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» » Post-war SL: Levy pushes for Canadian Diaspora role
Post-war SL: Levy pushes for Canadian Diaspora roleMarch 4, 2011, 9:28 pm
Govt. expects int’l community to guide the LTTE ‘in the right direction’
Canadian High Commissioner Bruce Levy is seeking a role for the Tamil Diaspora in Canada in the rebuilding and reconstruction process. During his meetings with Government Agents in Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Vavuniya and Kilinochchci and Jaffna Security Forces Commander Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, Levy emphasized the importance of forging links between the government and the Diaspora.
A spokesperson for the High Commission, quoted Levy as saying that the majority of the Diaspora still had family members in Sri Lanka and therefore were following with interest what was going on here. Levy expressed hope that tangible measures could be taken to involve the Canadian Diaspora.
The spokesperson said that the HC also touched on the ongoing political discussions between the government and the TNA.
During the visit, levy also met civil society representatives and members of the NGOs and INGOs operating in the Northern Province.
Government sources said that those wanting to involve the Diaspora in the reconciliation process should take meaningful measures to influence the Tamil community to initiate a dialogue with the government. Unfortunately, different Diaspora factions had been trying to pursue the LTTE’s macabre eelam project in spite of losing their conventional military capability.
Sri Lankan forces crushed the LTTE on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon on May 19, 2009.
Sources said that HC Levy could take a lead in promoting closer links between the Sri Lankan government and those hostile elements. The bottom line was that as long as Canada allowed the LTTE rump to manipulate its legal process through various devious means, including ship loads of illegal immigrants, very little could be done to improve the relations, sources said. (SF)