Canadian Tamil Lorenzo Fiorito – Prabakaran & LTTE are no heroes of even Tamils
“Some people’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter”. What good is a justice system when the law & lawyers also twist the facts & try to manipulate clauses to the advantage of agendas. Fiorito has mixed heritage. His father is an Italian Canadian whose family migrated to Canada in late 1880s while his mother is an Indian-Estate Tamil, belonging to indentured labourers imported from South India by Colonials to work on plantations in Sri Lanka, she migrated to Canada in late 1970s. Fiorito himself was born in Canada in 1982. So Fiorito, has no heritage in Sri Lanka as he was probably born in Canada.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwCbX4_sfas
Fiorito claims his mother never had a right to vote in Sri Lanka. This can happen for several reasons. Her parents may not have registered her to vote. She may have not been in a voting age or there may have not been an election before she left Sri Lanka. In case Fiorito is unaware it was only in April 1928 the Supreme Court of Canada unanimously declared ‘the word person did not include female persons’ & the UK Privy Council was petitioned & this ruling was changed in 1929. It wasn’t until 1960 that ALL Canadian women finally had the right to vote – that same year Sri Lanka produced the worlds first female prime minister!
Fiorito admits he was taught to be a Canadian & not a Tamil so obviously he does not speak a word of Tamil too so it must be pretty difficult for him to know first hand what Tamils in Sri Lanka go through!
Fiorito admits his mother nor her family spoke a word about life in Sri Lanka & his present liaisons with pro-Eelamists groups naturally makes him see only one side of the story. We empathize with Fiorito on this account. This is understably why he has got his facts all twisted.
Fiorito may also be unaware of the real discrimination that prevail amongst Tamils – coming from an estate Tamil family, this group of Tamils are regarded the lowest caste by Jaffna Tamils. Ironically, the eelam that is being espoused does not even include estate Tamils, in case Fiorito is unaware. Maybe he should clarify this aspect from his mother. Fiorito’s grandiose speech about a “Tamil Nation” and “Eelam” omits estate Tamils! Fioritos heritage comes from estate Tamils that were originally brought from South India to Sri Lanka. It would be best that Fiorito first dig up this history, the caste system & discriminations associated with this & use his legal process to undo caste discrimination legalities & illegalities before venturing to promote a terrorist movement & hold commemorations for terrorists or even demanding Canada to remove ban on LTTE.
Fiorito needs to be corrected – there is NO TAMIL NATION, not in Sri Lanka nor even in India’s Tamil Nadu where 72milion of the worlds 76m Tamils live in a state that is called Tamil State. There is no country called Tamil Eelam to be put back on the map!
As for Fiorito’s lavish use of the term ‘genocide’ – we hope he has looked at the population figures & can explain how genocide can exist when Tamil population is increasing! It is baffling for all of us.
Fiorito may also like to produce the names of these people supposed to have been “genocided” or at least tell us where their skeletons are. We are all so curious to know the names of these 40,000 supposed to be killed people. Did they even exist? Were they even born? Lets see Fiorito come out with names & details.
41 year old Fiorito born & living in Canada probably never even travelled to Sri Lanka. If he has, he never mentioned it. If he did, perhaps he may like to produce some pics with Prabakaran. Then again, even the loud-mouthed Wigneswaran shied from going to greet Prabakaran & lived all his life in Colombo & decided to live in Jaffna after being parachuted to contest as Chief Minister.
Let us jog Fiorito’s memory for he seems to be clueless about the acts of terror committed by Prabakaran.
Prabakaran & LTTE started off their murderous ways by assassinating a Tamil mayor as he stepped out of a place of religious worship in 1975.
Prabakaran & his murderers went on to murder Tamil policemen on duty in North Sri Lanka. Two acts of crimes against Tamils.
Prabakaran & murderers went on to break banks that held deposits of Tamils. Another crime against Tamils.
Prabakaran & his murderers went on to kidnap children from Tamil parents & turned these into child soldiers. Another crime against Tamils.
Prabakaran & LTTE denied Tamil children their right to education, their right to peace, their right to be with their parents, their right to childhood & their right to become somebody’s in life. These kidnapped Tamil children held a gun instead of a pen, lived in jungles instead of home & wore terrorist uniforms. Fiorito was happily getting education in Canada, living in a safe home & lucky enough not to get kidnapped. He could become a lawyer. How many of these LTTE kidnapped children were prevented from becoming lawyers, accountants, doctors, engineers? Can Fiorito, respond!
Fiorito is quoting numerous laws that States have a duty to comply with. LTTE is not a State. It is an organized armed non-state actor. Sri Lanka’s conflict is categorized officially as a non-international armed conflict.
