Hypocrisy and the ‘Tamil Genocide Day’ monument - EDITORIAL

On Friday 16 August, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry summoned the Canadian Ambassador and protested the laying of the foundation stone for a so-called ‘Tamil Genocide Monument’ at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton Canada. 

Sabry reiterated the so-called genocide was based on “malicious disinformation” and lacked validation from any responsible national or international authority.

The construction of a genocide memorial at Brampton was first proposed in 2021, in response to the destruction of a memorial at the Jaffna university dedicated to Tamil civilian victims who lost their lives in the final battle between the LTTE and the Lankan military. 

Genocide is the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group. 

The LTTE was defeated at the battle which took place at Mullivaikkal. Over 200,000 Tamil civilians were held hostage by the LTTE on the tiny strip of land area of approximately 2 - 3 sq miles, as the final battle was being fought. 

There has been no concrete evidence (such as mass graves) to back charges that over a hundred thousand Tamils were killed in that battle.

During the battle, the LTTE too killed several civilians who attempted to break free from its clutches. However, it is probably true more civilians died during the exchange of fire between the military and the LTTE, who had set up positions in the midst of civilians they were holding captive. Sadly thousands of civilians died in that war. 

Whichever narration is true, a single fact has to be accepted. Killing of civilians is unacceptable. Unfortunately during any armed conflict, the main victims are civilians.  

 Whether the death of civilians at Mullivaikkal can be labeled genocide is debatable. An example of genocide would be the massacre of Jews by the Nazi leaders of Germany whose aim was to wipe out the Jewish population. Not by war, but by rounding them up and killing off entire populations in gas chambers and/or cold-blooded shooting of thousands of civilians. 

However, it is more than shocking that, charges of genocide against Lanka are brought by Canada, a country which has committed genocide on its indigenous population. 

The ‘Guardian’ of 1 July 2021 referring to the genocide of the indigenous people of Canada points out... “Canada is a country built on the violent dispossession of Indigenous peoples. The horrifying reports of unmarked graves of children at residential “schools” in Kamloops, British Columbia, Brandon, Manitoba, and most recently Cowessess First Nation in Saskatchewan have shocked many Canadians and others around the world. However, these were not discoveries, but confirmations of what we knew all along: Canada was built on genocide. 

But even today neither the Canadian government nor the city of Brampton have put up a Canadian Genocide Memorial! 

During World War II the US nuclear bombed the Japanese civilian cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  The bombing killed an estimated 140,000 people in Hiroshima, and a further 74,000 in Nagasaki. 

We are still to hear of a genocide memorial raised in Canada to the victims of the US nuclear bombing -a targeted mass killing of civilians.

Today Israel is continuing genocidal attacks on unarmed civilians in Palestine’s Gaza which the world is witnessing in real time. As of 9 August 40,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israel. According to the UN ‘reliefweb’ the Israeli army has killed 2,100 Palestinian infants and toddlers under the age of two.

The ICC has found Israel guilty of genocide against Palestinians... Yet Canada has yet to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip, much less construct a monument against Israeli genocide in Palestine.

Canada’s refusal to highlight genocidal acts of the US against Japanese civilians, Israel’s ongoing genocide against Palestine and not highlighting its crimes against humanity and genocide against its own population while condemning Sri Lanka is like spitting in the wind.

Canadian friends, it’s time to drop this hypocrisy and come to terms with reality. Killing of civilians be it by the US, Canada or Sri Lanka smells just as putrid. It cannot be covered by pointing fingers. 

Let’s ensure civilians are not targeted by belligerents in different conflicts