The newspaper failed to understand that many Sinhalese in the United Kingdom are asylum claimants. They have either claimed violence by the state or the LTTE to secure their asylum status in the UK. Asylum claim is not something Tamils alone justifiably claimed, it was universal as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have their fair share of asylum claims and Tamils being victims of the systematic state sponsored purge, are top in the asylum ladder of the communities.
by Rajasingham Jayadevan
(November 05, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) The traditional hate mongering ‘The Island’ newspaper, in its cynical news report of 3, November 2010 under the caption of ‘Murdered UK-based transsexual immigration solicitor represented LTTE’ has projected the transgender lawyer as agent of the LTTE.
Randomly picking the immigration case of the LTTE man Sathasivam Krishnakumar aka ‘Kittu’, the Island has given negative publicity about the able lawyer to make political mileage out of his death.
The newspaper without quoting the sources even accused the Tamil Information Centre (TIC) is a front of the LTTE. It has painted: ‘Burgess had also represented the Tamil Information Centre’ without giving details of his representations for the TIC. It is assumed from the wording, as a legal man he should have represented the TIC in a court case. Those who had known the TIC have not heard any legal cases faced by TIC in the United Kingdom.
The article is written with a malicious intention to project a bad image of the able lawyer, the late David Burgess. David Burgess has represented a plethora of clients from the diverse communities in the United Kingdom. He has also acted for the Sri Lankan Sinhala asylum claimants and was more exposed to anti-LTTE Tamil activists in the UK than the LTTE itself.
The cynical piece of writing of Shamindra Ferdinando in the ‘The Island’ accuses him of helping to exploit the British immigration laws. The prejudiced and disparaging mindset of the writer makes a contemptible comment that: ‘Inquiries revealed that Burgess had been one of the lawyers hired by those seeking to exploit British immigration laws’.
The newspaper failed to understand that many Sinhalese in the United Kingdom are asylum claimants. They have either claimed violence by the state or the LTTE to secure their asylum status in the UK. Asylum claim is not something Tamils alone justifiably claimed, it was universal as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have their fair share of asylum claims and Tamils being victims of the systematic state sponsored purge, are top in the asylum ladder of the communities.
Tributes were pouring in and all the British newspapers gave deserving praises for David’s service. The IRR news said: David (also known as Sonia) Burgess, an immigration lawyer who died in tragic circumstances on 25 October 2010, will long be remembered for his pioneering work defending the rights of migrants and asylum seekers’.
The Guardian was unequivocal and said: ‘An influential lawyer and tenacious defender of asylum seekers' rights David Burgess was the finest immigration lawyer of his generation, responsible for a number of trailblazing cases’.
The Independent in its tribute stated: ‘As a solicitor he was involved in a number of key immigration and human rights cases. In 1993 Mr Burgess was instrumental in a case involving then Home Secretary Kenneth Baker, who became the first minister to be held to be in contempt for defying a court order banning the deportation of an asylum-seeker.’
Whilst the British media is full of praise for David Burgess, the gutter mindset of the Island newspaper has branded him as helping ‘to exploit British immigration laws’ - a very contemptible comment that deserve outright condemnation.
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