LTTE committed a string of violations of international humanitarian laws, none of which can be justified by bogus notions being presented with new legal narratives. When the UNSG & diplomats appealed to LTTE to release hostages & not use Tamil civilians as human shields, none of Fiorito’s legal jargon can erase this fact. Not stopping there, LTTE even shot dead Tamils that tried to flee LTTE. Would Fiorito like to tell us exactly how many Tamil civilians LTTE killed? LTTE even sent suicide missions to refugee camps where more Tamil women & children & Sri Lankan soldiers were murdered.
Fiorito may also not want to know how many Tamils were denied food, water & medicines by LTTE. Whatever humanitarian assistance sent, was collected to be used only by LTTE & LTTE families. The Tamils that were eventually saved by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces were unfed, feeble, weak & in hunger. Plenty of humanitarian aid was sent, the problem was that these were confiscated & kept only for LTTE to use. HRW report “Trapped & Mistreated” proves this.
No amount of sensationalism by pro-LTTE elements overseas can remove the crimes LTTE committed since 1980s in Sri Lanka. Fiorito can stand on podiums in Canada, but having not been in Sri Lanka when LTTE was committing its heinous crimes, he has no credibility to be preaching for LTTE from abroad.
LTTE did not represent Tamils – Fiorito may like to offer an explanation for all the Tamils that LTTE killed.
Fiorito claims that a Tamil Nation only requires a permanent population, defined territory, a government, capacity to enter into relationships with other states & all these are prevalent in Tamil Nadu not Sri Lanka. There was no Tamil Eelam govt at any point in history. Exactly who is heading this “Tamil Eelam nation” in Sri Lanka or does Fiorito think it has to be remote controlled from Canada? Now that plenty of Tamils are hold legislative positions in Canada, & Tamils are living in a defined territory in Canada, why doesn’t Fiorito help create a Tamil Eelam Nation in Canada?
The notion Fiorito is implying is giving momentum for all terrorist groups to create defacto areas & plug legal jargon to declare autonomous states by power of gun & terror! This cannot be allowed & it is only gravitating to placing people to live in fear.
Interestingly Fiorito quotes the 1977 election & TULF presenting Tamil Eelam quest in its election manifesto. Fiorito claims that the victory ascertained the will of the Tamil people, but Fiorito forgets to mention that the TULF leader was assassinated by LTTE inside his own home.
Fiorito refers to “racism” & “discrimination” – he needs to look at the Tamil caste system & see how discrimination exists among Tamils before pointing fingers. In fact it is the estate Tamils that are worse off – ask his mom.
Fiorito may like to also look at the Prevention of Social Disabilities Act of 1957 where the Sinhalese Prime Minister passed a Bill to allow Tamil low castes to obtain education & go to school when they were denied by Tamils. Tamil leaders sailed to UK to beg the Privy Council to annul the Act. This is what is called discrimination. Fiorito should do some research & see how low caste Tamils especially the Up Country estate Tamils are discriminated by Tamils before pointing fingers.
The reference to standardization is totally unacceptable, because only the elite of all communities had upto 1970s been enjoying entry to universities. Standardization was opposed by the elite of Sinhalese & Tamils because it meant their quoto would get reduced & children from rural parts would also gain entry to universities.
When terror comes unannounced & when terror lasted for decades, it is for the safety of the people that PTA exist, Terrorists should not be safeguarded, people should. When people promoting banned terrorist groups are demanding removal of the prevention of terrorism act, alongside lifting proscriptions, we have to wonder why!
Fiorito has totally been fooled by the land rights too. 80% of Sri Lanka’s land belongs to the State. Only 14% of land are private land. Anyone contesting illegal usage of private lands, must show legal ownership to that land first. No one can claim State land as private land.
Fiorito has thrown several international conventions to present his case to justify LTTE crimes & seek de-proscription of LTTE by Canada. However, renowned international terrorism experts have studied every allegation made by people like Fiorito & their expert opinion negates all that Fiorito attempts to promote.
Opinion of Sir Desmond de Silva & Prof. David Crane
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=121568
Opinion of Prof. Michael Newton
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=120653
Opinion of Sir Desmond de Silva
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=122971
Opinion of Sir Geoffrey Nice and Rodney Dixon
its ironical for Fiorito to say “our country of Tamil eelam” while living in Canada, then again all those beating their breasts demanding Tamil Eelam are foreign passport holding foreign citizens. Whats even funnier is Fiorito & Co are talking about a “long walk for freedom” to a country they have not been born in, lived in & unlikely to ever come to!
By the way the ordinary Tamils back in Sri Lanka are not even asking for a “Tamil Eelam Nation” – isn’t that odd too!
Shenali D Waduge
