Chief Nishan Duraiappah participated in a special discussion with Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles at the Police Headquarters in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

TORONTO, CANADA, January 30, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is appalled by the recent visit to Sri Lanka, by Nishan Duraiappah, the Ontario’s Peel Regional Police Chief, and had a meeting with Tiran Alles, Public Security Minister of Sri Lanka and the country’s acting police Chief Deshabandu Tennakoon, who, only one week prior to Chief Duraiappah's visit, was convicted of torture by Sri Lanka's Supreme Court.
https://srilankamirror.com/news/sc-to-consider-fr-application-by-cardinal-malcolm-ranjith/

TGTE also finds Chief Duraiappah's acceptance of a guard of honor by Sri Lanka’s police force, which is implicated in committing the crime of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity against Tamils during the final stages of the armed conflict and thereafter, even still today, reprehensible and incompatible with the values of human rights, democracy and the rule of law, that Canada, its police force, and the Canadian police uniform supposedly stand for.

On January 1, 2024, Sri Lankan newspaper The Leader reported: Chief of Canada’s Peel Regional Police, Nishan Duraiappah participated in a special discussion with Minister of Public Security Tiran Alles at Police Headquarters in Colombo.” “During the discussion…[a] programme aimed at strengthening community Police Units, implemented under advice and guidance of Minister Alles received special appreciation from the Canadian Police Chief. Nishan Duraiappah pledged the full support of the Canadian Police to further enhance the programme.”
https://english.theleader.lk/news/7166-strengthening-community-police-units-in-sl-receives-accolades

This reported collaboration between Tiran Alles, and Police Chief Duraiappah, directly involves the Peel regional Police in violations of the human rights, of the Tamil Canadians, by police in Sri Lanka.

The International Consortium of Independent Journalists has reported that Minister Alles is named in the “Pandora Papers” as having used shell companies to purchase properties in the United Kingdom. (“Sri Lankan public security minister used shell companies to own London flats”)
https://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/sri-lankan-public-security-minister-used-shell-companies-to-own-london-flats/

Although his case was discharged, Alles was also investigated by courts in Sri Lanka for allegations of misappropriating public funds (“Misappropriation of Rs 124 m RADA public funds: Tiran Alles, three others discharged” Sunday Observer [July 12, 2020]
https://archives1.sundayobserver.lk/2020/07/12/news/tiran-alles-three-others-discharged

On a professional level, Minister Alles does not qualify to be the person that an Ontario public figure, such as Chief Duraiappah, would wish to be associated with. Although, the Peel Regional Police Office has attempted to distance itself from Chief Duraiappah's meetings and honors during his visit to Sri Lanka by claiming that the trip was a family visit; and denying Sri Lankan claims of having discussed regarding community policing with him, such statements are not enough to undo the damage that Chief Duraiappah's public meetings, handshaking, and press conferences in Sri Lanka have caused.

However, Tamil Canadians say, there is an even more serious matter for the Office the Independent Police Review Director to consider. On January 8, 2024, the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission raised the alarm that over 20,000 people had been arrested over the final two weeks of 2023, under what it called the “guise” of an anti-narcotics operation. The Commission also noted that torture and deaths involving police (and even government officials) are routine, receiving 200 reports of torture over 2023, and reporting 8 deaths “involving Sri Lanka Police” in the first six months of 2023.
https://www.hrcsl.lk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HRCSL-Press-Notice-08012024.pdf 

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Public Security, which Tiran Alles heads, is the main agency involved in implementing that country’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). According to Human Rights Watch, the PTA has been used to unfairly target Tamils and Muslims living in Sri Lanka, for imprisonment without charges, and serious abuses of human rights in custody. (“In a Legal Black Hole”: Sri Lanka’s Failure to Reform the Prevention of Terrorism Act [February 7, 2022]
https://www.hrw.org/report/2022/02/07/legal-black-hole/sri-lankas-failure-reform-prevention-terrorism-act
The PTA permits police abuses that are part of the ongoing Tamil genocide in Sri Lanka, and Minister Alles helps to administer the PTA.

Chief Duraiappah’s, reportedly pledged support of Peel Police to Alles’ police forces, is contrary to Canada’s and Ontario’s official position towards the rights of Tamils living in Sri Lanka. This association between Peel Police and Sri Lankan police also undermines UN and NGO expert opinions that the PTA departs from international standards of human rights.

By meeting with both individual Sri Lankan officials and entire official forces that perpetuated international atrocity crimes against Tamils, who constitute some of the very people and communities the Peel regional Police chief Duraiappah, has sworn to protect back home in Canada, while wearing his heretofore respected police uniform and regalia, Chief Duraiappah has sullied the Canadian police livery and the force's domestic and international reputation, as well as its relations with Tamils.
 
The Peel Police Office must publicly reprimand Chief Duraiappah for wearing official Canadian police garb during what the Office claims were non-official meetings. Without such a public statement, Sri Lanka will continue to use the power of the many images it captured of Chief Nishan Duraiappah in his official Canadian police uniform alongside Sri Lankan officials and forces for the States propaganda and ongoing nefarious ends.
 
As stated in reports by many international accountability institutions and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, torture in Sri Lanka is prevalent and systemic. All the more troublesome, the United Nations Human Rights Committee stated in a recent decision that there is impunity for torture in Sri Lanka. With regard to a recent proposal to reform the PTA, the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights states that UN experts have: “expressed concerns about the considerable expansion of police powers in the new legislation, with less judicial oversight of intercepting telecommunications.
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/10/un-experts-say-sri-lankas-counter-terrorism-bill-fails-heed-their

Meeting with perpetrators of torture and taking photographs with them is an affront to human rights values let alone Canadian values.
 
Chief Duraiappah’s recent visit to Sri Lanka, during which he wore official Canadian police garb and Police Head trappings during allegedly unofficial encounters, is condemnable on a community relations level. It should be noted that he also discussed future actions with a foreign entity in official
police attire.

In order to uphold the integrity of the Peel Regional Police, Tamil Canadians request the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD) investigate this matter, and if there is any evidence of wrongdoing, recommend appropriate sanctions for the police personnel involved, and Chief Duraiappah be deprived of his Peel Police uniform permanently.
 
Tamil Canadians fear that this proposed collaboration will have the effect of bringing policy that violates Tamil human rights, from Sri Lanka, into Ontario. They are also expressing of feeling as unsafe when interacting with the Peel Police as once felt with the Sri Lankan police. Despite being of Tamil origin himself, he is planning to assist Sri Lankan police in a programme that they believe contributes to an ongoing genocide of Tamils.

Roy Wignarajah
Minister for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities
Transnational Government of Tamileelam

* ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF TAMIL EELAM (TGTE):

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) is a democratically elected Government of over a million strong Tamils (from the island of Sri Lanka) living in several countries around the world.

TGTE was formed after the mass killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government in 2009.

TGTE thrice held internationally supervised elections among Tamils around the world to elect 132 Members of Parliament. It has two chambers of Parliament: The House of Representatives and the Senate and also a Cabinet.

TGTE is leading a campaign to realize the political aspirations of Tamils through peaceful, democratic, and diplomatic means and its Constitution mandates that it should realize its political objectives only through peaceful means. It’s based on the principles of nationhood, homeland and self-determination.

TGTE seeks that the international community hold the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide against the Tamil people to account. TGTE calls for a referendum to decide the political future of Tamils.

The Prime Minister of TGTE is Mr. Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, a New York based lawyer.

Email: pmo@tgte.org
Twitter: @TGTE_PMO
Web: www.tgte-us.org / www.tgte.org

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran
Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)
+1 614-202-3377
r.thave@tgte.org
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