The issues involving India, Canada and the US over the clandestine operations undertaken by the Indian intelligence overseas hadn’t received sufficient media attention here. The request made by the family of the late Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda who died suddenly in June last year in the UK also didn’t capture the Sri Lankan media attention. The call coincided with a murder and an attempted murder of Sikh separatists in Canada and the US

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Canadian of Sri Lankan origin Nishan Duraiappah on Dec 29 addressed the media at the office of Acting Inspector General of Police (IGP) Deshabandu Tennakoon. Duraiappah spoke to the media as the Chief of Peel Regional Police, Canada. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nihal Thalduwa, Attorney-at-Law, sat on the Canadian’s left.

Law enforcement in Peel Region is carried out by one of the biggest Municipal Police forces in Canada.

There couldn’t have been a previous instance of a member of the Tamil Diaspora receiving an opportunity to address the media at the well-furnished IGP’s auditorium, on the third floor of the cramped police headquarters, or at least at a police station.

In fact, such a scenario was unthinkable during the conflict, or even at the end of the war with separatist terrorists, regardless of the gradual change of Sri Lanka’s attitude towards the Tamil Diaspora.

Duraiappah addressed the media immediately after he shared his experience as a police chief with the Acting IGP and other senior officers of the Department under a cloud for failing in their duty despite being top heavy.

Sri Lanka brought the war to a successful conclusion on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon on the morning of May 19, 2009. Among the dead in the final confrontation was Velupillai Prabhakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) widely believed to be the assassin of Alfred Thangarajah Duraiappah.

The soft-spoken Peel regional police chief is the nephew of the assassinated lawyer and politician Alfred Thangarajah Duraiappah, a former Jaffna District Member of Parliament and the first politician to die in the hands of the Tamil terrorist movement, on July 27, 1975, about a year before the formation of the LTTE.

It is widely believed Duraiappah, the Jaffna Mayor, at that time of his assassination affiliated to the then ruling SLFP, was assassinated as he entered a kovil in Poonalai, Jaffna, for prayers. It would be pertinent to mention at the time of that killing that the government of India hadn’t launched weapons training programmes for the Sri Lankan youth.

Nishan Duraiappah is the most senior police officer of South Asian origin in North America and has received other prestigious honours, such as the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) and in addition to being an Officer of the Order of Merit Canada (2016). The policeman had been here, way back in 2003, at the time Norwegians were engaged in a peace initiative with the blessings of the US, EU and India.

Duraiappah holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and Criminology from the University of Toronto and a Diploma in Public Administration from the University of Western Ontario. He is perhaps the only former Sri Lankan to receive such a high position in law enforcement in a developed country.

The writer, invited to cover the historic media briefing, got an opportunity to pose a couple of questions to the top officer of Sri Lankan birth serving the Canadian police for nearly three decades. Asked about his relationship with the slain parliamentarian Duraiappah, the Canadian said ‘he was my father’s brother.’

Nishan’s parents had been among those who had migrated to Canada before the Tamil terrorist movement began to target their own community, considered to be a threat. Nishan had been just nine months old at the time his parents decided to leave the country to take up Canadian citizenship. They had been sponsored by a family member who had earlier migrated to Canada and Nishan seemed to be quite satisfied with the Canadian way of life.

Those who shed crocodile tears for the Tamil community are reluctant at least to discuss the deaths and suffering caused to their own people by Tamil terrorist groups. The number of Tamils killed, wounded and, perhaps, maimed for life, due to internecine fighting among separatist groups, remained uninvestigated or unexamined even 15 years after the war. Essentially, they are only worried about those who had been killed by the Sri Lankan military. They have also conveniently forgotten those who had perished fighting the Indian military (1987-1990) or killed overseas during operations, the most significant being the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister and Congress I leader Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991, less than a year after India withdrew its Army from the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka.

Canada home to largest Lankan Diaspora

Commenting on him entering the police service, Nishan Duraiappah said Canada is comparatively a very young country when compared to the history of Sri Lanka or for that matter most European countries. “The modern Canada has been built with immigrants. But to see a South Asian Sri Lankan entering policing at the time I did was something very rare.” The Canadian said so responding to a query from international affairs analyst Prasad Dodangodage of the state run Rupavahini.

