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Posted by Vijay on June 15, 2009, at 11:52 pm |
United Tamil Council of Canada (UTCC) cordially invites you to a
Cocktail reception in support of
Tamil children in Sri Lanka affected by the conflict.
The project will be executed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), recommended by the Canadian High Commission in Sri Lanka
Date: Thursday, June 25, 2009
Time: 6:30PM- 9:30PM
Venue: Holiday Inn- Markham
7095 Woodbine Ave
Markham. L3R 1A4
Cost: $100 & over.
This is a zero overheads event, with 100% of the funds donated going directly to the project.
For more information and sponsorship opportunities contact:
Vijay Sappani, 416-716-1522. vijay@unitedtamils.org
UTCC is a non profit, non partisan organization that strives to unite and be inclusive of Canadian Tamils of all background and represent them in the broader community and to work towards the socio, economic and political empowerment of Canadian Tamils and represent their aspirations from a Canadian perspective on domestic and global issues
Fundraising Committee:
Dr. Pon Sivaji, Sugumar Ganeshan, Kula Sellathurai, Kris Parthiban and Vijay Sappani.
Posted by Vijay on May 19, 2009, at 7:10 am |
India’s lesson for the world
Vijay Sappani, National Post Published: Tuesday, May 19, 2009
The world is talking about India. And this time it’s not cricket, Pakistan, Bollywood or snake charmers garnering all the attention. Instead, it is India’s just completed general election for its lower house (Lok Sabha)– the largest democratic exercise in the world.
The numbers are staggering: 714 million eligible voters and 828,804 polling stations (including one poll for a single voter in a remote lion sanctuary) to elect around 5,000 candidates in 543 constituencies. The election used 1.36 million electronic voting machines in a controlled four-week process involving five phases divided according to the geographical and the security situations in each area. The whole thing was managed by the Election Commission of India, which employed over six million election and security officers.
India is home to over a dozen religions, 100 languages, thousands of ethnic groups and more than one billion people — some of the poorest and the wealthiest in the world living right next to each other. Westerners have always been amazed not just at the success of India’s democratic system, but at India’s very existence as a country that is constantly balancing the principles of democracy with an immensely diverse, and sometimes unwieldy, population.
It is the success of this balancing act that has made India an emerging global power. Its vibrant democratic system is what unites the pluralistic society. And India has shown the world that democracy and development can go hand in hand, something many of her neighbours are struggling with. Today, India inspires with the fourth largest economy in terms of GDP by purchasing power parity.
India has been a democracy since gaining its independence from the British in 1947. India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, believed that the power of the nation should lie in the responsible hands of its citizens. Each of the 14 subsequent Indian elections have lived up to this principle.
India has fought three wars with Pakistan and one with China, dealt with insurgency and separatist movements in some provinces, endured the growing menace of Maoist rebels in the central east and seen riots against minority Sikhs and Muslims. These trials have only strengthened the democratic process and increased turnout at the polls despite calls from armed rebels to boycott the vote.
India has been governed by coalition governments since 1994 through partnership between national and regional parties. The most recent election results are considered historic in many ways: Over 62% of eligible voters cast a ballot and, with a high percentage of young voters coming out for the first time, Indians overwhelmingly endorsed the Congress Party in order to maintain economic stability and national security.
Voters rejected the Hindu nationalist BJP party, left-wing parties who were opposed to the Indo-U. S. nuclear deal, pro LTTE parties in the southern province of Tamil Nadu, separatists in the north and east and caste-based regional parties with national aspirations. The results also have an underlying message for Canadian politicians: Pandering to extremists in ethnic communities is a formula for short-term gain and long-term disaster.
In spite of shared Commonwealth roots, Canada has done little to substantively engage India on the democratic, economic and political fronts. It’s true that India’s bureaucracy and stringent labour laws are frustrating at times, but in the long run, India’s social and democratic values will make engagement worthwhile.
