Tamil expats hold pro-LTTE rally in Los Angeles

Note from the Editors of Sri Lanka Guardian: The repulsive claim: “The civilians don’t want to leave because they’re afraid of the Sinhalese army. No one is holding them,” is not established by what exactly is happening in Wanni. The pro-LTTEE is indulging itself in a most vicious campaign that is hurting the Wanni people for whom they have no consideration whatsoever is vile and most repulsive. We had wondered why pro-LTTE Tamils in California had not taken to the roads yet, they having been the precursors promoting Tiger terrorism in Sri Lanka investing especially millions in military hardware. Those banners they carried about genocide would have been justifiably pointed at the LTTE. Surely they have done their reading and inquiry to be able to understand the world has awoken to the truth that the LTTE is the biggest threat to the Tamils in Sri Lanka. Any society expects integrity from the educated and those who have seen a bit of the world. Apparently, the pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora has its own masters and interests and their silken gowns and golden braids in the toady well of their selfish being.

By Hassina Leelarathna

(April 18, Los Angeles, CA , Sri Lanka Guardian) - LTTE operatives and supporters in Southern California are not known to hold public protests or demonstrations. They operate in the shadows, lobbying US lawmakers and raising funds in circles totally outside the Sri Lankan community’s radar. In a move that signals they’re pulling out all the stops in a last-ditch effort to breathe life into the now-vanquished Tigers , Sri Lankan Tamils stood today outside the Federal Building in Westwood carrying anti-Sri Lanka signs and distributing LTTE propaganda material.

Allegations of ‘genocide’ and ‘civilian deaths’ were the central theme of the protest in which about 130 Tamils participated – a not-too-shabby turnout on a working day.

The event’s chief organizer was Mr. Ravindran Balasingham, a software engineer who has lived in the US for about 13 years. Balasingham, who had his young son by his side, said the rally was the outcome of several individuals spontaneously coming together to protest military action that was ‘killing civilians.’ He said the protests would continue in the coming weeks.

A man who identified himself only as ‘Sivanesan’ said the purpose of the protest was to call on the international community to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government for an ‘immediate ceasefire’ and to allow the presence of international observers and media at what he called were ‘internment camps’ in the Wanni.

“The US has a big role to play. We want President Obama to appoint a special envoy who will be sent to Sri Lanka to make sure there is a political solution. The safety of the civilians and the Tamil people is our biggest concern.”

Asked why they don’t call on the LTTE to let the civilians go, ‘Sivanesan’ gave the same slick answer often cited by the LTTE: “The civilians don’t want to leave because they’re afraid of the Sinhalese army. No one is holding them.”

A thick booklet titled Humanitarian Crisis in Sri Lanka: We are knocking at your door with Our Wounded Hands, Will You Help Us? distributed to media showed a well-organized propaganda effort to paint a dire Rwanda-type situation of ‘slaughter,’ ‘slave camps,’ and ‘death by starvation,’ to mention a few of the outrageous, unsubstantiated allegations. Some of this material is credited to an unnamed ‘Vanni correspondent’ for Tamilnet, the LTTE’s official online news organ.

The protest lasted about four hours.

An estimated 5000 Sri Lankan Tamils live in Southern California with a heavy concentration of older immigrants in Lancaster, about 70 miles north of the City of Los Angeles in the Antelope Valley. Most of today’ protesters, however, appeared to be younger, recent arrivals.

-Sri Lanka Guardian