Who is Gary Anandasangaree
Gary Anandasangaree left Sri Lanka in 1980 with his mother after his parents separated. His father V Anandasangaree was a signatory of the Vaddukoddai Resolution. Gary has met his father only a couple of times since leaving Sri Lanka. Father & Son have nothing in common. The same goes for their perceptions of Sri Lanka. We have 2 Tamils presenting two opposite versions of the situation in Sri Lanka. This is no different to the maxim – some people’s terrorists are other people’s freedom fighters. Where or how do we draw the line? How many Tamils does Gary represent in either Canada, Sri Lanka or even elsewhere? How many Tamils even agree with the ideology that Gary promotes? He may have won the Scarborough-Rouge Park House from the Liberal Party in 2015 but can he contest elections in Sri Lanka and win? That is a challenge to Gary especially when even some pro-LTTE elements were lobbying against Gary at the elections. Does this mean that the tigers have split? Incidentally LTTE even attempted to kill Gary’s father.
To be speaking of Sri Lanka, has Gary lived in Sri Lanka?
To be speaking for Tamils, has Gary lived amongst Tamils in Sri Lanka?
To be speaking of difficulties of Tamils, has Gary suffered life as did Tamils under LTTE or even lived where Sri Lanka Military were stationed?
To be speaking of the war – who is Gary’s sources? The runaway LTTE, those who lived off LTTE, those who ran away from LTTE, those who tried to run away from LTTE & got shot? Or simply third party unverified versions?
As a human rights lawyer, why doesn’t Gary speak about the Tamils who have been brutalized and victimized by LTTE & their lobbies overseas? Having had first-hand experience himself since they even opposed him & his election?
Anyone that didn’t face the wrath of the LTTE were only those that sided with it either voluntarily or by fear.
https://mfa.gov.lk/sin/lttes-gary-anandasangaree-to-enter-canadian-politics/
LTTE remains internationally banned inspite of LTTE’s military defeat in May 2009.
Those that LTTE victimized were happy about LTTE’s defeat. Those that benefitted from LTTE were unhappy & sought revenge. We know from Jane’s Intelligence Report that in 2004 LTTE’s annual profits were an estimated $400m. If LTTE’s overseas operations (legal & illegal) remain intact, sans the expense to maintain LTTE combatants this annual profit must have doubled by now. It is only natural that people wish to keep alive the LTTE mumbo jumbo in order to continue to steer the kitty.
Only a handful of overseas players were in the public domain during the heyday of Prabakaran. Where was Gary then? Has he met Prabakaran? Many of the so-called Tamil spokesmen were dead scared of Prabakaran. They are only coming out of the woodwork only after his demise & have quickly set up entities on the guise of ‘human rights” “accountability” “justice for genocide” etc … themes that would provide the camouflage for their goals.
Still this cannot erase the crimes LTTE committed. The fanfare around war crimes genocide etc cannot justify LTTE aims and objectives and be hijacked by those that were scare of Prabakaran but wish to borrow the theme for their goals which has got plugged into goals of nations and organizations happy to piggy back on each other to realize them.
What is important and what cannot be disassociated from each other is that we must all denounce the modus operandi of terror that LTTE adopted as well as denounce the quest to separate Sri Lanka initially by creating a mono-ethnic federal state to next seek quest for its autonomous separation. Elimination of the LTTE has not eliminated the quest to separate. This is why, all those currently linked to & promoting LTTE’s quest is deemed to be part of LTTE’s goal or linked to it. Whether Prabakaran seeks it or any other seeks it, separatism or disunification of the unitary status of Sri Lanka cannot be allowed.
Canadian Liberal MP Gary Anandasangaree discusses crisis in Sri Lanka on 20th July 2022.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wnxInlBsPaQ
When a human rights lawyer chooses to side with the entity that has committed atrocious crimes and ignores LTTE’s cold blooded crimes such as killing 600 policemen who surrendered in Batticoloa or 400 military personnel who surrendered in Mullaitivu – we have to wonder what kind of human rights lawyer he is. While LTTE killed Tamils & its own cadres even child soldiers, how many like Gary would speak about these war crimes by LTTE?
Canada listed LTTE as a terrorist group on 8 August 2006. https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2006/04/canada-new-government-lists-ltte-terrorist-organization.html
Gary is Legal Counsel for CTC –designated under UNSCR 1373 as engaging in terrorist propaganda, fundraising & procurement. It is no secret that TNA was formed by LTTE in 2001. It is no surprise that a LTTE front designated under UNSCR 1373 should also openly support TNA. CTC urged Tamils to vote for TNA in 2015 – but only 4% of Tamils voted for TNA.
