Sri Lanka – Canada Relationship

by Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam

" There is a deep need for Peace  in Sri Lanka.  Some parts of this need have come up due to interference from various angles. Sri Lankans who interfere in remote areas without this feeling of ownership have also contributed to damaging this Peace."

The Hon Rob Oliphant, MP
Member of Parliament for Don Valley West
1 Leaside Park Drive, Unit 1
Toronto, Ontario
M4H 1R1
26 January 2011

Dear Mr. Oliphant,

Sri Lanka – Canada Relationship

(January 26, Melbourne, Sri Lanka Guardian) Thank you for your response dated 21 January, to my communication of 23 December 2010. Today, we celebrate Australia Day, which to me is a special day for migrants. Hence, I have decided to respond to use the feelings of migrants which get consolidated on this special day.

Thank you for communicating the following message to me : “Rest assured that I would never attempt to involve myself, nor suggest that Canada should involve itself, in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country - except to work multilaterally and bi-laterally in the promotion of human rights and the welfare of our fellow human beings.”

I do now better appreciate that you would take the necessary steps to not damage this sovereignty of Sri Lanka – which to me is the consolidated feeling of Independence of all those who realized independence at least in some part of their life, through Sri Lanka. Some of them may now be Australians / Canadians. To that extent, we have shared our strengths with our new nations and are contributing naturally to Global Peace.

It is rather difficult to distinguish the domestic component from the ‘foreign’ component. I appreciated this even more deeply during my most recent stay in Vaddukoddai – where the first political declaration regarding Independent Tamil State was made. As with most Public statements, each one is entitled to interpret it as per their own investment in the issue for ‘local’ / domestic purposes. But that needs to be translated in terms of global values and principles, when they are brought to Global Forums. That which is local to the folks of Vaddukoddai is not likely to be local for Canadian Tamils. Hence, the happenings in Vaddukoddai, need to be taken in the context of that environment and only the essential values of it need to be brought to Global Forums.

This is also the basis on which we appreciate the system of ‘karma’, which is time based. According to this system, we do not carry through the ‘outcomes’ / facts/cash & status of one life into another , nor the rights and wrongs over which we have control / influence when the outcomes were produced. We do carry with us over time, the sins and virtues (Paavam & Punnyam – in Tamil).

Likewise, beyond Sri Lankan borders into Canada.

As per my discovery, wrongs & rights become sins and virtues when one side does not have control or influence over the outcomes. Hence, to the extent of that lack of access to common systems, the suffering of civilians due to the war in Sri Lanka, would need to be addressed by foreigners at the level of sins and virtues known through the system of ‘belief’ rather than through ‘facts’. Those of us who do have control and access to common systems – for examples Canadian Tamils or Australian Tamils, need to bring to the Public Forums their own facts – as soon as they are born. The place of birth is as important as the time of birth of facts. Such facts when they cover the whole incident – show their own picture. This is for the consumption of those with least investment in the issue. It is the parallel of majority vote. There are no rights and wrongs except the picture shown by majority facts. This answer would be right for that time and place only.

Lasting solutions need to be on the basis of Human Values – Sins and Virtues and systems of ‘Rights and Wrongs’ that flow from Natural Justice. That is the Universal system – beyond borders of time and/or space.

You have stated in this regard “I do believe that we all, as citizens of one planet, have the responsibility to ensure that fairness, equity and all the elements of the Universal Declaration of Human rights are enjoyed by all the citizens of the world”

I appreciate very much your commitment to Universal Justice which as per my discovery is based on Truth. When we are True to ourselves we become Universal citizens. We then know each other through that Truth. Facts can lead us to this realization but they on their own would not provide the solution.

As I say to my students in Resource Management –our work produces outcomes at three levels :- Cash, People (Status and Goodwill) and Ownership. As we mature, the ownership component needs to be greater than the sum of the other two, for us to feel inner peace and happiness. As you may know – there are many who believe in ‘faith healing’. To me this ability to heal ourselves is the parallel of sovereignty of a nation. External medication helps treat the known. But until we heal ourselves, there is no real mental cure for our physical diseases. To rely on external medication is like relying on cash alone for our life. In our common issue of Sri Lankan war, facts are the parallel of cash. Others may be able to provide compensation on the basis of facts. But unless the receivers believe that they are entitled that compensation, the problem would just take another form – as in Sooran Pohr (the war of Demon Sooran who depicts Ego).

I find this happening in places where funds are handed out without appropriate systems of responsibility. To the extent we feel connected – there is no need to calculate. Compensation based on such feelings would have happened almost immediately out of resources within our control. All others need to be through a reliable structure that uses some form of merit basis. To handout money and status (including through international courts of justice) from a distance (time and space), without the support of such systems, carry with them the high risk of damage to this sovereignty.

In one of the villages I work closely with, majority folks (of low caste) of our generation are not interested in coming out of their circles. They have lived within their own circles and have themselves kept others of higher social status out of their community. The younger generation is now beginning to come out, largely due to higher education, but they are doing so at their own pace. Like with you and I – they also have to reconcile domestic issues with external values. Invariably, local leaders tend to ‘show’ rights and wrongs – not through a system common to insiders and outsiders – but largely through their own ‘majority’ happenings. I myself experienced difficulty in trying to educate them in these common systems – which they tend to think is not needed for their everyday living. You would find this happening also with Tamils in relation to colonization issues. If we are outsiders to them – then Sinhalese are likely to be aliens! Hence the need to work at the deeper levels of Sins and Virtues, rather than majority facts or Administration through rights and wrongs.

As you would appreciate – this is also an issue of migration. When migrants celebrate Australia Day, Aborigines are likely to label it as ‘Invasion Day’. We are both right so long as we use these in our circles of belief, without damaging the earned rights of previous settlers. Land in this issue is the parallel of Cash or Facts. To the extent we feel we are that Land, it would also be of ownership value / Truth. Hence that Land would be our Nation – for better or for worse. Hence the claim by those groups – of Tamil Eelam.

Those of us who migrated to other nations, do not have the right to claim ownership through Land alone. We would need to surrender our land to those to whom that Land is the Nation, to sharing in their feelings of ownership. Anyone, including the Government and donors who compensate beyond real need – is sinning to that extent by interfering with this sovereign right.

There are groups in Sri Lanka that need to be left on their own, due to this feeling ownership through Land. Like most indigenous groups, they need to run parallel to mainstream. It would be counter-productive to ‘reconcile’ the two. They run parallel and do not meet each other. Reconciliation is towards direct connection and would interfere with this sovereignty.

Some such indigenous groups are within the Government and this is the part that needs to be sidelined through strong Administration and Privatization / Business Solutions. This needs to be done without damaging the sovereignty (belief) of the individual and the group. Sovereignty of Sri Lanka is NOT represented by such person/groups. Sovereignty of Sri Lanka is represented by one who hurts when any true Sri Lankan’s earned rights of ownership are damaged. Such a person may not even live in Sri Lanka nor currently own land in Sri Lanka. A true Canadian would identify with such a person. Solutions driven by such persons would truly benefit Sri Lanka.

There is a deep need for Peace in Sri Lanka. Some parts of this need have come up due to interference from various angles. Sri Lankans who interfere in remote areas without this feeling of ownership have also contributed to damaging this Peace. Hence, any ‘judgment’ by the International Community needs to be based on its own feelings for domestic purposes and objective outcomes produced independently by the physical level participants and victims, for global purposes.

Thank you again for your strong and valuable contribution to development of Peace in Sri Lanka and through Sri Lanka to the Global Community.

Yours sincerely,


Gaja