A smiling Nishan disclosed how his mother reacted when she was told of his decision on a career in law enforcement. She had no qualms in declaring her point blank opposition. Nishan quoted her mother as having said that the profession of his choosing had to exceed the sacrifice the family made by switching allegiance to Canada.

“But I have been able to demonstrate that policing is a proper and very honourable job, and I’m the only Sri Lankan of my rank in North America. It does not exist in the US or in Canada. That is a demonstration to our community also of what is possible for young people in non-traditional ways.”

Nishan Duraiappah explained the rapid growth of the Sri Lankan community in Canada in the aftermath of the July 1983 violence, consequent to the killing of 13 soldiers at Thinnaveli, Jaffna.

The Canadian of Lankan birth politely declined to comment on The Island query pertaining to punitive action taken by Canada against Sri Lanka, particularly the declaration of former Presidents Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-2015) and Gotabaya Rajapaksa (2019-2022) as war criminals.

Canada declared sanctions on the Rajapaksa brothers for “gross and systematic violations of human rights” during the conflict from 1983 to 2009. The other persons sanctioned by Canada were Staff Sergeant Sunil Ratnayake and Lieutenant Commander Chandana Prasad Hettiarachchi. Both of them were earlier sanctioned by the United States for committing serious crimes. The Canadian announcement was made on January 10, 2023, amidst the continuing controversy over the Canadian Parliament recognizing May 18 as the Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

Canada has dismissed Sri Lanka’s concerns over their Premier Justin Trudeau’s declaration that the stories of the Tamil-Canadians affected by the conflict “serve as an enduring reminder that human rights, peace, and democracy cannot be taken for granted. That’s why Parliament last year unanimously adopted the motion to make May 18 Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day, Trudeau declared at this year’s Tamil Genocide Remembrance Day.

The Peel Police Chief’s respectful refusal to comment on the issue at hand is understandable. However, Sri Lanka cannot continue to ignore the growing threat posed by such declarations by powerful countries. Canada, home to the largest Tamil Diaspora group, has become one of the strongest critics of post-war Sri Lanka though Ottawa didn’t really pursue a hostile policy during the war. Until the very end, Ottawa believed the LTTE could turn the tide, or even in the worst case scenario the top terrorist leadership could be evacuated to safety in another country with the US/UN intervention. The Western establishment felt confident of the LTTE’s conventional military prowess even after the combined security forces regained Pooneryn in mid-November, 2008, thereby bringing the entire Vanni west under their dominance and turning eastwards.

Pre-war immigrant’s success story

Nishan Duraiappah’s narrative is certainly inspiring. His account is simple and devoid of usual politics and theatrics. Obviously, his family seeking a better life in Canada, nearly a decade before the eruption of war in Northern Sri Lanka, influenced his thinking.

The visit here is Nishan Duraiappah first since he received the appointment in Oct 2019 as Chief of the Peel Regional Police. In June 2022, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) declared Nishan Duraiappah would serve as the Association’s President for the 2022-2023 period.

During last week’s media briefing in Colombo, the Canadian said that he was born in Colombo though his parents were from the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka. Having commenced his career with Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) in Dec 1995, Nishan Duraiappah served in a variety of assignments throughout his career, including front-line policing, specialized investigations, and what the Canadian media called diversity and community relations. He was promoted to Deputy Chief of HRPS in 2015, paving the way for him to participate in leading front-line policing, community mobilization as well as in innovation and technology.

Nishan Duraiappah’s success story should inspire those seeking a better future abroad at a time Sri Lanka is struggling to cope up with the continuing political-economic-social crisis. Perhaps Nishan Duraiapph’s narrative should prompt an examination of study on Sri Lankan migrants before the outbreak of the violent conflict here. The Duraiappahs had migrated at a time when everyone took relative peace for granted, while unprecedented violence and a fully-fledged terrorist grouping bent on breaking up the country on ethnic lines was the last thing on the minds of Sri Lankans, regardless of ethnicity.

Like his previous visit, Nishan Duraiappah had spent time in the Jaffna peninsula this time, too. However, he had been accompanied by his children and several friends who got the opportunity to experience life here.

