Define the role of Bruce Fein forthwith

“It is obvious Bruce Fein is a counsel for those who advocate terrorism in Sri Lanka immaterial whether it is against the government or the people. He is either the lawyer for Tamils for Justice or Justice for Thamils for both support LTTE terrorism in Sri Lanka. And he has been retained to bring an action for the same reason against two brothers of President Mahinda Rajapakse and Major General Sarath Fonseka who like the members and adherents of the two “justice” organizations have US citizenship status.”
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by Satchi Sithanandan in Frankfurt

(July 20, Frankfurt, Sri Lanka Guardian) The Sri Lanka Guardian feature “Bruce Fein Episode developing into a major scandal” attracted two comments, one by T Douglas and the other by Sabapathy. Both were totally off the mark from the feature. The issue focused in this feature by Renuka Sharma and Jacinta Cruz is Bruce Fein whose conduct has created much anxiety among the Sri Lankan Tamils in North America and elsewhere too.

Questions were raised about Tamils for Justice and Justice for Thamils, the latter was no doubt formed to bypass Tamils for Justice who retained Bruce Fein. Instead of commenting on this, both Douglas and Sabapathy have gone off in a tangent of chorus of human rights violations directed solely on the Government of Sri Lanka.

There is no doubt the Government of Sri Lanka is culpable and there may possibly be a cause to consider action against the Rajapakse brothers and Major General Sarath Fonseka in the US on account of their US citizen status. But just as culpable are some Sri Lankans with US citizen status who have been instigating terrorism in Sri Lanka by funding such operations and even helping to procure arms for the LTTE. There are US-founded organizations like the Tamils for Justice who claim only the LTTE can speak for the Tamils in Sri Lanka.

However, the issue in the feature is Bruce Fein. The Tamil community has a right to know whether he is a counsel with mercenary interests and is being used as a front to raise more funds in the name of the Tamil struggle by people who are motivated by interests other than that of the Tamils in Sri Lanka. The fear is that Bruce Fein has seen gold in this venture for himself and therefore the need for him to ease off from Tamils for Justice to whose credit it could be said that when it comes to keeping accounts, they have a feather in their cap.

Justice for Thamils appears more to be a shady venture masterminded by people whose integrity has suffered in the Tamil community in Canada and some even actively linked to the banned LTTE and World Tamil Movement. Even otherwise, they had no right to hijack a lawyer retained by Tamils for Justice. If indeed it was a hijack, then it must have been a hijack with consent! Let Bruce Fein come clear on this without any delay.

What is sauce for the goose is also good enough for the gander. Let the Tamils for Justice broaden the scope of crimes against humanity action against US and Canadian Tamils of Sri Lankan origin who have been directly, and via means very shady advocating terrorism in Sri Lanka.

But in the meantime, it is crucial that the Bruce Fein involvement is clearly defined, the funds raised by him or through him made public and the relationships he has established with Tamil organizations, each of them stated in detail in order to assure that there is no conspiracy involved with organizations banned on account of their terrorist proclivities and propensities and banned in North America. Are we having here a situation where the pot is calling the kettle black?
- Sri Lanka Guardian