Primarily, it is an effort to draw attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka.

More than 50,000 Tamil civilians are entrapped on a coastal strip in the North.

They are virtual hostages of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) an organization proscribed as terrorist by Canada.

After fighting for decades the armed forces are poised to overrun the cornered tigers.

The Tamil tigers as they are known are waging a fierce war to establish an Independent state, Tamil Eelam .

Protests in Toronto and Ottawa are but part of a concerted global campaign by the Tamil Diaspora. The underlying cause is the civilian predicament back home .

There are daily reports of civilians being killed and injured by aerial bombardment and artillery shelling. Nearly 200,000 civilians were recently displaced and are housed in IDP camps under abysmal conditions.

In this situation, the concern and anxiety of Canadian Tamils for their kith and kin are understandable. They want Ottawa to exert pressure on Colombo and prevent the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe.

Problematic here, are the methods adopted to bring about intervention by the Canadian Government.

Strident protests are becoming a public nuisance . Motorists and pedestrians are inconvenienced greatly.

Demonstrators are increasingly on a collision course with the Police. Besieging Gardiner expressway on Sunday was dangerously controversial.

Instead of winning sympathy from mainstream Toronto, the abrasive protests are incurring resentment and hostility.

Complicating matters further is the identification with the banned LTTE, Carrying tiger flags and chanting slogans for the LTTE raise doubts about a hidden agenda.

Are the protests concerned about the civilian plight alone or getting a reprieve for the LTTE also?

In any case linking the protests to the tigers is proving counter-productive as neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals want to be identified with a banned outfit.

There is also the fact that Canada has little clout with Sri Lanka.We are not a major trading partner or aid-giver. Canada is not on the UN Security Council.

Perhaps it`s time for Canadian Tamils to review the situation realistically and do a course correction.


Nayagan | May 15th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
DBS,

do you know if there is a rough estimate of how many showed up at the protest? perhaps set against the SL Tamil population of the GTA?

you know like few others the costs and consequences of being set upon from all sides but it is going to happen, albeit attenuated by the norms of western civilization, to those diaspora tamils with no patience for tiger boosting or flippant justifications for pulping the skulls of trapped civilians.

What rhetorical strategy would you advise for such people? We have no friends as it stands now.

DBSJ RESPONDS:

I dont know what you mean by rhetorical strategy. as for advice that`s what I`ve been doing for years and years now. All that I got in return was violence and vilification. After being called traitor for simply telling the truth in the long - term interests of the Tamils and calling upon the LTTE to give up an unwinnable war for an unrealistic gaol I find myself being asked now to tender advice by some at least. What I have learnt through painful experience is that one can only advise those who realise that they need advice. There`s no point in advising those who think nothing is wrong with them and only others are to blame for their predicament

8. Devan | May 15th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
DBSJ, Your article in Metro news is silent about the Sri Lankan govt`s approach to finish the war through a carnage and bloodbath of civilians. As a journalist you should not to be biased nor try to conceal the truth.

DBSJ RESPONDS:

Mr. Devan

This piece was written for the Metro News within a limit of 400 words. The editors wanted a focus on Toronto protests with some context. This is not an article explaining the conflict to Torontonians. It was an attempt and only an attempt to focus on the protests. It is not a detailed analysis.

You will note that a lot of facts are not mentioned in the piece due to space constraint. For instance I have not written about how the LTTE is keeping civilians who want to leave in their area by force. I have not written about how the LTTE shoots and assaults civilians for trying to escape. I have also not written about how these shameful diaspora demonstrations do not say anything about tiger atrocities.

I hope at least now you understand what space constraints are

As for being biased or not writing the truth it is ONLY because I wrote the TRUTH that your LTTE goons assaulted me in front of my wife and broke my head and leg. It is ONLY because I wrote the TRUTH that LTTE goons intimidated Tamil shopkeepers and advertisers in Toronto and forced me to close down the Tamil weekly I was editing here. It is ONLY because I write the TRUTH that your LTTE fellow travellers keep on harassing and vilifying me as a Traitor.

Also you write about carnage and bloodbath. But then is it due to only one party or both parties?

Just for your information I am now collecting lots of information from Tamils who escaped from LTTE areas. You know what? They are full of anger against the LTTE. The tales they tell about how the tigers treated their own people are horrifying.

I will write about it very soon

And I do hope you will take the lead in praising me for being unbiased and telling the whole truth then.