Police headquarters should receive the appreciation of the public for arranging an official reception at the headquarters for the visiting top Canadian officer, of whom the whole country can rightfully be proud of. Perhaps such a gesture should encourage the post-war reconciliation process, particularly at a time President Ranil Wickremesinghe is making a determined bid to win over the Tamil Diaspora. Wickremesinghe, in no uncertain terms, has emphasized the need to reach a consensus with the Tamil Diaspora in line with an overall effort to address the grievances of the war-affected communities. But, it would be a grave mistake on the part of the government and other interested parties to examine only the grievances of the Tamil speaking community.

The Tamil community must come to terms with the situation on the ground. It couldn’t simply wash its hands off of the atrocities committed by the LTTE over the years. Jaffna Mayor Alfred Thangarajah Duraiappah was the first among several dozens of lawmakers, both former and serving, killed by the LTTE. In addition to them, at the behest of the Indian intelligence at the time TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization) assassinated two MPs in early Sept 1985.

Challenge for law enforcement authorities

The killing of 45-year-old Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, 2023, near Vancouver, British Columbia, posed a new threat to the Canadian police. In Sept, the Canadian Premier openly accused India of ordering the assassination. In the circumstances India reacted angrily to save its face. India dismissed Canadian accusations as absurd. Canada promptly rejected Indian denial.

But, subsequent, US investigations at the highest level disclosed Indian involvement in at least four other assassinations in North America.

Nijjar was shot dead by two gunmen wearing dark clothes with hoods outside a Sikh temple in Surrey that he led.

The US recently indicted an Indian, identified as Nikhil Gupta, for planning to assassinate persons promoting a separate state for Sikhs in India. What really raised eyebrows among law enforcement authorities, as well as ordinary citizens, was that the US indictment has strongly endorsed the high profile accusations made by the Canadian Premier.

Of the four targeted Sikhs, the US identified one person as lawyer Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a dual US-Canadian citizen and member of a US-based Sikh separatist group. The US media reported how authorities trapped Gupta and thwarted the clandestine operation after he hired a New York-based hitman who happened to be an undercover agent. The hitman has been promised USD 100,000.

The man killed near Vancouver as well as Pannun have been designated as terrorists by India. The US alleged that Gupta, recruited by an Indian government agent in May 2023 to carry out the assassinations, had been involved in international narcotics and weapons trafficking and was directly implicated through the contact he made with a US agent, masquerading as a New York hitman.

Canada expelled the de facto head of the Indian intelligence agency in Canada after Premier Trudeau declared: “Any involvement of a foreign government in the killing of a Canadian citizen, on Canadian soil, is an unacceptable violation of our sovereignty. Trudeau added that Canada would pressure India to cooperate with investigations into Nijjar’s killing.

In a tit-for-tat move against Ottawa, New Delhi expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in India. India also suspended visa applications by Canadian nationals.

Against the US declaration of direct Indian government involvement in the high profile assassination of Nijjar, President of a Sikh Temple Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara and planning other assassinations, Canadian accusations seemed to have been strengthened.

The issues involving India, Canada and the US over the clandestine operations undertaken by the Indian intelligence overseas hadn’t received sufficient media attention here. The request made by the family of the late Sikh activist Avtar Singh Khanda who died suddenly in June last year in the UK, also didn’t capture the Sri Lankan media attention. The call coincided with a murder and an attempted murder of Sikh separatists in Canada and the US.

Thirty-five-year-old Birmingham based Khanda, a vocal advocate for the creation of a separate Sikh state, died on June 15 in a Birmingham hospital, after what was later deemed to be a case of acute myeloid leukemia. But, his family is suspicious.

The issue should remind Sri Lankans and the world of the destructive Indian role in Sri Lanka that was never subjected to an inquiry, at any level. India went to the extent of assassinating Sri Lankan lawmakers. No less a person than TNA MP Dharmalingam Siddharthan is on record as having said that TELO (Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization) gunmen killed his father V. Dharmalingam and his parliamentary colleague M. Alalasundaram, both Jaffna District MPs in early Sept 1985. Actually Sri Lanka never properly investigated those killings or never would.