Parliamentary Secretary to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deepak Obhrai, in a statement made in Canada’s parliament yesterday, called on the Sri Lanka Government to show leadership to take the peace process forward.

Noting that Canada has been monitoring events in Sri Lanka closely and is concerned with the recent escalation of violence in the country, Mr. Obhrai said in his statement, “It is important that the Government of Sri Lanka now show leadership and foster a climate of trust where the peace process can move forward.”

“We are concerned that para-military groups are being used to disturb the peace process and call on both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to ensure that these para-military groups are dismantled and that they both return to the peace talks as quickly as possible,” Mr. Obhrai said.

Last week, the Canada’s opposition members had raised the Sri Lanka’s conflict in the Parliament as well. Opposition member, Albina Guarnieri said, “Recent attacks on civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces have reached a level of atrocity.”

Citing the Navy attack on the Mannar Catholic Church, Ms. Guarnieri asked in Canada’s Parliament, “I ask the government, when will it protest the latest wave of military atrocities in Sri Lanka?”

In an interview earlier in the month, Ms. Pamela Greenwell, spokesperson for Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade had also called on the Government of Sri Lanka to uphold its responsibility to create a climate for peace. Ms. Greenwell called the attacks on civilians as another blow to the peace process.

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which has been charged with monitoring Sri Lanka’s ceasefire agreement, had said early this month in its report that the Government of Sri Lanka was unwilling to implement its commitments and showed little willingness to accept requests by the LTTE to normalize the situation.

According to the SLMM, the level of violence has decreased drastically after the Geneva talks but the situation rapidly deteriorated following the April 7th assassination of Mr. Vigneswaran, a Tamil civil society leader.

Analysts see the killing of Tamil civilians as deliberate acts by Sri Lanka’s armed forces to provoke the LTTE into a retaliatory attacks and the eventual breakout of war. Sri Lanka’s continued use of paramilitaries is cited by analysts as evidence of provocation by the government – a fact not missed in Canada’s statement yesterday.

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