Former Justice Minister Dr. Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, has urged the new Canadian Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree to review Canada’s policy towards Sri Lanka as there is absolutely no basis for their declaration of genocide in Sri Lanka during 1983-2009 period.

Dr. Rajapakshe has said that Gary Anandasangaree, as the son of veteran Tamil politician V. Anandasangaraee, one of those who had been targeted by the LTTE is in a unique position to address the issues at hand.

The one-time President of the Bar association said so when The Island asked him whether he made an attempt to initiate a dialogue with the Canadian Minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet.

Gary Anandasangaree oversees key agencies tasked with Canada’s national security, including the Canada Border Services Agency, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. He previously served as the Minister of Justice and Attorney General — the first Tamil-Canadian to do so — under

Carney’s first Cabinet in March this year. Anandasangaree held this role together with that of Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, to which he was appointed under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s final Cabinet in December 2024.

Dr. Rajapakshe has taken exception to the categorisation of the deaths of Tamils, which occurred during the conflict as genocide. The LTTE and other Tamil groups that gave up their separatist struggle in around 1990 were responsible for so many killings, he has said. “In my letter dated May 29 to Gary Anandasangaree, I reminded him how the LTTE made an attempt to assassinate his beloved father in Colombo during Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga’s presidency. Those who have been demanding accountability on the part of Sri Lankan political and military leaders conveniently forget the LTTE’s actions,” the former Minister said.

“I intervened directly during an incident in 2004 when your father’s life was under threat from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led by Prabhakaran. Armed cadres entered his Colombo residence and opened fire. He narrowly escaped and reached my home seeking refuge, and I provided him security and accompanied him to meet the then President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. On my request, she provided him with state security,” the President’s Counsel has written to the Canadian Minister.

Responding to The Island queries, Dr. Rajapakshe warned unless Sri Lanka took remedial measures to set the record straight, all killings would be categorised as genocide and successive governments would be blamed for deaths and destruction caused by terrorists.

Dr. Rajapakshe has pointed out that the dead included (1) Members of various Indian sponsored Tamil terrorist groups killed in intra-group fighting, (2) Members of Tamil groups killed in fighting the Sri Lankan military and police (3) Tamil youth killed during weapons training in India and transfer to and from Tamil Nadu via sea (4) Terrorists killed by rival groups during their stay in India including EPRLF leader K. Padmanabha in Madras (now Chennai) in June 1990 (5) LTTE terrorists killed by the Indian military in the Northern and Eastern regions (6) LTTE terrorists killed during confrontations with the Indian Navy/Coast Guard (7) Members of PLOTE (People’s Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) killed by Indian forces deployed to avert Sri Lankan terrorist attack on the Maldives in Nov 1988 (8) Tamil National Army (TNA), a group that had been hastily established by India ahead of the Indian military pull-out from Sri Lanka in early 1990 to protect the EPRLF puppet administration, suffered significant loss of life as a result of LTTE operations facilitated by Sri Lanka.

That was the period, May 1989 to June 1990, when slain President Ranasinghe Premadasa threw his weight behind Velupillai Prabhakaran (09). LTTE cadres on the orders of Velupillai Prabhakaran killed Gopalswamy Mahendraraja alias Mahattaya (10). Indian law enforcement authorities killed those who had been involved in the heinous LTTE plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991. Those who had been demanding justice for Tamils killed during the conflict do not talk of members of that community who perished in India following Gandhi’s assassination. (11) Tamils who paid the supreme sacrifice fighting for the Sri Lankan government (12) Deaths among the LTTE fighting cadre following the breakup of the group in 2004 that eventually paved the way for the armed forces’ success in the North and (13) The LTTE deployed thousands of children for combat. Exact figures weren’t available.

The Canadian Parliament in May 2022 declared Sri Lanka had perpetrated genocide. Former Minister Rajapakshe said that as the new Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree couldn’t ignore the responsibility on his part to take whatever appropriate measures in case Canadian security interests were threatened.

The former Minister found fault with Tamil Diaspora and foreign politicians for exploiting the post-war developments for their political advantage. The building of the so-called genocide monument in Ontario and the possibility of similar structures in other parts of Canada was a reality as interested parties propagated false narratives, Rajapakshe said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando ✍️