanka care about Western or Europe or their value any more.

I appreciate our government and prime minister's right stand to boycott the next Common Wealth. In the past, Canadian media fully focused on vilifying Tamil Tigers and Tamils in general and hardly mention anything about Sri Lankan State terrorism. I believe at least 80% of the human rights violations and crimes against humanity committed by Sri Lankan government and its paramilitaries and 20% of them committed by Tigers. Without any international investigation, the truth may never come out.

Banning the Tigers and letting Sri Lankan State terror with license to kill was a wrong approach. Even though, I am Conservative member and supporter for more than 5 years, I don't agree with this. It would be right approach if our government ban Tigers and place at least diplomatic sanction on Sri Lanka at the same time. This one sided blind approach by Europe and West actually enabled the Sri Lankan government to kill more than 40K Tamils and commit mass human right violations. The banning only help our Canadian media to brand the Tamils, other than there was no use of it since Canada already had enough laws.

If there was a diplomatic sanction on SL, the west and Europe mostly able to prevent the Sri Lanka from completely fall into China's and Iran's hand. Instead, branding Tamil as terrorist and let the SL unchecked finally eliminate the Tamil identity in Eelam and also it makes Sri Lanka as another Myanmar. Now, Sri Lanka not in a position to find a political solution, honour human rights, democracy or accountability.

As many other Tamil Canadians, I am also hopeful for justice and peace to prevail and expect International Community deliver some sort of solution for Tamils to live with dignity in their homeland. Like Jews suffered, it may take many years for Tamils to get justice.

It is nice to see there is wide support for our Prime Minister's stand to boycott the next Common Wealth which will take place in SL and call for independent investigations. Also good to see that our widely circulating news papers Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and now your column in National Post supporting it.

Thanks again for the article.