Tamil's misery for sale - arouses furor among Canadian Tamils

TORONTO: An email by a Sri Lanka-based Sinhala to offer his services for a fee to Tamils to find their missing relatives has outraged the community in Canada. Thousands of Tamil Canadian families are desperately looking for their relatives who have either died in the recent conflict or become 'internally displaced people' (IDPs). In his email two days ago to Tamil Canadians, L. Jude Perera of Consultant IDP Services in Koswatte (Thalanama North) in Sri Lanka asked them to register with him for $25 for "professional services" to help find their missing kin.Under the banner of Internally Displaced People (IDP) Services, he said: "We try to find out IDPs: whose-who? In direct contact/communicate with the law enforcement authorities. Please inform us the full details." Promising the Tamils to recover their lost homes, lands and properties, his "first come first served basis" service said: "All the work that we do is with government officers and law authorities, namely forces/security personal, ministries, our personal contacts, SMS, telephone calls, lawyer's fees etc., involves travel and stay in the north or east (permit areas). So the expenses incurred are on a case by case basis."
 

Outraged at the email, Canadian Tamil leaders said their 300,000-strong community is deeply disturbed over this development. "How can anyone do business on people's misery? This is an outrage. The international community, and Indian and Tamil Nadu governments in particular, should not allow this trade in Tamil misery," Canadian Tamil Congress (CTC) leader David Poopalapillai said Thursday. "Who is this man? Who is backing him? He cannot operate without the Sri Lankan government's consent. This shows how low Sri Lanka can stoop to deal with Tamils," he added. Asking the Tamil diaspora "Do you want to build a monument for your loved ones?", the email said: "If you want to organize a thanksgiving mass for lost family friends/relatives or another person of any race or build a monument please let us have the details."