- On 17 July 2013, Gary attended book launch on Prabakaran in Scarborough together with David Poopalapillai, PR Director &Vanita Nathan, former VP of CTC. They took pictures with Mathagal Kannan & Senthilkumaran, LTTE fundraisers in Canada.
- On 18 May 2014, Gary was part of events marking death of Prabakaran in Scarborough organized by CTC, TGTE & NCCT.
- Gary’s defense of LTTE is noted by AP journalist Jeremy Hainsworth on 13 August 2010 “Anandasangaree said even if some of those on board are Tamil Tigers, they would have a legitimate refugee case in Canada”.
- LTTE human smuggling ship MV Sun Sea seeking asylum was supported by Gary
- Gary even protested against Bill C-31 calling for tough measures against human smugglers.
- He campaigned against Human Rights Watch Jo Becker who released “Funding the Final War: LTTE intimidation & extortion in the Tamil Diaspora 15 March 2006.
- HRW report claims supporters of LTTE forced Toronto families to give Canadian $5000 while businesses had to give Canadian $100,000 or face threats, vandalism or even physical harm.
- Liberal Party members include Theodore Anthony of CTC who was brother of Father Anthony (Mambalam Swamy) an LTTE fundraiser in New Jersey. http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2014/05/25/lttes-gary-anandasangaree-to-enter-canadian-politics/
WikiLeaks: Canada Banned LTTE, But Did Not Ban Canadian Tiger Front Orgs – US
Over 10,000 former and serving members of the LTTE and other Tamil threat groups are in Canada via the well-established human smuggling route.
Contrary to the public perception, most Tamils living in Canada do not support the LTTE.
LTTE forcibly recruited Tamil children. Tamils in Canada were forced to contribute funds to LTTE. The modus operandi used to bring pro-LTTE and non-pro LTTE Tamils under one umbrella was to present to them the notion that war crimes took place and drum the lies often enough to make them believe the lies.
https://www.uktamilnews.com/2015/07/06/garry-anandasangaree-is-a-prominent-ltte-backer-and-harsh-critic-of-sri-lanka-says-consul-general-for-sri-lanka-in-toronto/ Late Bandula Jayasekera, Consul General for Sri Lanka in Canada who had confronted Gary.
One day Canada will realize that it, too hurriedly passed the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day for other than well-funded propaganda – no one has produced names or details of the dead to verify that they were even born. The Missing Persons Commission has as of March 2018 only 13,294 missing of which 5000 are missing soldiers (with names & IDs)
https://twitter.com/gary_srp/status/1527034550437683201?s=20&t=cefcJmhfFWLUEBbkX9-ttQ
So long as there is inconsistency in even naming the dead or locating their skeletons, it is unfair to be claiming ‘genocide’ or war crimes. Lawyers should know there has to be a body to claim anyone dead and to claim anyone missing there has to be names and details. For all we know, people may have gone overseas as refugees or asylum seekers and changed their names and identities. To verify these details the foreign governments and associate authorities will need to liaise with their counterparts in Sri Lanka.
Most of the flag-bearers of ‘genocide’ ‘war crimes’ ‘self-determination’ ‘federalism’ and what not are people who are living overseas, have lucrative business overseas & have not even returned to Sri Lanka or even know where some of the places that they quote are even located.
Gary left Sri Lanka first to Ireland in 1980 as a child of 10 & thereafter to Canada in August 1983. Exactly how many times has he come to Sri Lanka since 1983? The Sri Lanka of 1983 is certainly not the Sri Lanka of 2022 while North Sri Lanka under LTTE from 1980s to 2009 is not the North Sri Lanka since 2009. He is unlikely to even recognize parts of his parents’ hometown. All that he and most of the other mouthpieces chastising the GoSL are doing so, from third party accounts or people with vested interests. Others end up speaking to the very people who are paid to lie.
Gary has not lived in Sri Lanka since age of 10. He is not even known to Tamils of his own village. How is it that his father’s version of Sri Lanka is opposite to that of his son. The only difference is that Gary’s father lives in Si Lanka while Gary has not lived in Sri Lanka since 1980s. So who knows about Sri Lanka – Gary or his father?
Be that as it may, Gary has turned Canada to be his home. He is a reputed lawyer in Canada and now he is a member of the legislative. He and all others like him should concentrate on affairs in Canada and leave the affairs of Sri Lanka to the communities living in Sri Lanka.
Shenali D Waduge
