The war is over but the acts of hatred continue

Much to the dismay of my Pro-LTTE brethren who hail from Sri Lanka the civil war is over. There are no LTTE Terrorist controlled areas in Sri Lanka and there certainly is no de facto terrorist run governing authority in the East and the North of the country anymore.

The Sri Lankan government forces won, took back control of Sri Lanka and expunged the country of what LTTE scum they could find. Lets face it the civil unrest in Sri Lanka is at another stage. The main guns behind the war are now contesting Presidential Elections even: Mahinda is saying he wants to stay on and 'develop' the country and Sarath says he's contesting because wants to abolish the executive presidency and public corruption. But I digress, that is another can of worms altogether, lets get back to Toronto:

There was an uneasy tension in the air between the pro-LTTE elements in Toronto and the Sinhalese minority after the country was unified but I thought it was getting better? I thought Pro-LTTE elements were adapting to the new situation and were looking to democratically bring about a solution to the ethnic strife in Sri Lanka?

Things in my world certainly were slowly coming back around. The round-the-clock mid-night patrols by citizen vigilantes at the various Buddhist temples ended; and I quietly started making my way back into the various Tamil bakeries and kottu shops, for social unrest or not you can't really grudge a Sri Lankan access to a decent kottu and lampris feed now can you?

But exactly does this recent act of hatred mean? Is this a response to Sarath announcing his intention to contest the upcoming Presidential elections? Does this mean more acts of random terror will follow? Are more Sinhalese Buddhist temples to be attacked cowardly overnight? Are more Sinhalese restaurant owners to be intimidated? And to what end?

The LTTE Terrorist Organization victimized Sinhalese and Tamils back in Sri Lankan through acts of random terror and it looks like their goons are doing the same here in Canada.

And now......?

Vino Raja weeps for missing family members in Sri Lanka as she attends a Tamil demonstration on University Avenue yesterday (Craig Robertson, Sun Media) .....she pretty much sums up the sentiment I get from the pro-LTTE protesters here in Toronto: concern. They are shocked by the swift fall of the LTTE in Sri Lanka and believe Tamils in the conflict areas will now be victimized by the Sri Lankan army. Most are skeptical that the Tamil people from LTTE controlled areas will be treated fairly in Sri Lanka. Interestingly what most pro-LTTE protesters omit or choose to ignore is that the majority of Sri Lanka's Tamil population actually live and work in Government controlled areas. Even when the LTTE was at the height of its dominance and had established a defacto state in the northern and eastern parts of Sri Lanka only 43% of Sri Lanka's total tamil population chose to live there...but I digress; the protesters on the streets of Toronto are concerned.

They are concerned for their friends and family who might be amongst the mass of displaced civilians now dependent on outside forces for food, shelter, medicine and basic needs. They are concerned and so am I.

I fear for the civilians not because I believe they will be victimized or denied food and shelter but because of the sheer numbers involved. I fear medical and relief organizations in Sri Lanka won't be able to cope with the immense numbers of displaced civilians and think the Government of Sri Lanka urgently needs to seek the collaboration of international relief agencies if a catastrophe is to be avoided.

Whether the pro-LTTE diaspora's fear of the Sri Lankan Government is ludicrous or otherwise; their concern for the displaced civilians is certainly one I support.

Pro-LTTE Protest shuts down the Gardiner

The Pro-LTTE Terrorist protests have been getting really disruptive of late.

Running up the Spadina on-ramp and causing the Gardiner Expressway to be shut down last Sunday for six hours or so was insane. We're lucky this didn't happen on a weekday for the city core would have literally shut down.

Kudos to Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair for curtailing the use of excessive force against the mob and getting the situation back under control while ensuring that the safety of the protesters was given first priority.