The Monument to remember those perished during the
last lap of the civil war in the Northern Sri Lanka was
unveiled in Chinguacousy Park, Brampton, Canada on
Saturday 10th May has angered the Sri Lankan
Government.
Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Vijitha Herath has invited the
Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo Eric Walsh and
the Government’s objection for allowing the monument to
be erected in Canada. Minister Herath also pointed out
that the monument would even spoil the efforts taken to
strengthen the reconciliation process in the country.
The Canada monument has been erected in memory of
the Tamils who were victims of nearly four decades of civil
war in the Island nation from 1983 to 2009.
It was on the directive of President Anurakumara
Dissanayake , the foreign Minister had expressed the
disappointment of the Lankan Government over the
Canadian monument for the Tamils perished in the four
decades of civil war in Sri Lanka.
Tamils of Lankan origin commemorate the 16th
anniversary of Mullivaikal Remeberance Day which had
led to deaths of innocent civilians in a mass scale
wherever they domiciled in the world.
Former President of Sri Lanka Maithripala Sirisena who
became the head of state with the popular support of the
North and East voters in 2015 had permitted to
commemorate the Mullivaikal Remeberance Day.
President Maithripala Sirisena allowed local communities
to commemorate their dead on Remembrance Day (18
May), which marks the end of the civil war.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa, with the help of his
Defense Secretary and his brother Gotabaya Rajapakse
had handled the final lap of the North and East civil war.
Later when Gotabaya Rajapakse became the President
Tamils were not allowed to commemorate their dead on
the ground that it would be remembering the LTTE.
The day the war ended was known as “Victory Day”.
However President Maithripala Sirisena’s Government had
changed that into Remembrance Day out of respect for
the pain of all the victims, irrespective of their ethnic
background.
From the time Mullaivaikal Remembrance Day came into
existence , a special `porridge’ is prepared annually to
offer in remembrance of the dead. The special porridge is
known as Mullivaikal porridge and it is served in memory
of those who had suffered without proper food or shelter
when the war had aggravated in May 2009.
At the early years of war coming to an end during
President Mahinda Rajapakse and his Brother Gotabaya
Rajapakse’s period Armed Forces were harsh towards the
people commemorating the Mullivaikal Remembrance
Day. However following the decision by President
Maithripala Sirisena to allow the Mullivaikal Remembrance
Day to be observed, Armed Forces didn’t interfere in the
commemoration activities. They were even offered with
Mullivaikal porridge.
As the Mullivaikal Remembrance Day enters its sixteenth
year, the present Government of President Anurakumara
Dissanayake objecting the Canadian monument to
remember those died in the civil war could be seen as, the
President acting against his conscious.
He should remember how his original militant outfit
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) rebelled against the
regimes in the seventies as well as in the eighties. His
colleagues in their thousands were killed in a ruthless
manner and their deaths also remembered by their party
annually.
Expressing his Government’s objection through his
Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath to the Canadian envoy,
over the Mullivaikal monument erected in Canada,
President Anurakumara Dissanayake had mentioned that
the Canadian monument would jeopardize the efforts
taken to strengthen the reconciliation process in the
country.
The words peace and reconciliation have become amantra’ from the time the civil war had ended in the Island. Political observers even say it is a joke. Even President Anurakumara Dissanayake has even mentioned the mantra’ called peace and reconciliation.
The rulers of Sri Lanka could see the Mullivaikal
Remeberance Day event as a threat for peace and
reconciliation. Whereas the monuments erected in
memory of Mullivaikal Remembrance Day in the countries
where the Lankan Tamil expatriates live is a reminder of
emphasizing on the need for a greater peace and
reconciliation in the Island.
The Canadian monument is an initiative led by the
National Council of Canadians Tamils (NCCT). It is 4.8
meter tall stainless steel monument.
The monument is the result of a design competition, with
the build and maintenance of the monument funded by
donations from the Canadian Tamil community of Lanka
origin. The memorial is estimated to have cost $150,000.
By Ananth Palakidnar