Canada needs to step up its efforts in this regard. One way to do so would be for Canada to partner with India to create a joint centre for democratic excellence in India and Canada. The centre would focus on promoting democracy in Asia and Africa, where both countries have strong relationships and are well-respected. This would include work in Afghanistan, where both countries have a moral commitment in developing a stable democratic system. India is the single largest non-military donor to the mission in Afghanistan and has the largest diplomatic presence in the region. The centre would promote exchange programs for students and scholars between our countries to learn, share and strengthen the democratic process.
In the midst of the global economic recession, Canada has asserted itself as a dynamic steward of its economy. Like India, Canada has much to teach the world. It is time for the two countries to work together to help other nations achieve similar successes.
Posted by Vijay on March 11, 2009, at 11:01 am |
Nothing can be achieved through violence and nothing can not be achieved through peaceful negotiations. You just need to try enough and be patient. Let us not forget that the biggest hero’s of the world are Gandhiji, Mandela, Martin L.King, Dalai Lama, Aung suu Kyi and not the self proclaimed leaders of groups that use violence including state leaders of Iran, Sri Lanka, Burma, N.Korea.
Posted by Vijay on February 6, 2009, at 8:52 am |
Vijay Sappani, National Post Published: Friday, February 06, 2009
As Sri Lankan military forces try to overrun the last remaining strongholds of the LTTE rebel group (better known as the Tamil Tigers), how should Canada respond?
Canada once had a low-profile relationship with Sri Lanka. But that changed after the country’s 1983 pogrom, when thousands of Tamils and Muslims were killed. More than 250,000 Sri Lankan Tamils have come to Canada as refugees since then, making Canada home to the largest Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the world. Meanwhile, the Tigers — who once controlled large swathes of the island nation — have engaged in an on-again, off-again war with the Sri Lankan government. Understanding the history of this conflict is critical if Canada is to help develop a solution for the conflict.
Following its independence from Britain in 1948 (at which time the country was still known as Ceylon), Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese-dominated government introduced several laws to institutionalize discrimination against the minority Tamil population. In 1972, Buddhism was made the primary religion of the state, and discriminatory laws were passed against religious minorities (most Tamils are Hindu). Sinhalese rioters during this period attacked temples and churches, killing hundreds. That led to the formation of many small Tamil militant groups, one of which was the Tamil Tigers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the West paid only modest attention to Sri Lanka’s internal conflict. But since 9/11, the country is seen in a different light. The Tigers — a conventional military force that has perpetrated acts of terror — have been banned in 31 countries, including Canada.
The Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have had several rounds of peace talks, but the guns remained truly silent only for a short while. In 2002, the two sides entered into peace talks brokered by Norway, with both parties agreeing to the establishment of an autonomous Tamil region in the northern part of the country. Unfortunately, both groups violated the terms of the agreement, and Sri Lanka finally called off the talks in January, 2008.
Since then, Sri Lanka’s army has scored many battlefield victories. But ultimately, there can be no military solution to the conflict: Even if the Tigers lose all their bases, Sri Lanka’s government will not be able to defeat the Tigers as a guerrilla force. In the meantime, civilians continue to be caught in the crossfire between a racist government and a rebel force that is militarily outgunned and shunned internationally.
If a negotiated political solution is to come about, the Tigers must clarify their acceptance of a Tamil nation within a united Sri Lanka, and commit to disarm. For its part, the government of Sri Lanka must agree to treat the country’s Tamils in a more humane and equitable fashion. The current stage of the conflict — in which an alarming number of civilians have died at the hands of government forces — only reinforces Tamil concerns in this regard.
The international community must convince the Sri Lankan government and Tigers alike to arrive at a permanent resolution through peaceful negotiations. Canada could play an especially important role. In fact, our federal system (which could be a model for Sri Lanka) and our large Tamil diaspora makes us a credible candidate to lead the peace talks
The question is: Do we have an appetite to see the world beyond Iraq and Afghanistan? If so, this could be Canada’s moment.
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